Complete information about JMU's Indirect Costs Rates (also known as our Overhead Rates or Facilities and Administration Rates) can be found on our Indirect Costs page.

In most cases, you will still be able to submit your proposal for the sponsored programs.  Your assigned grants specialist will help you adjust the budget templates for your program and also to make sure that all specific costs that can be associated with your project are included.

When there is some form of cost sharing, the budget development process will be more complicated and will take longer.  Please reach out to us as soon as possible to start the process.  In most cases, you will need to coordinate with your unit head or dean to arrange the cost sharing contribution.  We have a cost-sharing guide (JMU log-in required) to assist you.

Please see our page on external collaborations.  In most cases, one of the institutions will be a subawardee of the other, which means that the grant money will first come to the lead institution and then a portion of it will be distributed to the subawardee institution.  The subawardee institution will generally need to provide a line-item budget and budget justification to the lead institution to be included in the complete budget submitted to the sponsor.  Regardless of whether JMU is the lead or subawardee, we will be happy to assist.

We will include the consultant fees in the budget.  Please note that we will generally need to confirm that the work being done externally is appropriate to a consultant as opposed to a subawardee.  You may want to refer to the relevant section of our external collaboration page to see what the necessary documentation is.

Graduate students at JMU are typically funded via graduate assistantships, which includes service and research assistantships. 

OSP generally encourages PIs to budget for the full cost of a graduate assistantship, including both stipends and tuition.  (Costs are listed on the Graduate School's page.) However, there are occasions where it possible to fund the stipend but not the tuition from a sponsored program.  The Graduate School and REDI have a program to provide in-state tuition support for these research graduate assistants, as described in the Research Assistant Program.

For information on how to submit a waiver request, please see our page on the JMU internal approve process.

If your budget needs after your sponsored program states, we will be happy to work with you to submit a budget revision to the sponsor for prior approval.  We also work with you on other types of prior approvals (for example, a PI change). 

Yes, OSP would be happy to assist you with budget development for any stage of your sponsored program application process.  You must work with us if the letter of intent or pre-proposal requires a line-item budget, particularly if the budget is binding. 

Often, a sponsor only requires an approximate amount at the letter of intent/pre-proposal stage.  In this case, you are not required to consult with us, but we strongly recommend it, in order to ensure that the figure you give the sponsor accounts for all relevant costs.

Please submit our interest form to let us know your plans.  Regardless of whether a detailed budget is required or not, we ask that you send us a copy of your submitted letter of intent or pre-proposal, to enable us to better assist you in the proposal stage.

The amount of money that a sponsored program pays you for the work you do related to the program is called effort, which is explained in detail on our effort page.  The amount of effort you can charge to your grant is generally limited by both your sponsor and JMU, which your grants specialist will assist you with.  Also, please be aware that release time or course releases frequently count as compensation and are included in effort calculations.

JMU's Policy 1306 specifically limits payment for work at the university that is in addition to or instead of the regular assigned work.

Academic-year employees: As outlined in the above policy, academic year employees are presumed to work for JMU 9-months out of the year, and therefore they may do additional compensated work until it adds up to 33% of their regular base salary (i.e., 3 extra months of their regular base salary).  Note that this includes sponsored programs compensation as well as any other source, including pay for teaching summer classes.  Please see our effort page for details.

Full-year employees: Generally, because the university is already paying you for a full year of work, any effort charged to the grant will generally replace part of your JMU salary instead of adding to it, unless you meet certain conditions for overload pay.  Please see our effort page for details.

Your grants specialist will assist with this.  The FICA payroll tax equal to 7.65% must be included for all positions, unless exempt.  For salaried positions, the Office of Budget Management maintains a list of benefit rates that are factored into full fringe calculations when applicable.

Salary:

If you are requesting effort (pay or other compensation) for an existing employee, we will use either your pay rate (as confirmed by HR records) or the rate in your contract, accounting for whether you are an academic-year or full-year employee.  We also include annual merit or other pay increases where appropriate.

If you are planning on hiring a new position, please provide a recommended salary for the position.  We will generally need to confirm with HR that this a reasonable rate.

