Data collected in a Survey of Federal Support to Universities, Colleges, and Selected Nonprofit Institutions, for the period October 1, 1978, through September 30, 1979, are presented. The reporting system is based on the program established in 1965 by the Committee on Academic Science and Engineering of the Federal Council on Science and Technology. Part I, "Universities and Colleges," shows that: federal obligations to universities and colleges for all purposes declined between 1978 and 1979 by a record 17 percent to a level of $6.2 billion; the 17 percent decline in federal obligations contrasted sharply with the continued growth in both total expenditures by institutions of higher education and federal purchases of goods and services; nearly all the declines occurred in funds from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; universities in California received the most federal funds; institutions that grant science/engineering doctorates or equivalent degrees received 86 percent of all federal obligations; the majority of federal obligations at publicly-controlled universities and colleges were for R & D programs; the top 100 universities and colleges received 71 percent of all federal support; and federal support for all science activities other than R & D increased for the third consecutive year. Part II, "University-Administered FFRDC's," presents the following findings: 15 of the federally funded R & D centers (FFRDC's) have been in existence throughout the 1963-79 period covered by the survey; the four agencies that sponsored university-administered FFRDC'S in 1979 have accounted for at least 97 percent of all science support of these organizations since 1963; and the leading 10 organizations accounted for 94 percent of all funds in 1979, the same proportion as 1978. In Part III, "Independent Nonprofit Institutions and Nonprofit-Administered FFRDC's," it is concluded that federal support to the 530 independent nonprofit organizations totaled $869 million for research and the six FFRDC's administered by nonprofit institutions received a record total of $416 million in 1979. Appendices include technical notes and detailed statistical tables. (LC)