Proposal Development and Submission

URA Proposal Development including links to sample proposals; information on letters of commitment, collaboration, and support; pre-proposals, white papers, and letters of intent; quick reference fact sheet for the university, and other relevant materials.

URA Proposal Budget Development with budget preparation information, links to internal templates for various budgets, sample budget justifications, information on fringe rates, cost sharing, and indirect costs. 

URA Review and Endorsement provides a detailed explanation of the processes and requirements for reviews.

Roles and Responsibilities Matrix delineates the expectations of each individual or unit involved in the proposal support process.

Agency Proposal Toolkits provides information as a reference for the completion of selected agency proposal elements. Because each funding opportunity announcement has specific requirements and agency instructions often change, users should always check the specific instructions provided by the agency in the current solicitation, RFP, RFA, FOA, program announcement and/or grant proposal guide for any unique requirements or changes in format, and always follow the current instructions provided by the agency.

Forms, Templates and Sponsor Resources provides useful forms, templates, and guidance for letters of intent, subawards and subrecipients, and sponsored consulting agreements.

University Research Administration Policy and Guidance Library is tailored to support researchers, grant directors, and administrative staff in navigating the complex landscape of research policies and compliance requirements. Our library houses a comprehensive collection of institutional policies, regulatory guidelines, and best practices, all aimed at ensuring that research activities align with both university standards and external mandates. 

Grants

A grant is a type of assistance award and a legal instrument which permits an executive agency of the Federal government to transfer money, property, services or other things of value to a grantee when no substantial involvement is anticipated between the agency and the recipient during the performance of the contemplated activity. Grants are the primary mechanism of NSF support.

Cooperative Agreements

A cooperative agreement is a type of assistance award which may be used when the project being supported requires substantial agency involvement during the project performance period. Substantial agency involvement may be necessary when an activity: is technically or managerially complex; requires extensive or close coordination with other Federally supported work; or helps assure suitability or acceptability of certain aspects of the supported activity. Examples of projects which might be suitable for cooperative agreements are systemic reform efforts, research centers, policy studies, large curriculum projects, multi-user facilities, projects which involve complex subcontracting, construction or operations of major in-house university facilities and major instrumentation development.

Cooperative agreements will specify the extent to which NSF will be required to advise, review, approve or otherwise be involved with project activities, as well as require more clearly defined deliverables.

Contracts

A contract is a legal agreement between the University and another party typically for the purpose of acquiring a product, property, services, or some other deliverable. The University can be the originator or the recipient of a contract.

Subawards/Subcontracts

Although the words subaward and subcontract are often used interchangeably, they are not quite the same.

A subaward is when a prime awardee passes along grant money to another institution to support its participation in the overall objectives of the prime award. Sub-awards are generally used to fund research between several institutions rather than acquire a deliverable.

A subcontract can be best understood as a contract (as defined above) paid for using funds from an award (especially another contract). If the University is the recipient, a subcontract is a contract issued to the University by a third party using funds awarded to them from another source.

The University's indirect cost (a.k.a "IDC", "overhead" or "facilities and administration") and fringe benefit rates are periodically negotiated with the federal government through the Department of Health and Human Services. There is a separate rate structure for non-federal awards. The current rates can be viewed on URA's quick reference fact sheet. For more details about the rates, see the University's facilities & administrative, fringe benefits, & disclosure statements. The University's tuition support rates are set at the divisional level. The IDC rate is fixed for the term of the award and is typically not subject to change unless there is a continuation or renewal after the original term of the award has expired. Fringe benefit and tuition support rates will change from year to year and awards are charged accordingly.

Under some circumstances (not often) theses rates can be reduced or waived because awards and/or funding agencies may have certain restrictions on how funds can be applied in these areas. Such restrictions are more likely encountered with private foundations, corporations, and local government funding sources. If graduate student tuition support is not allowed for research assistants, then the student should be designated a Research Assistant Type A (as opposed to Type B which automatically generates a tuition support charge). The tuition support rate will not be altered.

The fringe benefits we apply to sponsored awards are classified as direct costs related only to the employees working on the award and not a part of the indirect cost pool. Consequently, our benefits charges are fully allowable on the vast majority of awards. If however there is rare situation where salaries are allowed, but not benefits of any kind, then it would trigger a cost sharing situation and the account setup will need to be coordinated with Sponsored Award Accounting to ensure that benefits charges are appropriately redirected to another account. The benefit rates will not be altered.

