Policy

All grants and contracts are awarded to and received by Wichita State University. The conduct of sponsored research and other sponsored programs at the University involves both direct and indirect costs. The Office of Research and Technology Transfer is responsible for negotiating with the federal government to obtain approval of the indirect cost rate, which may vary from year to year.

Direct costs usually include the following: the salaries and wages of persons employed on the research or training project; personnel fringe benefits, such as FICA and retirement plan contributions; consumable supplies needed for the project; travel and communication charges for the project; the costs of equipment acquired for specific use in the project; and computer time and necessary supporting services, calculated in accordance with an approved rate schedule for the facility.

Indirect costs are actual costs incurred by the University in the fulfillment of sponsored research contracts and grants. These costs defray the following: depreciation on University-acquired furnishings and scientific equipment; partial recovery of depreciation of building costs; partial recovery of utilities, maintenance and janitorial expenses; partial recovery of administration costs at the department, college and university levels; and costs associated with research support services, property management, technical monitoring, radiation safety and hazardous materials oversight, and institutional review of human and animal experimentation.

Disbursements of indirect cost funds will be based on actual costs recovered during the previous fiscal year. Five percent of the indirect costs generated by a principal investigator will be allocated to the investigator for use in furthering his/her research program and scholarly/creative activities. Five percent of the indirect costs generated by persons within a department/unit will be allocated to the department/unit chairperson/director for use in promoting research, scholarly and/or creative activity among persons in the department/unit; ten percent of the indirect costs generated by persons in a college division will be allocated to the college dean/division vice president (for divisions without colleges) for use in promoting research, scholarly and/or creative activity among persons within the college/division; the remaining portion of the indirect costs generated will be allocated to central administration to cover costs associated with support of the University's research activities and mission.