LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Research spending at the University of Kansas has seen its strongest four-year span ever, but the overall outlook is not good.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the school’s externally sponsored research expenditures at all of its campuses totaled more than $1 billion. The university’s expenditures from all sources, however, fell during fiscal year 2014 due to the federal budget sequester and declining purchasing power for federally funded research

According to the university, externally sponsored expenditures totaled $238.8 million last year, compared with $260.5 million in 2013 and $275.2 million in 2012. The school said that was a high point under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The university says that it receives about 85 percent of its research support from the federal government. The university says that it is looking to other sources for funding.