Grant Budget Development

Add Pay

Add pay is permitted for the principal investigator, project director, or appropriate staff member if allowed by the funding agency. Salary additions are allowed on a scale of up to 25 percent per academic year of the faculty contract base salary. The grant or contract must also cover the related fringe benefits and indirect costs. Under certain circumstances, 12-month faculty or staff may be eligible for add pay for grant participation when the responsibilities assigned through the grant exceed normal duties and obligations of the full-time position.

Please contact the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for assistance in calculating add pay.

All add pays must be pre-approved by the Dean of the faculty member's college and the Vice President for Academic Affairs. During the routing process, the add pay will also be approved by the Office of Grants and Contracts and the Vice President of Administration and Finance.

Consultants

Consultants include any person who is not a Northeastern State University employee that will work on the project. Typically, a person is considered a consultant (versus an employee) if he/she meets the following criteria:

1. Is engaged to complete a specific item or project.
2. Considers this type of work as their regular business profession.
3. Works for multiple people on a routine basis.
4. Is not a current NSU employee.
5. Provides the University with an invoice detailing the item(s) or service(s) rendered.

State employees may not serve as consultants on a grant project.

Calculate consultant time/effort in hours, not by a percentage of time.

Fringe benefits should not be calculated for consultants and consultant fees should not be included in the indirect cost calculations if NSU's negotiated indirect cost rate is used. If the negotiated rate is not used, consultant fees should be included in any other indirect cost rate calculation based on a percentage of direct costs.

Direct Costs

Direct costs are clearly identifiable costs related to a specific project. General categories of direct costs include but are not limited to salaries and wages, fringe benefits, supplies, contractual services, travel and communication, equipment, and computer use.

If Northeastern State University's negotiated indirect cost rate is not allowed by a funding agency, they will often allow a percentage of direct costs to be used.

Example with Salary, Fringe, Indirect

Sample Budget (Federal Funding Agency)

PI Salary: $10,000 (Academic Year)
Student Salary: $2,000 (Academic Year)

PI Fringe: $10,000 x 58% = $5,800
Student Fringe: $2,000 x 3.5% = $70

Indirect Costs: $12,000 x 52% = $6,240

Rates are subject to change. Please confirm all rates and calculations with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs before developing a budget.

Fringe Benefits

Fringe benefits should be calculated as a percentage of the salary being charged to the grant, as detailed below.

Rates are subject to change. Please confirm all rates and calculations with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs before developing a budget.

Fringe benefits should be included for all state employees, even if they are not NSU employees. Public school teachers are state employees.

Federal and Foundation Funding Agencies

Full-Time Faculty/Staff - 58%

Part-time employees - 38%

Oklahoma Funding Agencies

Full-Time Faculty/Staff - 48%

Part-time employees - 28%

Student Workers and Graduate Assistants - All Funding Agencies

Academic Year - 3.5%

Summer - 7.65%

 

Updated 1-19-2017

Honorariums

An honorarium is paid to an individual for professional services of a consulting, artistic, or entertainment nature. Generally, the individual should be an authority or recognized expert in the field of endeavor for which retained, and the service should be of a non-recurring nature. To qualify, the individual must not have been on the University payroll or of any other Oklahoma State Agency at the time the services are provided.

Fringe benefits should not be calculated for honorariums and they should not be included in the indirect cost calculations if Northeastern State University's negotiated indirect cost rate is used. If the negotiated rate is not used, honorariums should be included in any other indirect cost rate calculation based on a percentage of direct costs.

Indirect Costs

Indirect costs are costs related to expenses incurred in conducting or supporting research or other externally-funded activities, but not directly attributable to a specific project. General categories of indirect costs include general administration (accounting, payroll, purchasing, etc.), sponsored project administration, plant operation and maintenance, library expenses, departmental administration expenses, depreciation or use allowance for buildings and equipment, and student administration and services.

Whenever possible, proposals should request full reimbursement of indirect costs. When a proposal provides for less than full indirect cost reimbursement, the circumstances should be discussed in advance with the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs.

The Office of Research & Sponsored Programs is available to help you determine what the funding agency will allow and to help compute the appropriate rate. In general, indirect costs are computed using Northeastern State University's Federally Negotiated Rate. Indirect costs change based on our negotiations with the Federal Government (currently, every three years).

NSU’s Federal Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate

• 52.0 percent of salaries and wages (not including fringe) for on-campus projects
• 27.4 percent of salaries and wages (not including fringe) for off-campus projects

(Indirect Costs should be calculated for all state employee salaries, even if they are not NSU employees. Public school teachers are state employees.)

Limits on Indirect Costs

Some funding agencies limit the amount of indirect costs that can be requested. When not using the negotiated rate, a percentage of all direct costs is commonly used.

Exclusions

Student scholarships must be excluded from any indirect cost calculations based on a percentage of direct costs.

The following items are often considered personnel costs, however, when using the negotiated rate, do not compute fringe and indirect costs on:

• Consultant Fees
• Honorariums
• Stipends

Matching and In-Kind

Some grants require a specified portion of the cost of a supported item of equipment or project be obtained from other sources. The required match may be more or less than the amount of the grant. In-kind are contributions or assistance in a form other than money. In-kind can include equipment, materials, or services of recognized value that are offered in lieu of cash.

All matching and in-kind contributions must be approved and documented on the Northeastern State University Matching Funds Form. The Office of Research & Sponsored Programs will assist in this process, but all approvals should be facilitated by the Principal Investigator in conjunction with the appropriate dean or university department. An NSU account number is required for all cash match items.

Release Time

Release time for Faculty may be funded through a grant proposal as outlined in the Faculty Handbook, Section 4.2:

Please contact the Office of Research Sponsored Programs at X2243 or X2029 for assistance in calculating release time.

Limits

All release time requests must be pre-approved by the Dean of the faculty member's college. Any release time request over 25 percent must be approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The University may grant reassigned time from normal teaching responsibilities (described in 4.1 of the Faculty Handbook) to faculty for a specified time period to pursue approved academic projects. Such reassigned time must be used to engage in specialized scholarly and academic activity (e.g., grant administration, research), or cultural experience. Northeastern views reassigned time from teaching responsibilities as an investment with the expectation that the teaching reduction will significantly enhance the faculty member's capacity to contribute to the objectives of the University. Reassigned time approval shall be consistent with the appropriate budgetary and faculty arrangements so as not to disrupt the instructional program or other vital operations of the University.

Salaries

Typically, the salary section of the budget should include the names and titles of all personnel working on the project, the percentage of time each devote to the project, and the salary or percentage of salary requested.

The Office of Research and Sponsored programs will contact Northeastern State University Payroll to verify all salary figures on submitted budgets. Any full-time position fully funded by the grant must be consistent with the established University salary levels.

Stipends

Stipends are paid to participants of a program, workshop, or approved grant activity. A stipend will be paid to all participants, including Northeastern State University employees, that attend the program with the sole intent and purpose of being a student. There is no designated limit on the stipend amount.

Stipends are taxable; therefore fringe should be included for stipend amounts.

Exceptions

Presenters cannot receive stipends.

Summer Salary

Summer pay is for work performed during the summer. Summer salary is permitted for the principle investigator, project director, or appropriate staff member if allowed by the funding agency. The grant or contract must also cover the related fringe benefits and indirect costs.

Summer salary may not exceed 25% of regular academic year salary.

Please contact Research & Sponsored Programs at ext. 2243 or ext. 2029 for assistance in calculating summer salary.