Proposal Budgeting Guidance
| FACULTY/STAFF | 4 - 7%/project year (raises generally awarded July 1)* |
| GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS | 4 - 7%/project year (raises generally awarded July 1)* |
| TUITION | 4 - 7%/project year (tuition rate decided at beginning of acad. year) |
* or as approved by sponsor
| FACULTY/STAFF | 32.2%, (FTE salaries > $40,000/year) estimated, actual will be paid. For significantly lower or higher salaries, refer to Fringe Benefits Rate Chart |
| GRAD RESEARCH ASST. | .35% of salary, plus tuition |
| TUITION | Engineering- $646/month, All other departments- $404.50/month |
| STUDENT/TIMECARD WAGES | .35% of wages if assured of enrollment and attendance status (9% Summer when not full-time enrolled) |
| For Research on campus: | July 2005 through June 2009: 43.0% |
| For Research off campus: | July 2005 through June 2009: 26.0% |
| For Instruction: | July 2005 through June 2009: 52.8% |
| For all other sponsored activities: | July 2005 through June 2009: 27.5% |
A. On/Off-Campus
To obtain Sponsored Programs review you may e-mail your proposal budget as a properly formated attachment (i.e. Excel, Quattro, etc.) to your cognizant Administrator (click here for e-mail addresses) or FAX a copy of the budget along with your detail sheets to Sponsored Programs Administration at (662) 325-3803. Or you may contact Sponsored Programs Administration to schedule an appointment at (662) 325-7404.
B. Deadlines
Please see that your budget/proposal are reviewed by a Sponsored Programs Administrator at least 3 days before the proposal must be sent. This will assure adequate time to make any corrections before the proposal is submitted.
A. Faculty and Staff (including Research Assistants and Post Doctoral Candidates)
Use current salary figures with an appropriate inflation factor as of July 1 of each year thereafter. If an MSU faculty member will only be consulting on a project, it will still be calculated as a percentage of the appointment. No extra compensation may be paid from a sponsored project unless it is specifically identified as such and requested from the agency in the proposal and approved.
B. Wages/Temporary Employees
Use hourly wage rates as appropriate for the type of work performed within the guidelines issued by Human Resource Services. You may or may not choose to use 4% - 7% per year inflation factor.
C. Salary to Hourly Rate Conversion
To convert 9 month salaried employees to an hourly rate divide the 9 month salary by 1,560 hours. To convert 12 month salaried employees to an hourly rate divide the 12 month salary by 2,080 hours (173.3 hours per month for 12 monhts = 2,080; The average month has 4.33 weeks). If asked to provide a "loaded" rate remember to load the hourly rate calculated using the aforementioned convention with appropriate fringe AND approprate F&A rate.
Per diem rates MSU Subsistence Per Diem Rates, mileage rates, and motor pool rates are listed in the MSU Policies and Procedures Manual section OP 62.01.
If travel is to a foreign destination, contact the MSU Travel Office for procedures.
Inflation suggested at 4 - 7% per year but not mandatory.
Designate two subcategories, one for MSU employee travel and another for Consultant, Participant or Honorarium Travel.
Always provide justification of travel expenses. Sponsors often ask for detail when they perform proposal cost analysis. Keep in mind that a lump sum figure with no destinations and/or detail may hold up the award process.
Inflation suggested at 4 - 7% per year but not mandatory.
Individual components to be used for equipment fabrication should be identified as such.
- Principal Investigator's best estimate of page charges, etc.
- Contact MSU Printing Services for quotes/rates (5-2251)
- Inflation suggested at 4 - 7% per year but not mandatory
1. Most federal agencies limit the maximum daily compensation rate to GS-15 level (current rate is $539 per day).
2. Inflation suggested at 4% per year but not mandatory.
- Contact Information Systems and User Support for rates on special services or access. (5-0631)
- Inflation suggested at 4% per year but not mandatory.
- Have each subcontractor prepare and submit a detailed budget. They will want to obtain their standard institutional/agency approvals first.
- Each subcontract should be listed separately. Math on budgets submitted by subcontractors should be checked.
- If the subcontractor is requesting facilities and administrative costs, include it as a direct cost to MSU.
- Submit a copy of the subcontractor's most current negotiated facilities and administrative cost Agreement for audit purposes.
- Inflation rates used by subcontractors should be in accordance with subcontractor's normal practices.
- MSU facilities and administrative cost on subcontractor costs is calculated using the appropriate rate for the first $25,000 of subcontractor total costs only.
- Any MSU service center used should be shown here. Each center should be contacted by the Principal Investigator to get estimates for services requested (MSU categorizes as contractual).
- Telephone tolls, photocopy charges, equipment maintenance, conference registration fees, etc. also belong in this category. If telephone equipment/line rental is to be charged to the grant, it should be separately identified here as such and not included as tolls. Charges for equipment and line rental will need to be strongly justified in the budget justification (MSU categorizes as contractual).
- Inflation factor for all above items is at the Principal Investigator's discretion (suggest 4 - 7% per year).
- Normal facilities and administrative cost rates will generally be applied on all proposals unless the funding agency prohibits facilities and administrative costs or has its own rates. Obtain prior approval from OSPA or from your college administrator for exceptions.
