Rates for Developing Budgets
Discussed below are costs and rates to be used in budgets for proposals submitted to extramural sponsors. Contact a proposal reviewer with any questions.
Rates and projections are modified as new information is received; check these pages for changes prior to developing a budget.
Personnel Costs
Faculty
For faculty on an academic year (nine-month) appointment, a one-course buyout is equal to 1/8th of the academic year salary or 12.5% effort. One month summer salary is equal to 1/9th of the academic year salary.
Graduate Assistants
Research Assistant (RA) Costs
Specific costs to be budgeted for Research Assistants are at Graduate Research Assistant Costs.
For RAs appointed on extramural grants and contracts (fund 133 or 144) coded as research and, likewise, for RAs funded as part of research grant matches committed by the Graduate School or other schools and colleges, the campus will provide in-state tuition remission. The campus will not provide in-state tuition remission on RA appointments made on UWM Foundation fund 133 accounts. In such cases, the PI's school or college will be responsible for providing the in-state tuition remission.
In-state tuition costs for RAs are not to be charged to external sponsors on research grants and contracts.
If an RA appointment is made on extramural funding that is not research grant/contract or research grant-match related, the school of college making the appointment will be charged for the in-state tuition costs.
Project Assistant (PA) Non-Doctoral/Doctoral Costs
Specific costs to be budgeted for Project Assistants are at Graduate Project Assistant Non-Doctoral/Doctoral Costs.
Resident tuition costs for Project Assistants must be requested from all sponsors. The resident tuition costs do not include segregated fees and are equivalent to the Off-Campus Graduate Resident Tuition. Project future year tuition costs by increasing by 6% per year.
Project Assistant Dissertator Costs: These should only be used when it is certain that the PA who will be hired is in dissertator status. Check with a proposal reviewer for these costs.
Graduate Assistant Non-Resident Tuition Remissions: Federally funded Graduate Research Assistant and Project Assistant appointments are subject to Non-Resident Tuition Remissions calculated at 25% of the graduate assistant stipend. This Non-Resident Tuition Remission is applied to all federally funded accounts (both direct and flow-through). It is not applied to non-federally funded projects.
Post-Doctoral Appointments: The appropriate appointment for a post-doctoral researcher is Research Associate. Budget fringe benefits accordingly.
Cost Sharing
Principal investigators, schools, colleges, and departments are advised to not make cost sharing commitments unless the proposal guidelines state that cost sharing is required or strongly encouraged. Cost sharing commitments can be made by describing percentages of time or other support to be provided to the project in the budget justification or other narrative sections of the proposal. Even if cost sharing does not appear in the budget, narrative commitments are binding on the institution, even when not initially required by the sponsor. In these instances, the principal investigator and institution are required to account for funds related to cost sharing along with the funds awarded by the sponsor. In all cases where cost sharing commitments are made, the source(s) of support must documented in the Proposed Budget section of the General Tab when creating the WISPER record.
Rather than specifying a particular percentage or amount of salary, statements such as the following can be used to demonstrate principal investigator and institutional involvement in supporting the project.
- The PI will have significant involvement throughout the project by providing expert advice and consultation on all aspects of the research. In addition, the PI will co-author publications.
- The PI will have access to valuable resources, such as equipment and laboratory space, which are required for the successful completion of the project described herein.