S. 3704 would authorize the annual appropriation of $150 million over the 2021-2026 period for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, which provides grants to educators and students for technical science and engineering education. The bill also would direct the agency to conduct pilot programs to increase the number of institutions of higher education that can compete for NSF grants.
For this estimate, CBO assumes that the legislation will be enacted early in fiscal year 2021 and that the authorized and estimated amounts will be appropriated each year.
In 2020, the NSF allocated $75 million for the ATE program. Because CBO estimates the budgetary effects of continuing resolutions on an annualized basis, in 2021 CBO assumes that the NSF will allocate the same amount from funds made available under the current continuing resolution (Public Law 116-159). As a result, CBO estimates that S. 3704 would authorize an increase in spending subject to appropriation in 2021 of $75 million, the difference between the authorized amount and the annualized amount under the continuing resolution. Based on historical spending patterns for the program, CBO estimates that providing the ATE grants would cost $404 million over the 2021-2025 period and roughly $400 million after 2025, assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts.
Using information from the NSF, and based on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that conducting the pilot programs would require two additional employees at an average annual cost of $175,000 each over the 2021-2025 period. In total, implementing that provision would cost $2 million. Such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
