Indirect Costs and Salary Recovered

The recovery of facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, commonly known as indirect costs, are costs incurred by the university not directly associated with a single research project. These costs are defined in CFR 2 Part §200.420 as “incurred (costs) for common or joint objectives and therefore cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity.” These expenses include costs like maintenance of on-campus facilities, electricity and energy expenses, equipment depreciation, and library expenses, to name a few. Indirect costs are able to be recovered on externally financed grants in addition to direct costs. There are also significant salary savings as a result of compensation supported by extramural sponsored awards, including compensation for faculty salaries throughout the academic year, faculty summer salaries, and student and staff compensation.

The federal government negotiates and establishes an indirect rate for each research university. The current indirect costs rate for ECU is 51 percent or $51 for every $100 in direct costs. Some federal and state agencies, as well as foundations and businesses, have documented indirect policies below the federally negotiated rate.

It is very important to ECU and all universities to be able to recover as much of the fully negotiated indirect cost rate as possible to offset on-going operating expenses and maintain university facilities. Costs recovered can also be used to re-invest in research infrastructure and programs.

Indirect Costs Recovered
Contact

Becky Welch
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Research Administration and Compliance
welchb18@ecu.edu