Some non-federal funding sources set a limit on the indirect costs that they are willing to support that is at variance with the University's standard rates. In this instance a request for variation of indirect cost rates must be completed during the proposal process to reduce or waive the IDC rate as needed. In the absence of any written policy from the sponsor regarding indirect/administrative costs, the University will budget for full indirect cost recovery based on our established rates.

Faculty Effort

Salaries

Most staff and non-faculty academics have 12-month appointments.  Most University faculty outside the Biological Science Division and the Medical Center have 9-month (a.k.a. 3Q) appointments. A 9/12 appointment means that an employee earns salary over nine months or three quarters, but the distribution of the salary is equalized over 12 months. Mathematically, the monthly distribution of a 9/12 appointee's salary is really 75% of their actual earned monthly salary.

For example: a 9/12 appointee with a $120,000 annual salary would earn a monthly salary of $13,333.33 October-June, but would receive a $10,0000 paycheck each month October-September (assuming no salary increase).

In rare cases non-faculty academic employees (other academic appointments) may also have 9/12 appointments.

Subaccounts 1099 and 1199 are used for the accrual and distributions.

For example: for a faculty appointee with a $120,000 annual salary, you will see on the ledger a $13,333.33 debit in sub-1000 and a $3,333.33 credit in sub-1099 from Oct-June. From July-Sept you will see $10,000 debits in sub-1099.

Salary Adjustments

Some graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and other staff whose work requires residence outside of Chicago are paid cost-of-living adjustments ("COLA").  COLAs are paid either as extra fringe benefits, usually a "Housing Allowance" (subaccount 1904), or sometimes on a regular payroll subccount coded as "Bonus" pay.  These payments will not be reflected in the annual payroll verifications required for salaries paid on sponsored awards.  Research Administration reviewed this in 2021 and determined that it is correct that such payments not be included in the verification totals.

Faculty Summer Effort

Federally sponsored summer faculty effort may not exceed 95%.  The remaining 5% must be charged to a non-sponsored (university) account.

2009 Memo from Provost and VP For Research Administration about Faculty Summer Effort

From: Thomas Rosenbaum and Donald H. Levy [mailto:vpresearch@uchicago.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 2:42 PM
To: 'provost-vpresearch-to-all-faculty@bulkmail.uchicago.edu'
Subject: Summer Salary Policy

To: All Faculty

From: Thomas Rosenbaum, Provost and Donald H. Levy, Vice President for Research & National Labs

Re: Summer Salary Policy

In the last few years the Federal Government has become increasingly stringent in enforcing the requirements regarding summer salary for faculty working on federal sponsored research. Several universities have been subject to very comprehensive audits. These audits have been very expensive to the universities involved because of fines, legal costs, and staff costs encountered in preparing for and conducting the audit. In addition to these financial costs, there have been severe non-monetary costs due to negative publicity and disruption and refocusing of energy of both staff and faculty.

There is every indication that this stringent enforcement of federal regulations is increasing. Whatever individual faculty members might think of the wisdom of the federal regulations, the government will assure that they are enforced. By accepting the federal research support that is the source of summer salary, the University is responsible for enforcing the regulations and will suffer should we fail to alter our internal policies regarding summer salary to stay in compliance with federal regulations.

During a month where 100% of a faculty member’s salary is charged to a government grant, the federal regulations require that 100% of the faculty member’s time be spent only on the research covered by that grant. Some specific activities which are not allowed are:

• Vacation
• Work on other research projects
• Teaching
• Administrative activities
• Business or conference travel except when exclusively related to grant related work.
• Proposal preparation

If a faculty member charges 100% salary for three months, none of these activities are allowed at any point in the summer.

In almost all cases, it is unrealistic to expect faculty to forgo these activities completely. Therefore, to comply with the federal regulations while providing flexibility for the usual range of activities, the following policies will be implemented:

1. Faculty may not charge more than 95% of their salary (95% of 1/9 of the academic year salary) to government sponsored research.
2. For 9-month appointments, summer salary is limited to 2.5 months.

Exceptions to these rules must be approved in writing by a dean and the Provost.