- Indirect Cost Rates:
| For Research on campus: | July 2005 through June 2009: 43.0% |
| For Research off campus: | July 2005 through June 2009: 26.0% |
| For Instruction: | July 2005 through June 2009: 52.8% |
| For all other sponsored activities: | July 2005 through June 2009: 27.5% |
*For proposals extending beyond June 2009 use the same rates
Proper classification of your project is essential to the selection and application of the appropriate rate. Generally, the following definitions apply (source: OMB A-21; American Heritage Dictionary):
| Research: | Separately budgeted scholarly or scientific investigation or inquiry; to study thoroughly. |
| Instruction: | Training or teaching activities (other than research training) including the possible development and distribution of curriculum |
| Other Sponsored Activities: | Programs and projects that involve the performance of work other than instruction and research. Examples of such programs and projects are health service projects, and community service programs. |
Sponsored agreements will not be subject to more than one facilities and administrative cost rate. If more than 50% of a project is performed off-campus, the off-campus rate will apply to the entire project. Similarly, if your project contains components from more than one classification (i.e. Research and Instruction) then only the rate of the most significant component will apply.
- Standard facilities and administrative costs are charged on all costs with the exception of:
- Equipment items costing $500 or more each
- Alteration and Renovation costs
- Costs over $25,000 of each subcontract. Facilities and administrative costs are charged on the first $25,000 of each subcontract only.
- Tuition.
- Some agencies such as the NSF do not allow facilities and administrative costs charged to participant support costs for activities such as symposium, seminars or workshops. If in doubt check with Sponsored Programs Administration.
MSU Federally Negotiated Rate Agreement
** --- You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files. 
First some definitions. Cost sharing is a phrase used to indicate that more than one sponsor will share in the costs associated with a project. The most common relationship is for an external sponsor to provide most of the funds and for the University to provide the remainder of the funds necessary to carry out a project successfully. Matching is a form of cost sharing that generally defines a specific ratio of sponsor and University dollars. This type of cost share is usually an eligibility requirement stated in the RFP (request for prop osals) and is usually but not always provided from institutional resources. Cost sharing and matching are nearly synonymous and are often used interchangeably.
You should be familiar with two primary types of cost sharing/matching: In-kind contributions; and, cash contributions. In-kind contributions are those wherein a value of the contribution can be readily determined, verified and justified but where no actual cash is transacted in securing the good or service comprising the contribution. Two examples of in-kind contributions are: (1) The donation of volunteer time valued at a rate that would be reasonable for the time devoted had the volunteer been compensated for the time. For example, if you solicit volunteers from the local high school to help run surveys on a research project without compensating the volunteers, it would be appropriate to value the volunteer's time at, say, minimum wage for the number of hours volunteered; (2) The donation of non-institution space where such space would normally carry a fee for purposes other than supporting this particular project (i.e. some negotiation between the PI and the donator, or a benefit will accrue to the donator of the space other than immediate monetary reimbursement for the use of the space). This might be utilization of the local Bank Conference Center without having to pay the pre-defined and published rate.
Cash contributions differ from in-kind contributions in that an actual cash transaction occurs and can be documented in the accounting system. This includes allocation of compensated faculty and staff time to projects. Although it is easy to mistake the allocation of compensated faculty/staff time as a donation or as in-kind because the faculty or staff member would be compensated regardless of the advent of the sponsored project, the value is the result of a cash transaction and should be treated as a cash contribution. Other examples of cash contribution include the purchasing of equipment by the institution or other eligible sponsor for the benefit of the project requiring cost sharing.
Cost sharing included in a proposal or a proposal budget must be documented in the official accounting records upon acceptance and management of an award. At MSU cash contributions (including faculty time and the like as described above) will require the transfer of budget from an appropriate fund to cover the cash contribution amount. This transfer of budget must initiate from an E&G, Designated, or Gift fund belonging to the University or from a Restricted fund allowing such use. In-kind contributions must be documented with official correspondence from the organization providing the in-kind cost sharing to include appropriate substantive documentation such as published rate schedules, time cards for volunteers, etc.
Upon commencing management of your sponsored project containing cost sharing, Sponsored Programs Accounting will issue a letter advising you to transfer the value of cash contributions to the restricted fund from which your sponsored project will be managed. Do not ignore this correspondence. Transfer the funds immediately upon receipt of this correspondence to avoid an under-recovery of sponsor funds as the project matures. Sponsored Programs Accounting will only invoice the sponsor for the proportionate share of expenditures. Hence, the restricted fund will run in a perpetual deficit until the value of the cash contributions is transferred from appropriate internal or authorized restricted funds. The management unit (i.e. department, center, branch station) is responsible for cash deficits.
If Cost Sharing is in the proposal, an obligation will be set up at the time the award is set up. Every effort should be made to meet the obligation within the grant period. Grants whose cost sharing obligation has not been met may be subject to reduction by the agency.
Some agencies require Cost Sharing on research grants such as NSF at 1% total project costs, EPA at 5% total project costs, some are dollar for dollar, etc. If Cost Sharing obligations are not required, they should not be listed on the budget page and should not have a dollar value assigned in the narrative. Lab space should not be shown as a MSU contribution. Be sure you are not over-committing a person's time beyond 100% effort -- if a person is being paid 100% on other projects and that situation will not be changing, do not commit him/her to this project. As a general rule, cost share the minimum amount required.
Using federal dollars as matching or Cost Sharing toward another sponsored project is not allowed unless you have written authorization from both federal agencies.
Facilities and administrative costs "waived" on the sponsor portion as well as facilities and administrative costs associated with the University contribution can generally be claimed as Cost Sharing. If facilities and administrative costs are defined as unallowable by the sponsor, then such costs are also unallowable as cost share. Unallowable facilities and administrative costs may only be used if facilities and administrative costs are only considered un-reimbursed rather than unallowable costs.