The fees, which cover overhead costs, add an average of 27 percent to the cost of a grant but vary considerably. The Trump administration says some large research institutions, such as Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins, receive an indirect cost add-on equivalent to more than 60 percent of the grant.

Virginia research universities are poised to lose millions in federal funding under a new National Institutes of Health policy that would cap the agency's reimbursement rate for these schools' administrative costs.

The suits were filed in rapid succession in the days after the NIH announced on Feb. 7 that it would cap so-called indirect costs at a 15% rate as of Feb. 10, leading the judge to issue a temporary restraining order that placed a nationwide pause on the measure.

The NIH limits the portion of awards that can pay for indirect costs at rates negotiated with recipient institutions. On Feb. 7, however, the NIH announced it would cap such costs at 15% — far below the rates already in place at many institutions,