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Why It Matters

The University of Oregon's lobbying disclosure analysis reveals an institution navigating serious federal headwinds. The core challenge: federal funding that universities depend on — research grants from NIH and NSF, student financial aid, and international student enrollment — has faced sustained pressure from both the White House and Congress.

For the University of Oregon specifically, the stakes are concrete. University leadership has disclosed a $25–30 million structural deficit in its Education and General fund budget, with officials warning that recent federal actions have impacted research funding "at a scale that the university cannot replace." A legislative solution would likely involve preserving NIH indirect cost rates, protecting Pell Grant funding, and shielding international student visa programs from executive action — all issues the university lobbied on explicitly in prior quarters.

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By the Numbers

The university's first quarter 2026 lobbying disclosure lists $55,000 in reported spending . There are no specific issues mentioned. That silence stands in contrast to a year of active federal engagement on research funding, student aid, immigration, and college athletics.

The 2026 first quarter lobbying filing reports $55,000 in in-house lobbying expenditures — consistent with every quarter dating back through at least 2024. Congressional lobbying records show the university has spent $55,000 per quarter without deviation, totaling $440,000 over the past eight quarters in in-house spending alone.

The university also retains an external firm. Cascade Associates filed four separate quarterly disclosures on behalf of the university in 2025, each reporting $10,000 — bringing the combined annual lobbying spend to roughly $260,000 for the year. The university's lobbying strategy is therefore a two-track approach: in-house federal relations for broad higher education policy, and an outside firm focused on more specific appropriations targets.

The in-house lobbying effort is led by Betsy Boyd, identified in congressional lobbying records as the university's sole registered lobbyist. Boyd previously served as District Director for Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4) during the 106th Congress — her only recorded congressional staff experience. Her work at the university has remained consistent across all eight quarters of available filings, with no changes to the lobbying team composition.

The university has maintained a stable and consistent federal government relations operation, with no significant changes in structure, spending level, or personnel visible in the data.

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The Agenda

The prior four quarters of in-house filings paint a clear picture of the university's ongoing federal priorities:

  • NIH Facilities and Administration (F&A) / Indirect Cost Rates — lobbied in all four quarters of 2025. This is a core financial issue for research universities, as proposed caps on indirect cost reimbursements would directly reduce revenue from federally funded research projects.
  • H.R. 1 Reconciliation — lobbied beginning in the Second Quarter 2025 filing, covering provisions related to graduate education, Parent PLUS loans, undergraduate loans, Pell Grant eligibility, and risk-sharing and accountability frameworks.
  • The Deterrent Act (H.R. 1408) — lobbied in the First and Second Quarter 2025 filings, focused on foreign gift reporting requirements for federal research and higher education institutions.
  • Immigration / International Student Visas — added beginning in the Second Quarter 2025 filing and carried through the Fourth Quarter, covering SEVIS-related issues and executive actions affecting international student and scholar visas.
  • College Athletics / NIL / SCORE Act (H.R. 4312) — appeared in the Third and Fourth Quarter 2025 filings, covering student-athlete name, image, and likeness rights and related federal legislation.

Cascade Associates, the university's external firm, focused exclusively on two appropriations targets throughout 2025: FY26 funding for the USGS ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system through the Department of the Interior appropriations bill (S. 2431), and Army Medical Research and Development funding through the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 4016).

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Broader Context

The higher education lobbying environment in 2025 and into 2026 has been shaped by a series of federal actions affecting research universities directly. NIH and NSF both reduced grant funding significantly during this period, with NIH reportedly freezing or terminating thousands of grants and NSF cutting over a thousand active awards. These reductions hit research universities hard, as federal grants fund a significant share of their scientific output and support graduate student employment.

At a February 2025 Senate hearing on DOE National Laboratories, a member of Oregon's congressional delegation specifically named the University of Oregon's partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on materials sciences research — and then asked DOE lab directors whether they had directed university partners to curtail research in response to the administration's executive orders on DEI. That exchange reflects the direct federal pressure on university-national lab research partnerships that would be within the university's lobbying purview.

In October 2025, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) sent letters directly to the presidents and chancellors of all 18 Big Ten Conference institutions — including the University of Oregon — warning against selling stakes in university athletic media rights to private equity firms. The Cantwell letter raised concerns about tax-exempt status, institutional governance, and whether private equity returns would conflict with universities' academic missions. That communication puts the university's lobbying on college athletics and NIL issues in a broader congressional context.

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Competitive Landscape

Higher education lobbying activity has intensified broadly during this period. The university's in-house lobbying disclosure analysis places it within a national trend of research universities expanding their federal engagement in response to funding threats. The university's spending level of $55,000 per quarter is consistent and stable, but it is not an outlier — larger research institutions have reportedly spent considerably more as NIH and NSF cuts deepened.

The issues the university has lobbied on — NIH indirect cost rates, student loan policy, international student visas — are shared priorities across the higher education sector, meaning the University of Oregon is one of many institutions pressing Congress on the same legislative terrain.

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The Bottom Line

The University of Oregon's 2026 first quarter lobbying disclosure is, on its face, a minimal filing — $55,000 spent, no issues listed, no legislation cited. But the broader congressional lobbying records tell a more complete story: a university with a documented budget deficit, active federal research partnerships under scrutiny, and a year of consistent lobbying on student aid, research funding, immigration, and athletics policy. The blank issues field in the First Quarter 2026 filing may simply reflect timing — but the underlying pressures that have driven the university's lobbying operation have not gone away.

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