These restrictions are meant to cover the common situation where the faculty member will in fact spend 95% of their time for 2.5 months conducting the sponsored research funded by the government source of summer salary funds. When faculty will have to spend more time on non-allowed activities, they will have to reduce their summer salary commensurate with the actual time spent on the sponsored research.

The remaining time not charged to the government grant must be charged to other nonsponsored University funds. The NSF has changed their interpretation of their policy in a way that may offer a source of such funds. The NSF continues to restrict salary funding to two months per year, but they now allow faculty effort to be charged to the grant during the academic year. As long as the appropriate time is spent conducting sponsored research during the academic year, 5% (or more) of a month’s salary can be charged to the NSF during the academic year providing a savings to the department which could then be used in a revenue neutral manner as a source of nonsponsored salary support during the summer.
 

"A Postdoctoral Researcher is an individual who has received a doctoral degree (or equivalent) and is engaged in a temporary and defined period of mentored advanced training to enhance the professional and research independence needed to pursue his or her chosen career path. At the University of Chicago, the postdoctoral experience emphasizes scholarship and continued research training. The Postdoctoral Researcher conducts research under the general oversight of a faculty mentor in preparation for a career in academe, industry, government, or the nonprofit sector. In many disciplines postdoctoral work provides essential training for individuals pursuing academic careers and may include opportunities to enhance teaching and other professional skills. Postdoctoral Researchers contribute to the academic community by enhancing the research and education programs of the University. The University strives to provide a stimulating, positive, and constructive experience for the Postdoctoral Researcher by emphasizing the mutual commitment and responsibility of the institution, the faculty, and the Postdoctoral Researcher."
(from the Postdoctoral Researcher Policy Manual)

Postdocs come in two varieties: Postdoctoral Scholars and Postdoctoral Fellows. The distinction is largely determined by the source of funding and whether or not the postdoc is a University employee:

• Postdoc Scholars are University employees and are appointed when funding comes from the University's own funds or if an externally funded fellowship requires (or allows) the recipient to be a University employee. As a consequence, postdoc scholars can be eligible for University employee benefits packages and their salaries will incure fringe benefit charges.
• Postdoc Fellows are not University employees and are appointed when the recipient has been awarded an externally funded fellowship. Postdoc fellows can receive their stipends either directly from the sponsor or through University accounts created for the purpose depending on the fellowship guidelines. If paid through the University, the stipends will appear use subaccount 8370. Postdoc fellow stipends will not incur fringe benefit charges and the fellows are not eligible for University employee benefits.

All postdocs are expected to spend the majority of their time on their research. If a significant portion of a postdoc scholar's time (one month or more) will be spent on another project, then his/her payroll distribution should be changed accordingly. Of course, any such diversion of effort should be done in coordination with the postdoc's faculty mentor. Postdoc fellows may have special restrictions regarding other work depending on the terms of their sponsorship.

For more details regarding postdoc appointments consult the University of Chicago Postdoctoral Researcher Policy Manual.

Cost sharing is when the University takes responsibility to expend its own funds on behalf of a sponsored award. Cost sharing come thre three varieties: involuntary committed (mandatory), voluntary committed, and voluntary uncommitted.

Involuntary committed (mandatory) cost sharing occurs when the sponsored program requires financial support for the project from the awarded institution as a condition of the award. This can be in many forms such as a matching contribution or a percentage of certain costs. The specific formula should be described in the solicitation notice. The proposal budget must clearly show how the University will meet its obligation.

Voluntary committed cost sharing is when the proposing institution volunteers and commits to bear a specific portion of the costs of the project when it is not required. To volunteer matching funds, percentages of costs, or other similar contributions is rare and often discouraged by many funding agencies. If allowed, the volunteered cost sharing should be detailed in the budget or project narrative as appropriate. NSF prohibits the use of voluntary committed cost sharing on its awards.

For the two types of committed cost sharing, the difference is in the motivation while the administrative handling is the same for both. Either form of committed cost sharing requires Division/Department approval.

Voluntary uncommitted cost sharing is when the University volunteers to provide extra resources to the project in ways not detailed in the proposal budget. This could be in cash or in kind, but there is no obligation to track this extra support in the award accounts, with one exception. The exception is when the PI chooses to expend some unspecified amount of effort more than what was detailed in the proposal. This is usually the case when the PI is not requesting salary from the award, and so is providing his/her effort for free. Per University policy, the PI must demonstrate effort on any award even when no salary is taken. In order to demonstrate this, a cost sharing account is created to capture nominal effort such as 0.5 months per academic year (more than 0.5 months requires Division/Department approval). Voluntary uncommitted cost shared effort should not be included in the proposal budget, but should be on a report of current and pending support. There is no requirement to document other extra support from the PI or the University (e.g. un-reimbursed business trips, donating materials to the project) and it requires no approval.

