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Cost Matching/Cost Sharing in the College of Education

Rationale

Increasingly, sponsors for sponsored projects expect the University and by extension the College to provide funds for a portion of direct project costs in the form of cost matching/cost sharing (referred to as cost matching for remainder of policy). Funds for this cost match must be real, direct chargeable, and accounted for at proposal stage. Due to limited funds assigned individually to principal investigators, the cost match must be a joint effort between departments, centers, the College, and the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors (VPR).

Purpose

This policy provides guidance regarding cost matching financial support for COE principal investigators. It outlines when principal investigators should expect or request financial support from their Department, Center, and the College. Additionally, it provides guidance on what limitations may be placed on the principal investigator due to cost-matching requirements.

What is Cost Matching?

Sponsored project costs are divided into direct chargeable real costs and indirect funds recovery. Indirect fund recovery rates are charged based on the project type, sponsor limitations, and include costs that are real but not able to be directly associated with the project.

Direct costs are clearly identified transactions that will be incurred in the course of the project activities. Sometimes sponsors require the university to provide funds to support these costs in addition to the funds being provided by the sponsor. The University providing additional funds for direct cost support is called cost matching.

The College of Education will provide cost matching assistance for funding agencies that require a mandatory cost match. In general, the College will not provide cost match funds that are voluntarily committed to enhance the project or to maximize project costs.

Examples of Cost Matching in The College of Education

The College of Education has determined that certain cost match opportunities may be included based on the normal availability of funds. Examples include:

• Research effort performed as part of normal faculty duties paid off the associated project faculty member’s department instructional budget. See faculty effort policy for reference.
• Course Release time to work on the project to be paid off of the associated project faculty member’s department instructional budget. A faculty development leave (FDL) grant would also qualify for this cost match.
• Anything that would have been allowable to be charged to grant funds, but now is charged to an alternative internal account dedicated for cost matching.

Unique cost sharing opportunities:

• Volunteer time of project staff, teachers, etc. that would have been charged as service fees, but instead are now documented as volunteer cost match.
• Donated materials from industry partners for materials used on the project, e.g. iPads, Fitbits, software, etc.
• Discounts given by partners specifically for the project to be used as cost match, e.g. service provider will give a 50% discount on normal services only for the project to be used as cost match (50% discount cannot be offered as normal discounted service to the public).
• Waived fees from University or outside entities, e.g. TRC will grant waived fee on data access; Facilities will waive room charge for meeting space; school partner will allow free use of school facilities normally incurring service fees or room charges; school partner will allow free use of busses normally rented to the University; etc.
• Volunteer faculty time during unpaid portions of the summer.

Please note, certain costs are UNALLOWABLE as cost matching regardless of applicability to the research performed:

• Any cost normally charged as an indirect cost (printer toner and paper, technology life-cycle computer support, phone lines, etc.)

Administrative Time as cost matching:

• If administrative time above and beyond normal support is necessary for the project and can be demonstrated as a direct charge to the project, then that administrative time can be charged to an internal alternative dedicated fund source and matched to the project.
• However, if administrative time is usually considered an indirect cost, it cannot not be charged as a direct cost for the purposes of cost matching.

Policy Limitations

When requesting cost matching funds in the College of Education, the principal investigator must be aware of the following policy limitations:

1. The principal investigator must use the appropriate on-campus research rate as published in the UT Office of Sponsored Projects Indirect Costs memo.
2. If the principal investigator has any individual funds assigned that allow for cost matching, they must be matched in full prior to engaging in the remaining requests for sources of matching.
3. The principal investigator’s associated department is expected to provide a portion of cost match for faculty engaged on the project, most often in the form of faculty effort or course release time matched from the instructional budget (see above).
4. If the project is affiliated with an organized research unit (Center), then the Center must provide a portion of cost match to be matched by the College and the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors.
5. Individual committed funds for direct cost spending at proposal stage, will be held in a separate account until a determination is made on the pending award.

Exception Use

If the principal investigator’s affiliated Center cannot provide cost matching funds, they should consider alternative methods of support.

The College may consider, in some circumstances, to provide the additional match needed in lieu of Center support. However, the indirect cost return of the awarded project will then be retained by the College until the additional match amount is recovered.

Indirect Cost Return (IDC)

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COE distribution - IDC

IDC distribution from the University to Colleges

Direct cost (DC) expenditures on grants result in the generation of indirect costs (IDC). The University keeps 75% of the IDC and 25% is returned to the colleges. The measurement period for the DC is the calendar year (CY), January to December, with the IDC returning to the colleges the following September.

Faculty and staff must submit grant proposals using a grants and contracts specialist in either the College of Education Research Administration (COERA), or through a COE center/institute (i.e., MCPER-VGC, IPSI, TexCEP, or CCSSE), or a University center/institute. 

IDC IDC distribution from COE to departments/centers/institutes

The 25% share of IDC returned to the college is distributed as follows:

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The center director, principal investigator’s department chair, and the COE associate dean for research and graduate studies will reach an agreement about IDC distribution.

COE policy - IDC

Rationale

The federal government expects the University, and by extension the College, to incur a baseline level of costs for research regardless of funding received. The indirect cost rate provides partial reimbursement for research related incurred costs e.g. building maintenance, administrative support, library facilities, etc.

Purpose

This document provides guidance regarding financial support for COE researchers. It outlines when researchers should expect or request financial support from their Department or College. Additionally, it provides guidance on when researchers should request financial support from indirect cost return (IDC return) funds returned to their administrating unit. An administrating unit includes a college organized research unit/center e.g. TexCEP, IPSI, Meadows, COERA, etc.

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Check with administrating unit and review Indirect Cost Return - COE Policy prior to engaging in process below.

Who can utilize these funds? How do I apply?

Any researcher engaged in research, not associated with a College or University research center can utilize these funds after determining they do not have any alternative fund accounts or department support as described above.

Researchers may apply for support through the College of Education Research Administration (COERA) office via the COE Indirect Cost Return Account Request Form. COERA will coordinate request, review, and approval with the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.

Examples of Indirect Cost Return use:

The College of Education has determined that certain indirect costs expenditures should be pre-approved for use of the indirect cost return account with minimal review. Examples include:

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