Wages:

This applies to employees whose work is paid by the hour, including part-time temporary workers, as well as some student employees.  In this case, the wage number is their hourly rate plus benefits.

Most grants generally allow conference speaker fees or honoraria to be included as direct costs.  These will need to be included in the line-item budget and in the budget justification.

If a student is doing work on an externally funded project, they are generally classified as an employee.  If they are receiving training or a service through the externally funded project, then they may be a participant.  Compensation for participants is included in your budget through Participant Support Costs (PSCs).

This employee versus participant classification refers to how they are classified to the sponsor, and not necessarily how they are compensated through JMU's internal systems.  If a student is classified as an employee, it's generally preferred to hire them as a student employee at JMU, although in some cases they may be hired as a wage employee.

When a student participant receives compensation, it's generally preferred to compensate them through financial aid.  (The student then will not receive the funds directly; they will be applied to their educational costs.) In some circumstances, it may be possible to hire a student who is classified as a participant on your sponsored project as a student employee (within the JMU system).

If you want to pay people to serve as human subject participants for a research project, this generally needs to be written into your grant as a direct cost.  It will be included in your line-item budget and in the budget justification.  You cannot use Participant Support Costs (PSCs) to pay human subject participants. We recommend confirming that paying human subject participants is allowed, as some funders limit or forbid such payments.

Most grants permit participant support costs (PSCs), which can include stipends, travel allowances, participant supplies, registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, workshops seminars or training projects.

Please be aware that anyone who is receiving salary or wage payments through your sponsored program is ineligible to also receive PSC payments.

These also cannot be speaker fees, honoraria, or participant incentives to encourage to participate as a human subject in a research study.  More details are available in the "What are Participant Support Costs" question below.

As far as sponsored programs are concerned, a course release is one type of effort reassignment, in which the instructional effort the univeresity would usually pay for you is reassigned to your grant.  Thus it normally counts in your effort contribution.

In terms of the cost to include in your budget, this can either be determined based on the percentage of your salary the effort corresponds to, or by the cost of hiring a replacement instructor.  Please consult with both your AUH and your grants specialist to determine which option is best for your particular proposal.

In some cases, you may not know enough information to precisely calculate the travel costs.  For example, you may be appying for a five year grant and want to travel to a professional conference each year, but you may not know where the conference will held in the later years.

We will use past destinations to estimate the travel cost.  If this turns out to be inaccurate, we can submit a prior approval for a budget revision.

Participant Support Costs are items such as stipends, travel allowances, participant supplies, registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, workshops seminars or training projects.   This includes things such as transportation to field trips if required for training activities.

Please note that anyone who is receiving wages or salary payments from a sponsored program cannot also receive PSC payments.

Unallowable Participant Support Costs:

While this list is not exhaustive, these are items that cannot be included:

• Speaker fees and/or honoraria
• Conference support costs (such as facility or equipment rentals)
• Travel costs related to bringing collaborators together
• Incentive payments to participate as a human subject in a research study
• Food expenses for PI or project team members

Additionally, the NSF does not allow participant support costs to pay for the per diem costs, conference meals, or coffee breaks for local participants at a conference.

Generally supplies and materials are materials necessary to complete the project which cost less than $5000.  This might include disposable lab supplies, books, or software, for example.  It should not include general office supplies whose purchases won't be able to be tracked specifically to your grant; these are covered out of JMU's indirect costs.

Equipment generally includes materials whose acquisition cost is $5000 or more, and whose expected service life is more than one year.  Please be aware that it It may be necessary to obtain estimates from vendors to construct your budget, which may take additional time.  Depending on the value, JMU and state regulations may require a bidding process, which will involve Procurement.  (In this case, the budget will use an estimated value and no bidding occur unless the grant is awarded.)

Please be aware that some sponsors retain possesion of the equipment and require its return at the conclusion of the project.

These are some examples of other items that are direct costs that can be written into your budget.  As with all direct costs, they will need to be included in the line-item budget and the budget justification.

• Publication costs, including photographic and graphic services and page charges
• Equipment maintenance, repair, and service contracts
• Space and equipment rental
• Food service (although many sponsors limit or forbid this- check with your grants specialist if you are unsure)
• Tuition (if relevant)