The 0.5 month effort cost sharing situation only comes up when the PI is taking $0 salary from an award during any one project year (summer and academic year included). If a PI with an academic appointment is taking $0 salary in summer salary, but is committing effort and drawing salary from a grant during the academic year, then that would be a salary recovery situation. Salary recovery is essentially the opposite of cost-sharing since the grant is being charged for salary amounts the University would normally pay. Salary recovery situations require neither cost sharing accounts nor any other special accounting. It is, however, good practice to indicate whether the PI's effort is summer or academic year in a proposal's budget justification and it must be detailed in the PI's current/pending report.

Unless explicitly prohibited in the solicitation and/or the award documentation, a PI must receive some direct salary from an NSF award to demonstrate effort, therefore the 0.5 month voluntary cost sharing is not allowed by NSF. However, we will continue the practice with other agencies until further notice.

There are three different graduate student specific classifications that will commonly appear on the accounts:

• Teaching Assistants (Expense Type 71215)
• Type B Research Assistants (Expense Type 71200), and
• Type A Research Assistants (xpense Type 71215).

Under usual circumstances, teaching assistants should be funded only from internally funded accounts, most commonly departmental teaching accounts.

Research assistants are most commonly funded from sponsored awards or from unrestricted start-up funding. The difference between the two types of research assistants is that Type B generates a tuition remission charge. Type A research assistants do not generate this charge. The Physical Sciences Division's established policy for graduate research assistants is to request tuition remission support at a rate of 48.36% (academic year 2025-2026) for graduate student base funding. The amount partially covers the graduate student's actual tuition cost. By default, all research assistants are classified as Type B unless the award regulations specifically prohibit tuition remission charges in connection with research assistants or during limited periods when graduate students are not registered, usually summer quarters early in the graduate career.

Research assistants must serve for a minimum of 2 consecutive months during a quarter. However, if possible, it is best to issue full quarter appointments for both research assistants and teaching assistants.

If a grant or funding source does not allow charges for insurance and fees, please contact your LBC administrator to identify an alternate funding source.

Grant funds should not be used as a convenient source of student financial aid. Efforts should be made to ensure that the number of students and the time they spend on the award are in line with the award budget. During the proposal phase, it is important for the PI to carefully think through how many months their research assistant(s) can be reasonably expected to work on the project annually rather than assuming that it will always be for 12 months. Likewise, the number of person-months it should reasonably take to complete the project should be carefully considered.

PSD Standard Type B Graduate Research Assistant Funding

Since October 2021, GRA insurance and graduate student fees are paid separately from the base funding. Base funding, insurance, and fees are subject to recovery of indirect costs. Tuition remission is only charged on the base funding.

Effective October 2025, the GRA compensation at the Physical Sciences Division of the University of Chicago consists of $46,350 as a 12-month 100% effort GRA, $5,145 for health insurance, $2,012 for graduate student fees and tuition remission at a rate of 48.36%.

Graduate Research Assistant Fees  

In accordance with the University of Chicago Physical Sciences Division’s established policy, graduate student fees are applied commensurate to the level of effort each year.

Tuition Remission

Graduate student tuition remission is requested in accordance with the University of Chicago Physical Sciences Division's established policy of requesting tuition support at the rate 48.36% (Academic Year 2025-2026) of graduate student salaries. The amount partially covers the graduate student's actual tuition cost.

PSD GRA Funding Academic Year 2025-2026

Conflict of Interest/Conflict of Commitment

The University of Chicago's Revised Conflict of Interest Policy requires that all individuals with the designation of faculty, postdoctoral researcher or other academic appointment, file annually a Conflict of interest-Conflict of Commitment Disclosure. Furthermore, any individual that is engaged in the design, conduct or reporting of research, or is considered "key personnel" must comply with the policy. This is a University wide policy, and applies regardless of whether the faculty, post doc, or academic is engaged in research, or receives external research funding, and regardless of whether they have a full time or part time appointment.