Personnel Costs

See information outlined below for the following personnel costs: 

• Faculty salary & effort (academic and summer)
• Other project staff
• Administrative/clerical positions
• Postdoctoral research associates/senior postdoctoral research associates
• Graduate research assistants
• Undergraduate students
• Temporary employees (03)

Faculty Salary & Effort (academic and summer)

• Proposals should accurately represent the amount of direct research effort that key personnel are committing to the project. The amount of effort committed to a sponsored project is based on a best estimate of the actual effort required to meet the goals and outcomes of the proposed project. 
• For federally funded projects, effort for all key personnel and in particular for faculty must be budgeted minimally at 1% or greater. This correlates to 0.09 months for academic year appointments and 0.12 for calendar year appointments. As noted, effort should typically be budgeted substantially greater than 1% since budgeted effort should reflect the actual effort needs of the project. For more details, see the policy statement Minimum Effort on Sponsored Projects.
• Faculty should consult with their department chairs to determine how much time they are allowed to dedicate to research projects. Personnel effort on all ACTIVE awards plus teaching load cannot exceed 100%. In other words, 2.5 months summer salary + committed academic year research effort (up to the maximum percentage allotted for research by your department during the academic year) + Teaching load + Outreach + other obligations = 100%. 
• Faculty academic year (AY) and summer effort should be budgeted as separate line items. 
• Show basis of effort in accordance with sponsor guidelines — this is either represented on a “person month” basis or % of effort. Because awarded UMass budgets get loaded utilizing a “person month” basis, this should be the default approach. If the sponsor requires using a different basis (% or hourly for example), always provide the person month equivalence in the Budget Justification. 
• Effort charged to sponsored projects must be allocable, allowable, reasonable, and if awarded consistently reported and tracked in the UMass effort reporting system: Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC). 
• If awarded, budgeted effort will need to be obligated and spent against the sponsor account. And, importantly, it must be tracked in the ECC system at a level that matches the level of effort as proposed to the sponsor unless the sponsor allows or approves a change in the level of effort. Please consult with OPAM in advance if considering rebudgeting key person effort. 
• The university must be able to provide auditable records of committed effort. This is achieved primarily by payroll being charged to the grant at a level that aligns with the sponsor expectations for effort commitments. 
• Alternatively, when sponsors mandate cost-sharing, academic effort can be cost shared and tracked in accordance with University policy and procedures. See Cost Sharing Requirements & Procedures.

Academic 

• As a rule of thumb, faculty can expect to maximally allocate up to approximately 3.5 academic months across their grant portfolio without opting for course buy-outs. Consult with department chairs. 
• Budgeting academic effort is not mandatory, but if academic year effort commitments are significant for any one grant, academic effort should be budgeted. If a significant amount of academic year effort is required, course buy-outs should be explored with the department and budgeted as academic year effort accordingly. Do not refer to the effort as a “course buy-out” in the proposal itself – that is for internal UMass purposes only. Use the term “academic year” effort instead. 
• If academic year effort commitments for any given project are not anticipated to be significant but rather incidental, effort does not need to be budgeted. In these scenarios, it is assumed that other budgeted project related personnel (Graduate Research Assistants, other faculty, postdocs, etc.) are primarily carrying the project in the academic year.  If it is a federally funded project, do keep the Minimum Effort on Sponsored Projects in mind to satisfy the effort commitment requirements of that policy. 
• Unless the sponsor mandates cost-sharing, do not refer to contributions of academic year effort in any quantifiable manner.  If academic year effort is not significant, and you are not charging or cost-sharing academic effort, the following language for the budget justification would be acceptable: “The PI will be fully involved in the project throughout the year to ensure that the scope and objectives are met.” 

Summer 

• Faculty may charge up to 2.5 summer months across their sponsored projects portfolio in any given year. 
• If budgeted as summer effort, effort must be committed during the summer. If budgeted as summer salary, effort cannot be committed during the academic year and paid out as summer effort/compensation. 
• Approval is needed to commit more than 2.5 summer months of effort in any given year. Keep in mind that if 3 months of summer effort is budgeted in any given year, no non-sponsored project activities can take place during the period of compensation (no vacation, course planning, etc.).

