General Discussions

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

You need to be consistent in your costing to the sponsors, so I'm on your side.  Moreover, he won't SEE that escalation unless/until the university initiates a salary increase for him, since we can't use grants to raise base pay.  So, putting an escalation in a proposal budget is always a hope rather than a promise.

That said, we do escalate salary costs in proposal budgets- more like 2-3% in the out years-  even bearing in mind that some sponsors will strip that at award.

A

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Andrea Buford
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Oakland University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Andrea, thanks for your response!  What you said is a great reminder or it may be new information to him that asking doesn't mean receiving.  I'll make sure to mention and reiterate that point.  I've also had people ask why  the increment can't be 5% or 7%.  2% or 3% has been a rule of thumb for us and I hesitate to agree with increasing it any more than that as we may be seen as less competitive.  Do you all believe my concerns are unfounded?  If the powers that be want to increase it, I wonder if that might work against us by making us less competitive.  Since the increase is not a given,  maybe the agencies don't consider it when making an award to one institution over another.  Anyone have any thoughts/information on that?

Thanks again, Andrea!


------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Audrey, for salaries, we increase them by 3% per year for faculty. For staff we caculate a 2% increase, this includes grad assistants, teaching assistants, research staff. For undergrad students, the principal investigator may choose to include a yearly 2% increase if there is room in their budget. These percentages are based on what we normally see as annual pay rate increases.
For several years we did increase our fringe rate yearly in grant budgets but we no longer do that. We now use a consistent fringe rate throughout the life of the grant. Our yearly tuition increase that we budget is 7%, although I have never seen tuition increase that much in one year. This rate was set long before I joined the office so I cannot comment how they determined 7%.
Hope this helps.

------------------------------
Denise Wheatley
Research Program Officer
Western Michigan University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Thank you, Denise!  Definitely helps.  -- alwf

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-28-2022 05:53
From: Denise Wheatley
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Audrey, for salaries, we increase them by 3% per year for faculty. For staff we caculate a 2% increase, this includes grad assistants, teaching assistants, research staff. For undergrad students, the principal investigator may choose to include a yearly 2% increase if there is room in their budget. These percentages are based on what we normally see as annual pay rate increases.
For several years we did increase our fringe rate yearly in grant budgets but we no longer do that. We now use a consistent fringe rate throughout the life of the grant. Our yearly tuition increase that we budget is 7%, although I have never seen tuition increase that much in one year. This rate was set long before I joined the office so I cannot comment how they determined 7%.
Hope this helps.

------------------------------
Denise Wheatley
Research Program Officer
Western Michigan University

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Hi Audrey,

Clarification, does the faculty member want to escalate the starting salary? In my experience, the Office for Research Administration (you) would not have permitted that, but we always did escalate 3%/year for future years. With some agencies that had little or no overhead, we might even escalate 5%/year. Changing a policy like that could get sticky and I would be inclined to implement it at a set time with clear parameters for review. I'm interested to hear what you decide.

Best, Jo

Johanna E. Salazar (hear name) 

------------------------------
Johanna Salazar
Professional Services Consultant
Cayuse
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Hi, there!  Good question.  He wants to escalate beginning in YR2 of the grant.  I just had to send back a budget from some other faculty member who escalated in YR1 of their grant budget.  Thanks! -- alwf

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-28-2022 06:00
From: Johanna Salazar
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi Audrey,

Clarification, does the faculty member want to escalate the starting salary? In my experience, the Office for Research Administration (you) would not have permitted that, but we always did escalate 3%/year for future years. With some agencies that had little or no overhead, we might even escalate 5%/year. Changing a policy like that could get sticky and I would be inclined to implement it at a set time with clear parameters for review. I'm interested to hear what you decide.

Best, Jo

Johanna E. Salazar (hear name) 

(she/her)

Professional Business Consultant, Inventions

Customer Delivery

------------------------------
Johanna Salazar
Professional Services Consultant
Cayuse

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Pretty much everywhere I've worked in RA or RD, we've assumed a year-over-year escalation for most costs. At Colorado, there was an annual letter from the budget people that told us what to expect in the way of cost-of-living increases, and that was our rationale (and documentation if we were ever asked for it, which was extraordinarily rare). Never had any issues with sponsors over it (except NIH, and I really don't understand why they're able to get away with their contrary-to-fact practice that's also counter to the Uniform Guidance). We write them into our budgets, and document them in the budget justification, so we are doing everything consistently and in accordance with our policy.

------------------------------
Michael Spires
Research Development Officer
Oakland University
Rochester, MI
(he/him)
mspires@oakland.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Thank you, Michael! I do think we need to formalize this just a bit at my institution.  I don't get any notification annually, it's just kind of communicated to adjust the rate.  We haven't adjusted it in 5 or 6 years.  And, yes, NIH is the one agency where we had to remove escalations on a particular proposal budget.  There's no written policy to point to...hmm.  If anyone cares to share their policy, I would appreciate that.  I know this faculty member is going to raise the issue. I've told him I won't change it for his proposal and explained why.  He has accepted my recommendation to take it up with the powers that be and if a new rate is to implemented, it should happen in the new fiscal year across the board for all grants.  Thanks again for this feedback!

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-28-2022 06:30
From: Michael Spires
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Pretty much everywhere I've worked in RA or RD, we've assumed a year-over-year escalation for most costs. At Colorado, there was an annual letter from the budget people that told us what to expect in the way of cost-of-living increases, and that was our rationale (and documentation if we were ever asked for it, which was extraordinarily rare). Never had any issues with sponsors over it (except NIH, and I really don't understand why they're able to get away with their contrary-to-fact practice that's also counter to the Uniform Guidance). We write them into our budgets, and document them in the budget justification, so we are doing everything consistently and in accordance with our policy.

