Policy on Course Buyout and Release Time
Introduction
The New School recognizes the importance of providing good stewardship of institutional and external research funds. The New School’s stewardship includes the responsibility for complying with all Uniform Guidance (UG), sponsor and/or institutional requirements for proposing, managing and documenting research and other sponsored activities.
Support for the faculty’s research goals is critical to the success of The New School. The Policy on Course Buyout and Release Time seeks to foster excellence in research by promoting the successful support for research activities through institutional investments in sponsored projects.
The course buy-out policy: i) establishes a limit on the number of courses that can be bought out from external grant sources in a given period, and ii) specifies the appropriate budgeting formula for calculating these costs in the proposal budget and submission stage.
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to a) incentivize sponsored research by allowing for a reduced teaching load so the faculty may concentrate on grant-supported project activities and research; b) ensure and preserve teaching capacity and residency requirements within departments and Schools; and c) present realistic costs to external funders for key personnel effort budgeted in grant and contract proposals.
The policy must also adhere to Uniform Guidance terms of how salary is budgeted for and requested in proposals, as these regulations obligate the university to account for these costs in a consistent manner across all research awards and other sponsored activities at The New School.
This policy was created in order to:
- Comply with The New School’s obligations under Office of Management and Budget’s Uniform Guidance regulations for cost sharing and other relevant sponsor requirements.
- Provide clear direction to faculty and staff for determining Course Buyout and Release Time in proposals.
- Promote the best possible alignment between faculty and staff activity and funding sources so as to enhance research activities at The New School.
- Establish expectations for tracking, monitoring and recording Course Release and Release Time by The New School.
Support for the faculty’s research goals is critical to the success of The New School. The purpose of this document is to foster excellence in research by promoting the successful support for research activities through institutional investments in sponsored projects. Course Buyout and Release Time is important at many stages in a research program:
- Proposing the research goals and funding to support them.
- Establishing the obligations of The New School in regard to the project budget and expenditures.
- Charging salary and other items of expense for the project.
- Managing the sources of funds in keeping with all UG, sponsor or institutional requirements.
- Monitoring The New School’s contributions and support to the project.
- Documenting project expenditures and the funding for the project outcomes.
Scope
This policy applies to TBD.
institutional grants and contracts
It does not apply to individual awards and funds that faculty may apply for and receive directly such as certain prestigious Fellowships not administered through the university. For these type of individual awards, Dean’s Offices will determine and adjudicate on when to allow for course release.
Definitions
Course Buyout: TBD
A course buy-out should not be confused with professional leave, when a faculty member is released from all regular teaching, research and service commitments for a period of time to pursue an external activity.
Uniform Guidance (UG): TBD
Responsibilities
Budget Officer: TBD
Dean: TBD
Department Chair: TBD
Principal Investigator (PI): TBD
Office of Research Support: TBD
Policy
Faculty principal investigators and project directors, with the prior approval of the department chair and dean, may buy out courses with external funding they have obtained through grants or contracts administered at the university.
A faculty member may not propose buying out more than one course per academic year, unless an extraordinary or special exception is granted by the Dean. Both the department chair and the divisional dean must approve all buy-out requests.
The cost of buying out one course will be the appropriate fraction of the principal faculty member’s nine-month institutional base salary. The appropriate fraction for a regular university teaching load of 3 + 2 will be 12 percent level of effort as a percentage of salary and fringe.
In order for a course buy-out to be granted, the full cost must be requested of the sponsor in the proposal budget. In instances when it is not possible to request from the sponsor the full 12 percent of salary and fringe, either due to a sponsor’s limited award ceiling or other factors, a course buy-out cannot be requested or granted to the faculty member. Alternatively, summer salary budgeting or supplemental/overload compensation budgeting can be other options exercised; see the PI Handbook for relevant policies for allowable practices and budgeting procedures for these options.
If a course is bought out from a grant, faculty will still be expected to remain in residence at The New School and carry out all other duties of a faculty member, including applicable undergraduate or graduate supervision, advising, and departmental and university service.
Procedure
Budgeting Formula
Faculty PIs should use the below calculation when creating the proposed budget...
Course Buyout Calculation | Cost = (Base Salary x 12%) + ((Base Salary x 12%) x 35%) |
Summer Salary Calculation | “Summer Ninth” = Base Salary / 9 Salary may be requested and charged to a grant based on actual estimated effort using institutional base salary. Note: PIs cannot exceed 3/9’s across multiple grants in the same year; maximum NSF allowable is 2/9’s. |
Multi-Year Salary Increases | If the proposal budget spans multiple fiscal years, PIs and budget officers must build in a 2.5 percent annual increase for each salaried line in the budget, in the event the university implements salary increases in a given year. The grant will only be charged if an increase actually occurs. |
Example: For a PI with an annual 9-month salary of $80,000, the cost for budgeting one course buy-out in the proposal is equal to $80,000 * .12 = $9600 in salary + $3360 (35%) in fringe. The approved proposal budget must clearly represent these allocation of costs.
Uniform Guidance
This is confirmed during the proposal review and sign-off stage that the Office of Research Support coordinates with the Dean’s Office before proposals can be submitted to external sponsors.
It is the policy of The New School that all researchers who engage in research and other sponsored activities will comply with UG, sponsor and/or institutional policies regarding the proposing, charging and reporting of Course Buyout and Release Time funds. This policy applies to all funding sources.
The principles that apply in defining an individual’s Course Buyout and Release Time at the proposal stage must be applied consistently when charging salary to sponsored projects, throughout the entire award lifecycle:
- initial allocation of budget estimates
- review of budget estimates and interim charges
- after the fact review to confirm interim charges are accurate
For more information on process, please find guidance documents for Pre-Award and Post-Award available on the Research Support website. Please also feel free to reach out to us via email at researchsupport@newschool.edu for any questions.
Policy Administration
Responsible University Official: Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
Responsible Office: Office of Research Support
Contact Information: researchsupport@newschool.edu