Where My Taxes Go

University profileWorcester, MAFiscal year 2025

How much federal money does Worcester Polytechnic Institute get?

Worcester Polytechnic Institute received $33.7 million in federal awards in FY2025, 374th of 998 institutions (top 37%).In fiscal year 2025, federal agencies obligated $33.7 million to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA), counting grants, contracts, loans and other awards.

FY2025 total
$34M
$33.7 million
Grants
$27M
79% of total
Contracts
$413K
1% of total
Rank
374th
of 998 institutions

Ranked 374th of 998 by federal awards

FY2025 federal awards, institutions ranked either side of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

University of Central Oklahoma #371 · OK$34M
Community College District 502 #372 · IL$34M
Miami University #373 · OH$34M
Worcester Polytechnic Institute #374 · MA$34M
Troy University #375 · AL$34M
University of Arkansas System (Pine Bluff) #376 · AR$34M
Foothill-De Anza Community College District #377 · CA$33M

What the money is

That is down 17.5% from FY2024 ($40.8 million). Compared with FY2019, the last year before pandemic relief, it is up 14.7%. The largest share came as grants ($26.7 million, 79.2%). The Department of Health and Human Services was the biggest funder ($12.1 million). Its largest programs were Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs ($6.9 million); Federal Pell Grant Program ($5.0 million); STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) ($3.0 million). It ranks 374th of the 998 institutions on this site by FY2025 total.

What is counted: awards made directly to this institution, under the registered names WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (UEI HJNQME41NBU4). Money that reaches it as a subaward through another organization is not included. Separately incorporated foundations, hospitals and laboratories have their own records and are not added in. Grouping rules are explained in the methodology.

Federal awards by year

Worcester Polytechnic Institute: $34M in FY2025, up 15% on FY2019

Federal award obligations by fiscal year and type, FY2018–FY2026, nominal dollars. FY26* is preliminary and still filling in.

  • Insurance and other
  • Loans (subsidy cost)
  • Direct payments
  • Grants
  • Contracts
$0$20M$40M$60MFY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25FY26*$34M$0$20M$40M$60M'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26*$34M
View every year as a table
Fiscal yearContractsGrantsDirect paymentsLoansInsurance and otherTotal
FY2018$773,098$26.1M$0$0$12,587$26.9M
FY2019$725,000$28.6M$0$0$14,343$29.4M
FY2020$608,575$35.7M$0$0$14,343$36.4M
FY2021$859,434$36.8M$0$0$0$37.6M
FY2022$1.0M$25.8M$1.5M$0$0$28.3M
FY2023$991,865$28.9M$4.2M$0$70,642$34.2M
FY2024$363,194$34.5M$5.3M$0$679,761$40.8M
FY2025$412,895$26.7M$6.4M$0$160,836$33.7M
FY2026*-$51,942$23.7M$6.3M$0$0$30.0M

B = billion, M = million. Loans are the subsidy cost the government records. * FY2026 (October 2025 to September 2026) is preliminary: agencies keep reporting after the year ends, and Department of Defense contract data is published with a 90-day delay. Negative amounts are net de-obligations (money taken back from earlier awards).

Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury).

Who pays and for what, FY2025

The agencies that obligated the most to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the largest federal programs. Programs are federal Assistance Listings (formerly CFDA numbers); contracts have no listing number, so they do not appear there.

Top awarding agencies

AgencyFY2025Share
Department of Health and Human Services$12.1 million36.0%
National Science Foundation$9.8 million29.0%
Department of Education$7.7 million22.8%
Department of Defense$1.7 million4.9%
Department of Energy$1.4 million4.1%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$606,4631.8%
Department of the Interior$412,8951.2%
Department of Agriculture$160,8360.5%
Department of Commerce$29,6170.1%
Environmental Protection Agency$00.0%

Top programs

ProgramFY2025Share
Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs Assistance Listing 93.279$6.9 million20.5%
Federal Pell Grant Program Assistance Listing 84.063$5.0 million14.7%
STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) Assistance Listing 47.076$3.0 million8.8%
Engineering Assistance Listing 47.041$2.5 million7.5%
Mathematical and Physical Sciences Assistance Listing 47.049$1.4 million4.3%
Biomedical Research and Research Training Assistance Listing 93.859$1.4 million4.1%
Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Assistance Listing 81.049$1.4 million4.1%
Education Research, Development and Dissemination Assistance Listing 84.305$1.2 million3.7%
Computer and Information Science and Engineering Assistance Listing 47.070$1.2 million3.7%
Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health Assistance Listing 93.286$1.0 million3.0%

Other institutions in Massachusetts

All institutions in Massachusetts

Federal money to Massachusetts

Questions and answers

How much federal funding does Worcester Polytechnic Institute receive?
$33.7 million in fiscal year 2025, according to USAspending.gov award data for its registered UEI(s).
Where does Worcester Polytechnic Institute's federal money come from?
The largest funder in FY2025 was the Department of Health and Human Services ($12.1 million, 36.0%). By type, grants were $26.7 million and contracts $412,895.
Did Worcester Polytechnic Institute's federal funding go up or down?
FY2025: $33.7 million; FY2024: $40.8 million (-17.5%).

Sources and notes

  1. USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), API endpoints spending_over_time and spending_by_category, filtered by recipient ID(s) bac481d8-8176-16c9-516b-62b8e1e3041e-C, fiscal years 2018–2026. Amounts are obligations in nominal dollars. Data retrieved 2026-10-04. Public domain.
  2. How the figures are built, and what they leave out: sources and methods.