Salaries of tenured and non-tenured faculty members and other personnel associated directly with the research constitute appropriate direct cost in proportion to the time each expects to spend on the research. Secretaries and administrative salaries are generally not allowed on government sponsored projects. The budget must include the percentage of time that will be spent on the grant in terms of nine- or twelve-month appointments and the total amount of salary to be charged to the grant. Summer support may be considered to be two-ninths or three-ninths of the academic year salary. The length of support is at the discretion of the applicant's department and college.

For research scientists, research assistants, professional assistants, and other personnel (technical, clerical, undergraduate students), the percentage of time and rate of pay indicated for each position must be listed. Salaries charged against grant funds must follow a scale consistent with the regular practices of the University. However, salaries for the initial budget period should be adjusted to provide for salary increases due to cost of living, promotion, or meeting University decompression standards for professional and scientific staff. (Fellowships are not an allowable cost on research grants.) Grants may not be used to augment the total salary or rate of salary of University faculty members.

Charging Administrative & Clerical Salaries to Grants

Uniform Guidance (see UG 200 CFR) ensures that federal funding is administered in a consistent way, outlining a set of uniform principles for budgeting and charging allowable costs to federally sponsored awards.

The salaries and benefits of administrative and clerical staff, as well as general expenses such as office supplies, postage, local telephone costs, and memberships in professional and scientific organizations, are generally not allowed as direct charges to federally sponsored awards except under special circumstances (see below). As a result, administrative and clerical salaries and benefits associated with routine services such as typing reports, filing, handling mail, making travel arrangements, answering telephones, etc., should not be budgeted or charged as direct costs, even when there is a direct benefit to the project

The government recognizes that, in some instances, the direct charging of administrative and clerical salaries may be appropriate and therefore approved by the funding agency. Examples of such projects include major, complex, multi-investigator projects such as Center Grants, Program Project Grants, and other sponsored projects that entail assembling and managing teams of investigators -- where administrative/secretarial support would be an integral part of the project itself.

Direct charging of these costs may be appropriate only if ALL of the following conditions are met:

1. The effort of the individual must be integral to the project
   • If the services are integral, the individual would need to spend a significant amount of time- typically 15% or greater- on the activities in a given year
   • In consideration of the type of project, special circumstances might require concentrated effort on administrative tasks for a short period of time that may not equate to 15% effort in a year but are still allowable.  For example, support right before or after a conference that requires significant effort for the period of time.
2. If the effort of the individual meets the definition as an allowable direct cost under the Uniform Guidance, no additional consideration is required.  This includes:
   • Developing and maintaining protocols (humans, animals, etc.)
   • Managing substances/chemicals
   • Managing and securing project-specific data
   • Coordinating research subjects
3. For other administrative activities that are not normally allowed such as travel and meeting arrangements, travel reimbursements, procurement, financial tracking/management, payroll or human resources, etc., the justification must indicate that the project will require an unusual type of volume of administrative tasks.  Examples include:
   • Large, complex programs such as CTSA, research centers, etc.
   • Epidemiological studies, clinical trials, etc., that involve extensive data accumulation, analysis and entry, surveying, tabulation, cataloging, search and reporting and data reduction
   • Projects that require making extensive travel and meeting arrangements for a large number of participants, such as conferences and seminars
   • Projects whose principal focus is the preparation and productions of manuals and large reports (other than routine progress and technical reports), books, and monographs
   • Projects in a remote location that is not accessible to normal departmental administrative services, such as off-campus research
   • Individual projects that require a significant amount of project-specific database management, individualized graphics, or manuscript preparation

If you have questions concerning these federal regulations, contact the Division of Sponsored Programs at  dsp@uiowa.edu or 335-2123.

Fringe benefits include such items as Social Security, University retirement programs, life insurance, health insurance, and disability insurance. These amounts vary by type of appointments according to the schedule provided by the Fringe Benefit Pool Rates. If there are questions concerning which rate to use, check with the Division of Sponsored Programs.

