Higher education officials are protesting a federal Office of Management and Budget proposal to limit the rate at which universities can charge the government for overhead expenses on research and development. The change would affect 56 of the top 100 institutions receiving federal grants, whose rates go to 41 percent. (MSE)

As news reports continue to describe questionable charges for indirect costs in government-sponsored research, academic officials try to explain the rates, which vary greatly by institution and are based on complicated accounting formulas, to the press, alumni, trustees, and state legislators. Overhead rates, ranging from 37 percent to 77 percent,…