Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Office location:
45 Adams Road
T 508-626-4012
F 508-626-4036
alumni@framingham.edu
Mailing address:
100 State Street PO Box 9101
Framingham, MA 01701-9101
The Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs can provide help to the principal investigator or project director in compiling a budget for the grant application.
Personnel
Framingham State employees, including faculty, administrators and staff, as well as students, are considered personnel.
Salaries and Wages for Faculty
Faculty pay is based on current annual salary, pro-rated on a monthly basis.
Please discuss the appropriate method to calculate faculty compensation with the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs. The approach is contingent upon the kind of project, the timing of the work and the guidelines of the funder.
Salary and Wages of Administrators and Staff
Funders often compensate for staff expenses related to the grant-funded projects.
Salaries and Wages for Students
The University supports the use of student assistants because grant-related projects provide work experience and income.
Fringe Benefits
The fringe benefits rate for administration and staff (full-time and part-time), faculty (full-time) and adjunct/visiting lecturers is 33.7 percent.
Consultants
It is appropriate to pay individuals as consultants if they are not employees of Framingham State and if they are involved in specialized tasks.
Equipment and Supplies
Equipment
In the proposal, specify equipment items that have a unit cost of $1,000 or more. In the budget justification, the principal investigator or project director should note the name and model of the piece of equipment and why it is necessary for the project.
Supplies
Examples are office supplies, copy supplies, glassware and chemicals. Most projects require some expenditures on supplies.
Travel
Long Distance and foreign travel might include the following: air fare, meals, taxi and event registration fees.
Indirect (F&A) and Cost Sharing
Indirect or Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs
Indirect costs are institutional expenses for managing projects. These expenses include clerical staff costs, utilities, security, library usage and IT.
In developing budgets, principal investigators and project directors are encouraged to calculate project costs using the highest indirect cost percentage allowed. Recovered indirect reimburses the University for operating sponsored projects and provides discretionary funds for use by departments and individual investigators.
The University's federally-negotiated rate is 61 percent on salaries, wages and fringe. This rate will apply to all federal grant applications.
Foundations, corporate funders and state agencies often publish a different rate to be used. This percentage is applied to all direct costs, as opposed to just salary and fringe.
Cost Sharing and Matching Funds
Funders frequently require that the University contribute a portion of the total project costs. These contributions require the approval of senior leadership. In-kind contributions also need administrative approval.
Matching Funds: Many funders will support a percentage of the cost of a project and will require that the grant seeker pay the difference with money or non-cash contributions, which are known as matching funds.
In-kind: This is a non-cash donation of space or services - for example, the use of classrooms or the use of equipment.
Budget Justification
Justifying each line item in the budget may be accomplished in two ways:
- By showing the math calculations used to compute a cost.
- By explaining how the expenses contribute to the project.
