Direct Costs

Direct costs may include some or all of the following:


Salaries: This includes all personnel, the percentage of time each will devote to the project (full-time equivalent), the rate of pay, and amount requested from the sponsor to support each person per year (or for the budget period). The percentage of the academic year or calendar year salary is specified in the budget. A maximum of 2.5 months of summer effort and salary (calculated at 2.5/9.5 x base salary for the new fiscal year) is possible in those cases in which this is acceptable to the sponsor. For 10-month faculty, a maximum of 2 months of summer effort and salary at 2/10 of the base salary for the new fiscal year is possible. A faculty member on a 12-month appointment may not receive additional salary for summer research effort.

Other professional research staff, technicians, secretarial, clerical administrative staff, and other supporting personnel may be compensated for periods during which these services will benefit the project.

A graduate and undergraduate research assistant may be assigned to research duties with the student’s time divided between formal study and research. Tuition remission for graduate research assistants on sponsored projects is to be included as a fringe benefit calculation and requested from the sponsor. Amounts and rates for tuition and stipends for undergraduate students are handled by the Office of Human Resources.

Note: Sponsored program funds cannot be used to increase your institutional base pay. For those PIs on less than 12 month appointments, approval for summer salaries must be obtained from appropriate University officials. Sponsored programs funds cannot be used to pay for overloads.

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