Federal obligations in colleges, universities, and professional schools (NAICS 611310)

Universities as contract vendors, not as grantees

NAICS 611310 classifies colleges, universities, and professional schools. On USAspending.gov the code appears when a contract award’s industry classification is that higher-education line: training contracts, some contracted research, and other work bought as a contract from a university. It is not a ranking of universities, and it is not a count of students. Most federal research dollars to campuses move as assistance (grants and cooperative agreements), which often have no NAICS and therefore do not sit in this table.

R&D NAICS codes (541710, 541715, 541712, 541711, 541714, 541720) classify the nature of the research work. 611310 classifies the vendor as a school. A campus can appear under an R&D code on one award and under 611310 on another, depending on how the award was tagged. The $41.6 billion figure is only awards tagged 611310.

Reading $41.6 billion without confusing it with grants

USAspending records obligations on those contract awards. Task orders and modifications feed $41,639,213,331.05. This packet has no fiscal-year split and no outlay total. It also has no grant total. Citing $41.6 billion as “federal funding to universities” will understate assistance and overstate what this NAICS table measures.

Outlays are payments on the contracts. Quote the figure as USAspending contract obligations coded to NAICS 611310. For grant-funded research, use assistance views, not this industry page.

5,928 awards on a higher-education industry code

The 5,928 award records are contract actions tagged to colleges, universities, and professional schools. The count is not 5,928 campuses and not 5,928 grants. One university can hold many contracts. Compared with residual IT codes that generate tens of thousands of orders, this is a thinner contract footprint—consistent with the fact that much campus funding never receives a NAICS tag.

Campus contracting is the part of university funding that received a NAICS tag on a contract award. USAspending shows $41,639,213,331.05 in obligations on 5,928 awards coded 611310, colleges, universities, and professional schools. The same campus can appear under an R&D NAICS on a different award. Grants and cooperative agreements often have no NAICS, so this page is not “federal funding to higher education.” It is the contract slice. The 5,928 records are not 5,928 campuses. Cite USAspending, cite contract obligations, cite 5,928 awards, and say assistance is probably elsewhere. Outlays are not in the packet. Rankings are not in the packet. The industry table lists the contract rows.

What 611310 excludes

Assistance awards may not carry NAICS and are outside this total. That exclusion is the main reading risk on this page. Elementary and secondary schools, if tagged to other educational NAICS lines, sit elsewhere. R&D performed by non-university labs uses the R&D codes, not 611310.

SpendingVault aggregates USAspending.gov contract data. The $41,639,213,331.05 total and the 5,928 award count can change after corrections. The live industry page is the table of record.

Using the university industry page

Open the COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS industry page for the contract-award list under the headline. Compare 611310 with R&D codes on All industries, and keep contracts distinct from grants. Cite obligations, not outlays, and keep the 5,928 award count with the dollar figure.

Citing campus contracts without calling them grants

Cite $41,639,213,331.05 in USAspending contract obligations on 5,928 awards tagged NAICS 611310, colleges, universities, and professional schools. The next sentence should say this is not a grant total. Most campus research assistance has no NAICS and is outside the figure.

The 5,928 award count is contracts, not campuses. R&D NAICS lines classify the work; 611310 classifies the vendor as a school. Do not add those R&D pages’ dollars here. Outlays are not provided. For grant-funded research, leave this industry table and use assistance views.

Higher-education NAICS on a contract means the vendor was classified as a college, university, or professional school. It does not mean the work was instruction. Training contracts, contracted research, and other buys from campuses can all sit in the $41,639,213,331.05 total on 5,928 awards. The same campus can also appear under an R&D NAICS on a different award.

The missing mass is assistance. Grants and cooperative agreements often have no NAICS, so a reader who uses only 611310 will understate federal dollars touching universities. Say that out loud in the citation: these are contract obligations, 5,928 awards, USAspending.gov, not a grant census. Outlays are not in the packet. Rankings of universities are not in the packet.

Questions

How much is obligated on NAICS 611310 colleges and universities?

USAspending.gov contract awards coded NAICS 611310 show $41,639,213,331.05 in obligations across 5,928 awards. That total is contract obligations, not outlays, and it is not a grant total. USAspending.gov records the amount as contract obligations, not outlays, on awards tagged NAICS 611310.

Does this include NIH or NSF research grants to universities?

Usually not. Assistance awards may not carry NAICS and are generally outside this industry total. The $41,639,213,331.05 figure is contract awards tagged 611310. Grant-funded research belongs in assistance data. The packet total is $41,639,213,331.05 across 5,928 awards; assistance awards often have no NAICS and stay outside the industry rollup.

Is 611310 the same as an R&D NAICS code?

No. 611310 classifies the vendor as a college, university, or professional school. R&D codes classify the work as research. They are different industry lines and should not be added together as one total. Treat the 5,928 figure as an award-record count, including orders and modifications, not as a physical inventory of products or sites.

Do 5,928 awards mean 5,928 universities?

No. The 5,928 figure counts contract award records tagged 611310, including modifications. One institution can hold many awards. This guide does not add a fiscal-year split. Quote the live industry page if you need the current award list under COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS.