Budget Information

RFCUNY grant funds are utilized to hire different types of project employees. For example, tutors, instructors, administrative assistants, and technicians are common RF positions. RF can support full-time and part-time employees. Please note that in addition to the salary amount a grant is charged fringe benefit rates for full-time, Part-time A (20-34 hours per week) and Part Time B employees (19 hours a week or less). Rates as of July 2026 are 35% for Full time and Part time A employees and 8% for part time B employees. Annual increases of 3.25% should also be budgeted for staff. MTA Payroll tax of 0.895% must also be budgeted. For federal grants the amount must be budgeted as Other and not as fringe benefits, because the tax should not be included in indirect cost calculation. For other sponsors the fringe rates requested can be 35.9% and 8.9%.

After receiving grant funding contact the OSP before you hire an employee, please see Hiring RF Employees section of OSP website for detailed information.

Full-time instructional CUNY faculty can receive summer salary from grants for work from June 1 to August 31 for conducting grant activities. Fringe benefits at 25.05% must also be budgeted. The CUNY Payroll Office remits summer salary payment.

However, City Tech OSP must submit online for RFCUNY to charge the grant for summer salary. If your grant is budgeted for summer salary, you should receive an email from OSP in April with forms and information on the process. Details are also available Summer Salary section at OSP website. OSP will enter and authorize summer salary, do not enter in RFCUNY Summer salary system. Payment is typically issued the month following scheduled summer activities, e.g., payment for June work is issued in July. As PI you will be requested to electronically certify all summer salary on your grant via rfcuny.org in September.

Upon budgeting travel funds on a grant, please be aware of the sponsor's policies on travel. Some grants require travel to an annual project directors meeting, some may only allow domestic travel. Please be sure to check guidelines to ensure that you are requesting allowable expenses.

RFCUNY no longer accepts travel advance requests. PIs should utilize their RFCUNY Purchase card for travel.

You must book your travel on a U.S. Flag carrier. Travel must take place within the grant period, and if IRB is required for your research, within the approved IRB dates as well.

Additional travel information is available at RFCUNY website.

OSP has created an information sheet on submitting for travel reimbursement in OneRF.

When budgeting supplies and/or equipment, please make sure your request is within the sponsor's guidelines. Any single item over $5,000 should be budgeted as equipment, anything less should be budgeted as supplies. For PSC-CUNY awards any single item over $1,000 is considered equipment but you still purchase it via the supply method.

RFCUNY encourages faculty to use a Purchase Card to order supplies for your project.

An independent contractor is an individual or firm providing services free from direction and control of performance including the means and methods used.

Independent contractors fall into two categories:

1. A company or firm providing service to the public or to a broad clientele.
2. Individuals who are clearly in business for themselves such as self-employed physicians, lawyers, photographers, artists, construction contractors, electricians, and others in an independent trade, business or profession. This includes one-time professional lecturers and short-term professional consultants.

Before an independent contractor begins to work you must submit documentation to RF CUNY via the Contract Manager system. The electronic system guide you through the steps of determining whether an individual should be considered an employee or an independent contractor. You will be required to upload documentation for RF to create an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA).

The contractor can begin work once until the ICA is approved by RF. Upon approval, RF Legal Affairs would draw up a Contract and forward directly to the contractor for signature. Once the signed contract is received by RF CUNY and fully executed the funds will be encumbered in your account and the contractor may begin work. For invoices paid against a CM Contract, suppliers will submit their signed invoices directly to rfcuny_contractmanagerinvoices@rfcuny.org and the system will automatically create the Supplier Invoice. Contract Manager Supplier invoices will route to the PI and GC team for review and approval. Instructions for invoice submission are included within Docusign for the supplier's view.

Indirect Cost, also known as Facilities & Administration (F&A), are costs charged to grants that are meant to reimburse the college for the cost of hosting grant activities. Indirect costs are calculated at a pre-determined percentage to account for costs such as facilities, equipment, computers, college staff and space.

City Tech's federally negotiated indirect cost rate is 55.1% of salary and fringe benefits. The fixed rate is negotiated for each CUNY campus by RFCUNY with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

If grant activities will not take place on campus, the off-campus indirect cost rate is 25.5%. RFCUNY has additional information about determining when to use off-campus F&A.

MTA payroll tax must be excluded from indirect costs on federal grants. RFCUNY was audited by NSF and determined that indirect costs cannot be charged on tax.

The general policy of CUNY and RFCUNY is to recover the full indirect cost rate. Indirect cost may be limited by the sponsor or grant program. OSP must be consulted on all budgets since allowable sponsor and grant rates can vary.

If City Tech's full indirect cost of 55.1% cannot be budgeted, approval from the provost is required. City Tech will not allow grant proposals to be submitted without indirect costs since the college is responsible for RFCUNY administrative costs.

RFCUNY charges each college an administrative fee based upon project expenditures, typically 6.75%-10%. It is thus important that City Tech recovers indirect costs since we incur RFCUNY fees.

Cost Sharing or Matching Costs are direct costs for a project that are supported by funds other than the sponsor. Some grants require mandatory cost sharing, and these costs must be documented as if they were direct costs. Cost contribution to a project that is not required is considered voluntary committed cost share. Voluntary committed cost share is prohibited by some sponsors such as NSF.

Cost sharing is highly discouraged.

The CUNY Office of Research policy allows for cost sharing only when it is required by a sponsor or when a waiver request has been made given compelling circumstances. Please refer to the CUNY Office of Research 2023 memo on Cost Sharing.

Approval from the provost is required for any proposal that requires mandatory cost sharing. A waiver is required from the CUNY Office of Research for voluntary committed cost sharing.

Sample NSF budget justification

Sample NSF budget worksheet

Sample federal budget justification grants.gov

Sample federal budget worksheet grants.gov

PSC CUNY Research Awards run from July 1st through June 30th. A one-time extension through December 31st will be given to any PI making this request, no justification needed.

If you wish to change any of the budgeted items, you need email PSC_CUNY@rfcuny.org with the following information:

• Amount — This should be the amount you would like to reallocate.
• Original Budget Category — This is the expense the budget was originally submitted to fund.
• New Budget Category — This is the expense you would like the funds to be put towards now.
• Budget Justification- This is a written statement explaining why the original budget category is no longer necessary (What has changed?), why the new budget category is now necessary, and how it will aid in productivity to your research or work. Please provide a detailed explanation.

Additional information about available at RFCUNY webpage PSC-CUNY Awards.