The applicant should request salary support for any personnel who will be working full- or part-time on the project. The amount of time an individual will spend on the project is expressed as a percentage or calendar months of effort.  The sponsor will usually indicate if there are any restrictions associated with the level of support that can be requested (such as a dollar amount or the number of months/percent effort). Overtime compensation or salary supplementation is usually unallowable.

• Calculation. Salary requests are calculated by multiplying the 12-month institutional base salary by the percent effort devoted to the project. The 12-month institutional base salary can be deciphered from the 9-month academic salary by dividing the academic salary by 9 then multiplying that number by 12.  

• Person Months. To calculate person months from percent effort, multiply the percentage of your effort associated with the project times the number of months of your appointment. For example:

25% of a 9 month academic year appointment equals 2.25 (AY) person months (9 x .25= 2.25)

10% of a 12 month calendar appointment equals 1.2 (CY) person months (12 x .10 = 1.2)

35% of a 3 month summer term appointment equals 1.05 (SM) person months (3 x .35= 1.05)

Different fringe benefit rates are estimated for different types of employees at the University of Texas at Arlington.  The rates are subject to change at the beginning of each fiscal year and cover costs such as health insurance, worker's compensation and retirement contributions. Fringe benefits are direct costs related to the amount of salary that is requested.  These are not to be confused with F&A costs (see below). Currently, we estimate fringe benefit rates at 30% for faculty and staff and 20% for graduate students and 8.3% for undergraduate students, part-time and hourly employees.  These estimates are used for budgeting purposes, actual fringe benefit expenses will be assessed to the project account as they are incurred.

The applicant may request funds for domestic and foreign travel if allowed by the sponsor. The type and extent of travel should be clearly related to specific objectives of the project, and details should be presented in the Budget Justification. The State of Texas and the UT System have set maximum meal and lodging rates, established rental car agreements, and contracted for reduced airline fares. The rates are found in the latest UTA Traveler's Aid and in various memoranda of the UTA Business Office Travel Section. It is best to contact them for current rates and travel requirements when making travel estimates. Allowances for meals and lodging outside the continental U.S. are determined by the Department of Defense Joint Travel Regulations for Civilian Personnel, Appendix A. Again, this publication is available in the Travel Section of the Business Office for estimating foreign travel.

• Contributed Effort: If salary has not been requested for an individual who will be working on the project, the amount of salary the University pays for that individual to spend that amount of effort on the project is considered contributed effort. This should include the appropriate fringes in addition to the salary.  (Account number required.) 

• In-Kind: This is support by the University or an outside entity in the form of facilities, supplies, and/or time. A dollar value is assigned to this contribution but an actual dollar amount is not donated. 

• Matching Funds: These are actual funds that are set aside for the project and may be provided by the University and/or an external entity.  (Account number required.) 

• Unrecovered F&A Costs: This category can be used as cost-share if allowed by the sponsor.  It is the difference between what the University would recover if the full indirect cost were allowed by the sponsor and what the sponsor actually allows.  It consists of the indirect costs on the total modified direct cost of the project (i.e. the direct costs requested from the sponsor plus all the cost-share amounts less excluded amounts---see "F&A Cost Calculation") less the F&A costs allowed by the sponsor.

Facilities & Administrative costs (F&A) or indirect costs (IDC),are probably the most difficult part of a proposal. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact OGCS for assistance in preparing the budget, especially in calculating the indirect costs.

• Definition: Indirect costs (also referred to as F&A [Facilities and Administrative] costs or overhead) are costs that are common to a number of activities and cannot be easily assigned to a specific project.  They are real costs and include areas such as: administration (University and departmental); facilities maintenance and operation (utilities, janitorial services and repairs); and depreciation and use allowance. The rates that apply for the University are negotiated with and established by the federal government (Department of Health and Human Services), and are subject to change at the end of each negotiated agreement. Please see the UTA Info Sheet. 

• Calculation: The F&A costs for a project are calculated by applying a specific rate to a portion of the direct costs. If the full F&A rate is allowed by the sponsor, the University rate is applied to the modified total direct cost (MTDC). The MTDC is equal to the total direct costs minus equipment, tuition/stipends, and any subcontract amounts over $25,000. If the sponsor restricts the F&A cost rate, the sponsor rate is applied according to sponsor's published F&A policy.  OGCS requires that sponsor guidelines indicating restricted or prohibited F&A cost rates be included with the proposal.

Expendable Supplies: This category may also be referred to as consumables, materials, or M&O (materials and operations). It consists of items purchased for office, laboratory and/or instructional purposes that are directly related to the project activities. Applicants should be aware of the difference between "supplies" and "equipment" (see the Equipment section below for a definition). Items that do not meet the definition of Equipment must be purchased as supplies, regardless of how they will be used in the execution of the project.

Publication Costs: Included in this category are the costs of preparing and publishing the results of the activities conducted under the sponsored project, including reports, reprints, page charges, necessary illustrations (art work, graphics, photography), etc.

UT Arlington has instituted the STEM Tuition Remission program for all PhD seeking students within the Colleges of Engineering and Science. Therefore, all proposals that include PhD level Graduate Research Assistants meeting the criteria of the program must include the cost of all tuition and fees, with the exception of statutory tuition and course specific incidental fees, for eligible students in the budget. The only allowed exceptions are if the sponsoring agency does not allow tuition and fees, or the project is a training grant (training grants follow the established guidelines of the sponsor and include the actual charging of tuition and fees).

This category contains any subcontracts proposed by the PI with another university or a company under a prime award. Evidence must be provided to UT Arlington Grants and Contracts that the other entity is aware of the proposed subcontract. This approval is communicated via a completed Subrecipient Commitment Form (signed by the Authorized Signing Official), that includes a scope of work, a budget and budget justification. The sponsor will indicate in their guidelines whether subcontracts are allowed and, if so, the additional documentation that is required to be included in the proposal.

Subrecipient Form (PDF)

The University's definition of equipment is any stand-alone item that costs $5,000 or more and has a life expectancy of one year or more. Each equipment item the applicant intends to purchase, should the proposal be approved, must be listed in this section. In some circumstances, equipment cannot be purchased from a grant or contract unless the specific item was listed in the proposal budget. Please note, sponsors are more apt to approve the purchase of equipment if it is clearly indicated as essential to the performance of a specific task or activities set forth in the proposal. Sponsors' guidelines may restrict or prohibit equipment purchases.

Fabrication - Non-expendable items under $5,000 may be capitalized if they are used to assemble a stand-alone piece of equipment with a value of $5,000 or more.  Normal repair, maintenance, and expendable supplies such as toner, glue, grease, and replaceable tubes are not capitalized expenses. A fabrication sub-account is established for each piece of capitalized equipment that will be constructed or assembled over a period of time.  When a Principal Investigator knows that a piece of equipment will be fabricated, they should notify the Office of Grant and Contract Services in order to give the name of the equipment to be fabricated.  OGCS will then revise the description for the fabrication sub-accounts.

If the applicant plans to use a specific person as a consultant, that person should be named in the proposal. Consultant services should be justified and information should be furnished on the consultant's expertise, primary organizational affiliation, compensation rate, and number of days or percent of time expected to serve. Certain sponsors limit the amount a consultant can be compensated, please consult the guidelines or your OGCS specialist. Consultants are not typically UTA employees. However, this can be an allowable cost if certain conditions are met and if the consulting work takes place across departmental lines.