The National Institutes of Health has issued a final proposal to cap its reimbursements to colleges for tuition and other costs for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers supported by the agency’s training grants. The decision will, in effect, shift training costs from the NIH to institutions.

The final version, published on Friday by the NIH, is almost identical to a draft released in May following a public-comment period (The Chronicle, May 8).

The agency said the caps were necessary because reimbursements requested by universities had increased by at least 7 percent annually in recent years while the agency’s budget growth has been nearly flat. The change will avoid the alternative of cutting the number of trainees, the NIH said. Under the new policy, the agency will pay for 60 percent of tuition and fees up to $16,000 annually for predoctoral students. Current payments are not capped.