------------------------------
Michael Spires
Research Development Officer
Oakland University
Rochester, MI
(he/him)
mspires@oakland.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

We use a 3% escalation rate for personnel salaries and 5% for tuition. I am not involved in the determination of the rates, but my assumption is that they most align with the average increases seen across faculty/staff at our institution. We have these practices recorded in our desk manual that we use for training, and they are built into our budget template to ensure consistent treatment across proposals.

To your point about changing the rate, I would argue that the base rate isn't changing, however you are accounting for actions such as merit increase, cost of living increase, etc. in a manner that is reasonable, appropriate, and consistent. I completely agree that the base rates should not be changing/increasing; we often have to provide backup documentation on salary rates. If I've used a rate that is inflated by 3% from the start, and that doesn't mach my payroll records... *cue raspberries*. But if you're using a base rate that you can back up with payroll documents, then applying an escalation even in year 1 due to the expected start date has not been unreasonable to sponsors. I think you just have to be careful about applying multiple escalations in a single period.

Of course including the escalation is beneficial in certain agreement types while not so much in others, but as you and Andrea mentioned, consistency is necessary, and I'm learning more and more that every institution is just a little bit different!

------------------------------
Lyndal Arceneaux, MRA, CRA
Sr. Proposal Administrator II, Team Lead
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
979-862-2465
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Thanks, Lyndal!  Yes, we're all a wee bit different.  I am glad to hear back from folks here about how we all comply with the UG and institutional policy/practice.  Thanks so much!

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-28-2022 06:40
From: Lyndal Arceneaux
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

We use a 3% escalation rate for personnel salaries and 5% for tuition. I am not involved in the determination of the rates, but my assumption is that they most align with the average increases seen across faculty/staff at our institution. We have these practices recorded in our desk manual that we use for training, and they are built into our budget template to ensure consistent treatment across proposals.

To your point about changing the rate, I would argue that the base rate isn't changing, however you are accounting for actions such as merit increase, cost of living increase, etc. in a manner that is reasonable, appropriate, and consistent. I completely agree that the base rates should not be changing/increasing; we often have to provide backup documentation on salary rates. If I've used a rate that is inflated by 3% from the start, and that doesn't mach my payroll records... *cue raspberries*. But if you're using a base rate that you can back up with payroll documents, then applying an escalation even in year 1 due to the expected start date has not been unreasonable to sponsors. I think you just have to be careful about applying multiple escalations in a single period.

Of course including the escalation is beneficial in certain agreement types while not so much in others, but as you and Andrea mentioned, consistency is necessary, and I'm learning more and more that every institution is just a little bit different!

------------------------------
Lyndal Arceneaux, MRA, CRA
Sr. Proposal Administrator II, Team Lead
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
979-862-2465

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Oh, and thanks for the feedback about documentation backing up payroll records.  That's out of my wheelhouse but I'll discuss with post-award.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-28-2022 06:40
From: Lyndal Arceneaux
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

We use a 3% escalation rate for personnel salaries and 5% for tuition. I am not involved in the determination of the rates, but my assumption is that they most align with the average increases seen across faculty/staff at our institution. We have these practices recorded in our desk manual that we use for training, and they are built into our budget template to ensure consistent treatment across proposals.

To your point about changing the rate, I would argue that the base rate isn't changing, however you are accounting for actions such as merit increase, cost of living increase, etc. in a manner that is reasonable, appropriate, and consistent. I completely agree that the base rates should not be changing/increasing; we often have to provide backup documentation on salary rates. If I've used a rate that is inflated by 3% from the start, and that doesn't mach my payroll records... *cue raspberries*. But if you're using a base rate that you can back up with payroll documents, then applying an escalation even in year 1 due to the expected start date has not been unreasonable to sponsors. I think you just have to be careful about applying multiple escalations in a single period.

Of course including the escalation is beneficial in certain agreement types while not so much in others, but as you and Andrea mentioned, consistency is necessary, and I'm learning more and more that every institution is just a little bit different!

------------------------------
Lyndal Arceneaux, MRA, CRA
Sr. Proposal Administrator II, Team Lead
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
979-862-2465

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------

Greetings Audrey--

This is a common question.  When not restricted by the funding announcement or agency-specific policy, I do believe that you should include a salary increase.  Your proposal is just your best guess in how much it will cost to do the work.  The budget can be adjusted at the time of award to meet your university's conditions on salary and fringe.

Regards,
Montel Rudolph, Charles  R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

------------------------------
Montel Rudolph
Contracts and Grants Analyst
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2022 14:52
From: Audrey Wineglass Foster
Subject: Budget Escalations Over the Life of a Grant

Hi, all! I have a faculty member who wants to escalate salaries in a grant proposal budget perhaps 3% or higher due to these inflationary times.  Are any of you all running into this issue?  We take cost of living increases into account and have raised or lowered the rate based on that and some other factors discussed that I haven't previously been a part of.  For escalating tuition, we also consider our board of trustees and their input on whether to raise tuition.

I don't believe we should be changing the rate until the fiscal year begins so that all proposals are prepared in a consistent and equitable manner, but wanted to put the question out there to get some feedback.  Do you have an established percentage that you use to escalate salaries, tuition, and fringe benefits when preparing budgets?  How is that percentage decided?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice/recommendations.

------------------------------
Audrey Wineglass Foster
Assistant Dean for OSP + Research Svcs
Gallaudet University
------------------------------