The College of Arts and Science and Department of Communication policy for the return of F&A and salary savings is described below.

Return of F&A

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs, also known as indirect costs, are those costs associated with sponsored projects that are incurred by the University which cannot be readily identified nor specifically attributed with a particular sponsored project yet support research endeavors. F&A calculation will be based on prior year’s figures for indirect cost generated by researchers. Going forward, the University will return 20% of all F&A generated to the college.

The college will distribute 15% of total F&A to each department that generates it. The Department of Communication will then return 67% of F&A it receives to the PI. The department will keep the remaining 33% of the returned F&A for other department needs and initiatives. 

Salary Savings
Faculty on a nine- or twelve-month appointment can pay (part of) their academic year salary from external grants/contracts. Only base salary will be considered in salary savings. Salary savings will be calculated at the end of each fiscal year based on actual paid amounts. If buying out of teaching, the cost of buying out a class is 10% of salary per class.

100% of salary savings will be returned to the department by the college. If teaching replacement is needed, the department will use those returned funds to cover that teaching coverage. After paying for any teaching coverage related to course buyout, the Department of Communication will then provide 40% of returned salary savings to the faculty who generated it. Remaining funds may be used for other department needs and initiatives.

Adopted by the Department Faculty
October 26, 2022