Dear Val,

Your concern about the correct interpretation of the NSF policy on charging
academic salaries to grants probably is secondary to NSF's expectations
regarding "appropriate" commitments on the part of the faculty member's
institution.  Here's NSF's yes-but caveat.

The December 2001 revision of NSF's GRANT PROPOSAL GUIDE (NSF 02-2) includes
the following discussion:

Budget -- Proposal Section F
"...(i) Policies...
As a general policy, NSF recognizes that salaries of faculty members and
other personnel associated directly with the project constitute appropriate
direct costs and may be requested in proportion to the effort devoted to the
project.  NSF regards research as one of the normal functions of faculty
members at institutions of higher education. Compensation for time normally
spent on research within the term of appointment is deemed to be included
within the faculty member's regular organizational salary. Grant funds may
not be used to augment the total salary or rate of salary of faculty members
during the period covered by the term of faculty appointment or to reimburse
faculty members for consulting or other time in addition to a regular
full-time organizational salary covering the same general period of
employment. Exceptions may be considered under certain NSF science and
engineering education program solicitations for weekend and evening classes
or for administrative work done as overload. (See GPM Section 611.)"

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Howie Kaplan
********************************************************
Dr. Howard M. Kaplan, Director
Office of Research Services & Sponsored Programs
Georgia Southern University
Hwy. 301 So. Office Bldg., P.O. Box 8005
Statesboro, GA 30460-8005
(Tel)912-681-5465; (Fax)912-681-0719; xxxxxx@gasou.edu
********************************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG]On Behalf
Of Valerie Seaquist
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 10:22 AM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] NSF policy on academic salaries

Good Morning,

Every time I think I have "it" regarding the NSF policy on charging academic
salaries to grants, someone says, "yes, but . . ."

Some individuals keep stating that an academic person CANNOT charge to an
NSF grant during the academic year except with special permission.

My understanding of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (II.c.6.a.(i)) is that, if
a faculty member obtains class release time (does not teach a normally
required course) in order to perform research on the NSF grant, he/she could
charge academic year time to the grant. He/she would not be "augmenting"
their salary or rate of salary, merely covering it from another source of
funds. If he/she earns $50K/academic year & works 20% on the NSF grant
during the academic year, he/she would charge 20% (or $10K) to the grant.

Which is correct? Thanks!

Val Seaquist
UAH

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