Calendar Year 

• Calendar year faculty are not eligible for summer salary. All effort must be budgeted as calendar year effort.

Emeritus Faculty

Emeritus (retired) faculty are eligible to be Principal Investigators as long as both the department head and dean approve during Kuali proposal routing. Access to Kuali is restricted to faculty and staff with active appointments. Emeritus status is available only to those faculty who have permanently retired from the university. Normally, it is granted only to those with ten or more years of service to the university and who have attained the rank of full professor. Emeritus status is awarded by the chancellor only upon recommendation by the provost.

When combined with retirement salary, the salary for emeritus faculty charged to the sponsor cannot exceed the base annual salary upon retirement: retirement + sponsor funded salary = not greater than base salary upon retirement. After being retired one full calendar year one may earn the difference plus an additional $15,000. More information. 

Only Worker’s Compensation, UI, UHU, and MTX is assessed on their salary. See current fringe rates.

Other Project Staff

Other project staff consist of technicians, programmers, engineers, project coordinators, administrative/secretarial, etc. 

• Effort is budgeted based on actual need and as allowable by sponsor. 
• Do not cost share effort in any way whether quantifiable or not unless the sponsor mandates cost sharing. 
• Full fringe is typically required.

Administrative/Clerical Positions

Non-federal sponsors: Administrative/clerical costs may be budgeted at will on non-federally funded projects as long as there are no restrictions in the sponsor guidelines and funding is not also prime federal. Be aware of federal flow downs in the guidelines. 

Federal sponsors: In response to federal restrictions on the direct charging of administrative/clerical personnel to sponsored projects, UMass budgets should only include these costs when: 

• A minimum of 25% FTE (3 months) is budgeted per year 
• The position is required by the project scope, due to the project's special purpose & circumstance where the services provided go above and beyond the scope of those normally provided by administrative personnel. See the Administrative Cost Requirements. Please review carefully and study sample secretarial justifications as well. 
• Clarification: Account monitoring, meeting arrangements, or typing general correspondence or reports on behalf of a grant/contract would be considered the normal services to be provided by the University and treated as an indirect cost; consequently they would NOT be allowed as a direct cost.

Postdoctoral Research Associates/Senior Post Doctoral Research Associates

• Salary levels vary from department to department based on market and seniority – rates not to fall below mandated minimum. 
• Postdocs cannot be Principal Investigators in their own right. Postdocs must have their faculty advisor as a Co-PI.  If sponsor guidelines do not allow for the budgeting of any faculty effort or if the program is strictly a Postdoc research grant or fellowship and specified as such in the sponsor guidelines, the faculty advisor should be listed on the IPF as a Co-PI and included in the IPF routing. See Roles and Responsibilities of Principal Investigators/Co-investigators.

Graduate Research Assistants

• Determine annual salary, fringe, and tuition charge levels using the Kuali Salary Guide (Excel) found here. This calculator will reliably calculate graduate Research Assistant (RA) base salary, percent of effort, and tuition while also accommodating for sponsor specific Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA). 
• Print out the Kuali Salary Guide and load it into the Internal Attachments section of Kuali. This will help OPAS confirm your calculations. 
• Be sure the Budget and the Budget Justification match these calculations.

Undergraduate Students

• Budget using an hourly rate – must be at least the current Commonwealth of Massachusetts minimum wage.
• Only budget fringe on summer effort and only if not enrolled in summer classes. See Fact Sheet for current rate (Student Summer Payroll)

Temporary Employees (03)

• If salary is budgeted for an individual who doesn’t otherwise have an appointment nor will s/he be appointed on a permanent basis if the proposal is awarded, and this individual will be using UMass facilities to help conduct the actual research, that person qualifies as a temporary employee. 
• 6 month maximum appointment per year (50%) 
• Non-benefitted: For non-students, classified, professional, or faculty hired below 50% time, benefits are not applicable, only the non-benefitted rate is assessed - Unemployment Compensation Insurance Premium (UI), Universal Health Insurance (UHI) contribution, and the employer share of Medicare Tax (MTX).