Cost Sharing on Sponsored Projects
Cost sharing in sponsored projects is permitted only when required by a sponsor or when a waiver has been granted by the CUNY Office of Research given compelling circumstances. Requests for a waiver to voluntary committed cost share policy must be submitted by a College/School authority to the CUNY Office of Research as described in the May 2023 Memo:
Effort Determination, Reporting & Tracking for Research and Sponsored Projects
CUNY Policy to Ensure Consistency in Effort Determination, Reporting & Tracking during the Academic Year (9-month Appointment) is available at http://bit.ly/2m2iIeV
- Appendix 1: Calculating salary based on effort
- Appendix 2: SAMPLE research effort log
Research and Sponsored Projects Compliance Guidance
Research and Sponsored Projects Compliance Guidance provides the PI or PD with an overview of several compliance areas inherent to the management of grants and contracts and especially to Federal regulations and compliance. Learn More
Openness in Research
The City University of New York is committed to the free exchange of knowledge through education and research publications, while contributing to the public interest. The University believes that it can best fulfill these commitments within an open intellectual environment that allows for free exchange of information. Learn More
CUNY Council of Grants Officers
View CUNY’s full list of Grants Officers here
FAQ's Regarding Summer Salary
Q1. What is summer salary?
Summer salary is defined as any compensation paid during the summer period to a faculty member in excess of his or her 9 month Academic-year salary. The summer period is defined as the period outside of the Institutional Base Salary of the academic year appointment.
Q2. How much effort and Corresponding Salary is available for the PI on a sponsored project?
The amount of effort and corresponding salary available for the PI for Summer Salary is either:
- As a line item on the proposal / awarded budget for Summer Salary; or
- As an approved re-budgeting of Academic Salary into Summer Salary.
Q3 . How is summer salary calculated?
Federal regulations stipulate that Summer Salary supported by sponsored projects must be “computed and paid at a percent effort rate not in excess of the faculty member’s official Institutional Base Salary (IBS) divided by the number of months in the period for which that IBS is paid.” Therefore, the Summer Salary for full-time 9-month faculty members working in the summer must be paid at a rate not to exceed three-ninths of the monthly base. Additionally, Summer Salary is limited in each case by the terms of the supporting grant or contract and must be in accordance with granting agency policy. For example: NSF grants allow only two-ninths for summer salary. Other federal awards allow three-ninths maximum for faculty doing research during the summer with the exception of training grants, which allow two and one-half ninths. Review both the budget and the budget justification for detailed information. The budget justification uses the same categories as in the budget but with extra detail to enable the sponsor to determine how the budget amounts were derived (http://www.cuny.edu/research/research-compliance/sponsored/guidance/pre-award/budget/).
Q4. Can I receive Summer Salary for my work on a sponsored program done during the academic year?
No, federal regulations stipulate that summer salary from sponsored projects “must be for actual work performed on the sponsored project from which the funds are paid and must be paid for personal services performed during the period stipulated.” In particular, a faculty member cannot be paid in the summer period for work that was done on a sponsored project in the previous 9-month academic year, nor can the faculty member be paid for work that will be done in the following 9-month academic year. Grant and contract sponsors require written Certification of Effort reports signed by the faculty member that document the time and effort spent on a sponsored project during the period in which the grant work was carried out and for which an individual is being compensated.
Q5. If the sponsor will pay it, can I receive summer salary at a rate that is greater than my rate for the academic year?
No, CUNY adheres to federal regulations, which specifically prohibit the use of sponsored project funds to “increase or supplement faculty salaries above the institutional scale for an individual’s salary.”
Q6. What happens if I am working on more than one sponsored project in the summer?
A faculty member may work on more than one sponsored project and receive Summer Salary from each one, but no more than 100% effort is committed each month to the combination of the sponsored projects. In addition, the faculty member must include in the cumulative total of effort any other university responsibilities during the summer (e.g., departmental administration, student advising, curriculum review, professional development).