F32 and Fringe Rate

[Ollie123]

Quick question

Anyone here apply for and/or receive an F32? Thought I remembered one of the regulars had done so, but can't remember who it was.

My issue relates to how the university where I'm applying handles fringe. The rate is quite high and it actually exceeds the institutional allowance. I can't request additional funds under this mechanism and I don't believe my mentor could even cover the balance of it from other NIH grants since you can't double dip on federal funds. I suspect my university isn't the only one with a fringe rates in the 30+% range, so curious if anyone else has encountered this and how it was handled. Right now if I apply, the university will gobble up my entire project budget and still want another $5-10k annually so we're trying to figure out some way to make this workable.

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[LM02]

Quick question

Anyone here apply for and/or receive an F32? Thought I remembered one of the regulars had done so, but can't remember who it was.

My issue relates to how the university where I'm applying handles fringe. The rate is quite high and it actually exceeds the institutional allowance. I can't request additional funds under this mechanism and I don't believe my mentor could even cover the balance of it from other NIH grants since you can't double dip on federal funds. I suspect my university isn't the only one with a fringe rates in the 30+% range, so curious if anyone else has encountered this and how it was handled. Right now if I apply, the university will gobble up my entire project budget and still want another $5-10k annually so we're trying to figure out some way to make this workable.

It has been a looong time since my F32, but my memory was that the project budget was over and above the stipend. So you simply budget your salary plus fringe, and then add the project budget to that. We have a similar fringe rate, and this was not an issue at all.

The thing you need to be careful of with an F32 is that you're no longer a student (as are those with F31s). But you're not faculty, either. So many universities (including my own) will consider the university's contribution toward your insurance as reportable income. This can be a real bear at tax time. I would look into this now, as it may make it less desirable over a standard (eg, R01-funded) research postdoc (my university does the same for T32s). And if that's the case, it may make more sense to use your precious writing time on internship to focus on a manuscript.

 

[Ollie123]

Hrmm. The fellowship covers salary and provides an "institutional allowance" but to my knowledge I can't write in the fringe (i.e. its a fixed budget), which is the problem. The fringe comes out of the institutional allowance...which is all of it.

We definitely have the issue of insurance here too - it even applies for internship. I'm screwed come tax time this year and likely will be again next year - actually reminds me I need to set up an appt with an accountant to figure all this out. Trying to balance the financial costs now with the career benefits of pulling in my own funding and the freedom it would provide to dictate my own training (I'm spoiled in that regard - all this irrelevant but "mandatory" internship stuff is killing me!). I also really want to run the particular study I have in mind before someone else gets to it and the general consensus seems to be that it would be extremely fundable, but I guess if the university eats the whole budget for it that may not happen anyways...

 

[LM02]

I wish I remembered how we handled this - it really wasn't an issue (the lack of indirects, however, was an issue!). Perhaps my university just ate the fringe costs?

Here is what I could find on the NRSA FAQ (which you have probably already consulted) - if it is not technically "salary" then perhaps fringe does not technically apply? This may also be why universities can treat money toward benefits as reportable income when true fringe would never be handled in this way?

1. Are there set salary and fringe benefit levels applicable to fellowship programs?
   Fellowship recipients are not considered employees of the Federal government or the sponsoring institution and therefore do not receive salaries or fringe benefits. Instead, a stipend is provided as a subsistence allowance to help defray living expenses during the research training experience. Stipends are set amounts for 12-month periods of full-time training and must be paid in accordance with the stipend levels established by the NIH. Current stipend levels can be viewed at:http://grants1.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm(scroll down to see: “NRSA Stipend Levels”).

 

[ADDICTED2STATS]

I've never had an F32, but in grad school I had an F31. The University tried to charge fringe, but NIH specifically told them fringe was not authorized and they could not charge it under an NRSA. I'm not positive, but I believe if they try, this could place them in noncompliance. The important piece to all of this is that "Fellowship recipients are not considered employees of the Federal government or the sponsoring institution." Fringe is money used to cover the costs of things like insurance (life/health), sick leave, and HR operations of sponsoring institution employees. You are not one of these... yet