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The
following guidelines respond to the most frequently asked
questions concerning proposal budgets. For further
information, call the Office of Research Services at 2-3884.
1.
Salaries
Except
in extraordinary circumstances, university employees who are
being paid from external funds do not receive compensation in
excess of their authorized salaries, but if allowed by agency
guidelines, faculty members on nine-month appointments can
earn up to three months additional summer salary. Faculty
members may also pay for part of their academic year time from
external sources in order to devote more time to the project.
In the latter instance state-funded salary is replaced by
salary funds from the sponsoring agency, and arrangements for
this must be coordinated with the department chair and the
college dean.
The
minimum salary for research assistants is $6840 for nine
months half-time. There is no maximum salary; however,
salaries for research assistants should be consistent with
other salaries paid in the department and college.
Salaries
for currently employed secretaries, technicians or other staff
should be based on current salary. Salaries for employees to
be hired should be based on the minimum salary for that
position in the current Personnel Pay Plan, which is available
at https://www.depts.ttu.edu/personnel/jobclasses/jobclassintro.asp
We
recommend that you plan for increases of 3 to 5 percent in
subsequent years.
Federal
regulations state that administrative and clerical salaries
should normally be charged as facilities and administrative
costs rather than direct costs, but these costs are allowable
if specifically approved by the funding agency. Therefore, for
all federal proposals any administrative or clerical salaries
should be clearly identified in the budget and adequate
justification should be attached. Following are examples from
federal guidelines of the types of projects which may justify
direct charging of administrative and clerical staff:
Large
complex programs that entail assembling and managing teams of
investigators from a number of institutions;
Projects
which involve extensive data accumulation and entry,
surveying, tabulation, cataloging, and reporting, such as
epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and retrospective
clinical records studies;
Projects
whose principal focus is the preparation and production of
manuals and large reports (excluding routine progress and
technical reports);
Projects
that are geographically inaccessible to normal departmental
administrative services, such as seagoing research vessels and
radio astronomy projects that are remote from the campus.
2.
Fringe Benefits
Fringe
benefits include Social Security payments, workers'
compensation insurance, health and other insurance, lump-sum
vacation pool, retiree insurance pool and retirement plan
payments. Fringe benefits are based on salary and if salaries
are paid from external sources, fringe benefits must be paid
from that same source. In a proposal budget, fringe benefits
may be estimated, but when charged, they will be charged at
the actual rate. The current rates for estimating fringe
benefits are:
For employees eligible for full benefits - 18 percent of
salary plus the monthly charge for medical insurance premium
sharing (estimated at $580 per month in FY 2009 if actual charge is
not known).
For graduate research assistants - 1 percent of salary plus
the monthly charge for medical insurance premium sharing
(estimated at $290 per month in FY 2009 if actual charge is
not known).
For
undergraduate student assistants and employees employed for 19
or fewer hours per week or for less than four and one-half
months - 1 percent of salary.
The
cost of health insurance has been escalating rapidly.
Therefore, we recommend that you increase the estimate for
health insurance by 10 percent each year. Click
here to estimate fringe benefits for multiple years.
3. Travel
For any
anticipated travel, the budget should include the number of
travelers, the destination, duration of trip, travel costs,
subsistence costs, and other costs. Estimates of coach class
airfare should be obtained from a travel agent. Per diem rates
allowable under the State of Texas travel policy are available
from the Travel Office, from most department offices and at http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/san/fm1.html
(Scroll down to "Travel.")
Travel
costs may also include registration fees and local
transportation.
Foreign
travel should be clearly justified. If appropriate paperwork
is submitted in advance of the trip, State of Texas policy
allows reimbursement for actual expense for foreign travel.
Federal per diem rates are generally acceptable estimates for
foreign travel and are available at http://www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm/.
4.
Equipment
The
university's facilities and administrative cost agreement
defines permanent or capital equipment as any item costing
$5000 or more with a life expectancy of one year or more.
Shipping and installation charges should be included in the
estimated cost. Any equipment less than $5,000 (including
computers) should be called "uncapitalized
equipment."
5.
Supplies
Supplies
include expendable equipment, lab supplies, and instructional
materials. Office supplies cannot be charged to a federally
sponsored project unless they have been specifically approved
in the budget; therefore, if needed, office supplies should be
clearly identified in the budget and a justification should be
provided.
6.
Other Direct Costs
Include
under this category, duplicating costs, long-distance
telephone charges, reference materials, subcontracts and
graduate student tuition and fee remission. For federally
sponsored projects, postage, local telephone costs, and
memberships cannot be charged unless they are
specifically approved by the agency. These costs should be
clearly identified in the budget and justification provided.
The
cost of tuition and fee remission varies depending on the
number of hours and the department or programs in which they
are taken. A schedule is available from the ORS website at :
http://www.ors.ttu.edu/Tuition_&_Fees.html. You
could also estimate these costs for the 2008-2009 academic
year at $1915 for each of the long semesters and $1065 for each
summer term. Increase the cost by 5% for each subsequent year.
Students who are not employed in the summer may
continue to be eligible for tuition and fee remission in both
summer sessions and these costs will be charged to the account
on which they were appointed in the spring semester.
The
budget justification should include the following explanation
for graduate tuition and fee remission:
Effective
September 1, 2000 compensation provided to teaching and
research assistants at Texas Tech University includes
remission of certain tuition and fees. These costs will be
charged in accordance with OMB Circular A-21 and are excluded
from the facilities and administrative cost base. These costs
are expected to increase at the rate of 5 percent per year.
7.
Facilities & Administrative Costs (F&A)
F&A
costs pay for items that cannot be associated with a specific
project, including utilities, building use, library services,
sponsored project administration, and general university
administration.
The
University's F&A cost rates are established through
negotiation with a federal audit agency. Current rates are:
On-campus
- 46.5% of modified total direct costs (MTDC)
Off-campus
- 26% MTDC
Modified
total direct costs are total direct costs minus equipment,
stipends, and subcontract costs in excess of $25,000 per
subcontract, and tuition and fees. If a project is to be
performed both on and off-campus, the Office of Research
Services will determine the appropriate rate.
8.
Cost-sharing
Any
cost sharing committed in the proposal must be listed on the
routing sheet and initialed by the individual who has the
authority to commit the cost sharing. Usually this individual
is the department chair, dean, or a line-item director. Cost
sharing is subject to the same restrictions as awarded funds.
Administrative and clerical salaries, office supplies,
postage, local telephone costs, and memberships are allowable
as cost sharing only if specifically approved by the funding
agency. Funds from accounts beginning with 0074 or 0078 cannot
be used for cost sharing if full facilities and administrative
costs are recovered or if facilities and administrative costs
are used for cost sharing, because these funds are included in
our facilities and administrative cost pool. Cost sharing is
also subject to audit; therefore, all cost sharing must be
carefully documented when the award is received.
Because
of the extra effort and the complications involved, principal
investigators and project directors should include cost
sharing only if cost sharing is specifically required by the
funding program. Often the generally stated requirement of
"institutional contribution" can be satisfied by a
quantified description of institutional support. An example of
such a description follows:
The
College has already provided funds for the PI to travel to
meet with the collaborator, to complete preliminary field
research, and to confirm the logistical aspects of the
project. All necessary major capital equipment has been
purchased, including . . .(list of equipment).
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