Salary and Wage Charges on Grants

General Principles

As a recipient of federal funding, NIU has a responsibility for sound stewardship of sponsored funds with the bedrock principle of this stewardship being honest dealings with our funding sponsors.  Federal regulations establish cost principles that require that all costs charged to sponsored awards be reasonable, allocable and consistently treated.  

This means that charges for effort (i.e., time) associated with salary and fringe benefit costs to sponsored awards must accurately reflect the work performed during the pay period in which the work occurs and that project deliverables are met. It also means that all salary and wage charges to sponsored awards need to follow both university and federal requirements and that the most restrictive rules apply.

For faculty, release time from academic year duties (inclusive of research, scholarship or artistry, teaching or librarianship, and service) or summer compensation are the typical mechanisms for charging effort to sponsored projects.

Examples of Activities that Can and Cannot be Charged on Grants

Activities That Can be Charged to Grants

• Directing or participating in any aspect of the research related to the specific project
• Writing a progress report for the project, sometimes called a continuation or non-competing proposal
• Holding a meeting with staff to discuss the specific project
• Activities contributing to and intimately related to work under the agreement, including:
  • Participating in appropriate seminars
  • Consulting with colleagues about specific aspects of the project
  • Delivering special lectures about specific aspects of the ongoing activity
  • Attending a conference held by an outside professional society to present research results
  • Reading academic journals to keep up to date with the latest developments in the field related to the project
  • Mentoring students on the project
  • Making an invention disclosure and other activities related to pursuing intellectual property (IP) – if the IP is directly related to the project and the effort occurs within the project award period

Activities That Cannot be Charged to Grants

• Administration, including service as a department chair or dean
• Instruction, office hours, advising students and mentoring students on something other than a specific research project
• Service on an IRB, IACUC, search committee, or another university group
• Course or curriculum development not specific to the research project
• Writing textbook chapters or non-grant related course preparation
• Fundraising
• Lobbying
• Proposal writing for new competitive lines of funding (new proposals and competing renewals) including:
  • Developing necessary details to support the proposal
  • Writing, editing, and submitting the proposal

In addition, it would not be appropriate to charge the project for work that falls outside of university effort including outside consulting, research or outside employment.