• Fringe Benefit Rates

The University began budgeting and expending fringe benefits as a percentage of actual salary costs in grants and contracts effective July 1, 1997. Effective July 1 each year, the fringe benefit rates are adjusted, as necessary, for each employee rate pool.

Tuition remission and other forms of compensation must be consistently provided in each department, in accordance with established institutional and departmental policy, to students performing similar activities conducted in non-sponsored as well as sponsored activities. The COGS agreement establishes the minimum amount that can be charged to funding sources for tuition.  Up to 100% of the cost of full graduate tuition may be charged to a funding source including grants and contracts, in accordance with departmental policy, unless specifically prohibited by the sponsoring agency.

See current information from the Graduate College page.

It is recommended that salaries be increased at a rate of 3% per year when making future year budget estimates. This rate is consistent with the rate established by NIH and is considered an acceptable rate to most federal agencies.

NIH Salary Cap

Effort Conversion Table

The type and extent of domestic travel and its relationship to the project should be specified. Identify destinations, if possible. Allowances for air travel will not normally exceed round trip coach accommodations. Separate projected transportation expenses from housing and food costs in contract proposals. Only persons participating directly in the research may travel on grant funds.

If foreign travel is contemplated in connection with the research, the proposal should include the names of countries to be visited, along with considerable justification as to why the travel is necessary. If provision for travel to other countries is not included in the original proposal, the funding agency must be consulted prior to the commitment of grant funds for such purposes. Notification should provide evidence that the travel is essential to the objective for which the grant was awarded. Per diem rates for foreign countries are available in the Division of Sponsored Programs Office.

1. General. Travel costs are the expenses for transportation, lodging, subsistence, and related items incurred by employees who are in travel status on official business of the institution. Such costs may be charged on an actual basis, on a per diem or mileage basis in lieu of actual costs incurred, or on a combination of the two, provided the method used is applied to an entire trip and not to selected days of the trip, results in reasonable charges, and is in accordance with the institution's travel policy and practices consistently applied to all institutional travel activities.
    
2. Lodging and subsistence. Costs incurred by employees and officers for travel, including costs of lodging, other subsistence, and incidental expenses, shall be considered reasonable and allowable only to the extent such costs do not exceed charges normally allowed by the institution in its regular operations as a result of an institutional policy and the amounts claimed under sponsored agreements represent reasonable and allocable costs. In the absence of an acceptable institutional policy regarding travel costs, the rates and amounts established under subchapter I of Chapter 57 of Title 5, United States Code, or by the Administrator of General Services, or the President (or his or her designee) pursuant to any provisions of such subchapter shall apply to sponsored agreements (41 U.S.C. 420).
    
3. Commercial air travel. Airfare costs in excess of the lowest available commercial discount airfare, Federal Government contract airfare (where authorized and available), or customary standard (coach or equivalent) airfare, are unallowable except when such accommodations would: require circuitous routing; require travel during unreasonable hours; excessively prolong travel; greatly increase the duration of the flight; result in increased costs that would offset transportation savings; or offer accommodations not reasonably adequate for the medical needs of the traveler. Where an institution can reasonably demonstrate to the sponsoring agency either the nonavailability of discount airfare or Federal contract airfare for individual trips or, on an overall basis, that it is the institution's practice to make routine use of such airfare, specific determinations of nonavailability will generally not be questioned by the Federal Government, unless a pattern of avoidance is detected. However, in order for airfare costs in excess of the customary standard commercial airfare to be allowable, e.g., use of first-class airfare, the institution must justify and document on a case-by-case basis the applicable condition(s) set forth above.
    
4. Air travel by other than commercial carrier. "Cost of travel by institution-owned, -leased, or -chartered aircraft," as used in this subsection, includes the cost of lease, charter, operation (including personnel costs), maintenance, depreciation, insurance, and other related costs. Costs of travel via institution-owned, -leased, or -chartered aircraft shall not exceed the cost of allowable commercial air travel, as provided for in subsection c.