Benefits, Facilities & Administrative Costs, & Inflation Factors
To be included in all Proposal Budgets

Please use the most current version of the Budget Spreadsheet available on our web page at http://www.research2.ecu.edu/osp/forms_2.htm

Retirement: 11.46% of pro-rated salary

Social Security: 7.65% of pro-rated salary and wages up to $94,200 then 1.45% on all wages in excess of $94,200

Health Insurance: $4,087/year
     Nine-month faculty need not include health insurance in requests for summer salaries.

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Cost Rates (Formerly "Indirect Costs"). ECU's F&A rates were negotiated with the Department of Health and Human Services, effective August 7, 2007:

Click here for ECU F&A Rate Agreement

Federal Agencies:

     •  On-campus - 43% MTDC*
     •  Off-campus adjacent - 27.7% MTDC*
     •  Off-campus remote- 26% MTDC*
     •  On-campus instruction - 48.0% MTDC*

*MTDC: Total Direct Costs** minus equipment costing more than $5,000, renovations and alterations, new construction, off-campus space rental costs, patient care costs, tuition remissions, fellowships and scholarships, and subcontract costs exceeding $25,000.

**TDC: Total Direct Costs

Non-federal Sponsors:

Same as Federal Rates unless directed otherwise by sponsor policy

Clinical Trial Projects:
26% TDC

Non-federal sponsors include private non-profit and for profit organizations, and local and state governments.

Requests for University Cost Sharing of Facilities and Administrative Costs may be submitted, but their approval requires strong support of chairs and deans and strong justifications, e.g., a written sponsor policy that proscribes payment of indirect costs or overhead on awards. Contact OSP for Policy Statement. 

If there are extenuating circumstances concerning the use of these facilities and administrative cost (formerly called "indirect cost") rates in application budgets, please contact OSP for assistance.

Inflation Factors for Multi-year Projects:
It is university policy to include a 4% per year inflation factor to ALL budget categories in the second and subsequent years of a multi-year project, unless sponsor guidelines mandate another rate, e.g., NIH mandates a 3% inflation factor . Additionally, if you are submitting a proposal in which first year funding starts after the next fiscal year cycle, please ensure that a minimum 4% increase is calculated in first year salaries. For FY07 first-year funding only , PIs should include a minimum 5% increase in base salaries for all EPA (teaching and non-teaching) faculty and a 5.5% increase for SPA.

This schedule supersedes all previously dated schedules.
Last updated: December 2007