University of St. Thomas

Frequently Asked Questions
 

When is the GRO open?
How can I locate funding sources?
Where can I find grant forms?
How many copies of a grant proposal must be submitted?
What are the mailing options for my proposal?
If I get a grant, who controls it?
Who can help me with electronic submissions?
What is the internal review/approval process like, and why do we need to bother with it?
What happens if I don’t go through the formal review/approval process before I submit my proposal?
If I submit a grant proposal through GRO, is it available for anyone to see?
Why does the University have to take so much from my grant as “indirect costs?”
What happens to the indirect costs that are collected from my grant?
Who can help me prepare my budget and answer questions about my budget?
What is the University of St. Thomas’ indirect cost rate?
What are “modified total direct costs?”
What are our current fringe benefit rates?
How much time can I devote to grant projects during the academic year?
How much time can I devote to grant projects during the summer?
What happens to the salary funds that are displaced because I am being paid by a grant?
What does the University of St. Thomas consider to be the academic year and what is the summer?
How many weeks can I budget for when planning an appointment for a student assistant?
How much should I pay a student assistant?
Should I set aside money for fringes for student assistants?
How can I get cash to match my external award?
What’s the difference between the GRO, the Faculty Development Center, and Corporate and Foundation Relations?
I got a grant!  What happens now?

   When is the GRO open? 
Our office hours are from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

    How can I locate funding sources?
The GRO website has a whole section on this and includes lists of Upcoming Deadlines, access to Online Search Tools, links to many State and Federal Agencies, information on sources of internal funding at UST, and information on how to seek funding from Corporations and Foundations.

   Where can I find grant forms?
Most agencies have application forms on their web sites. You can also find UST-specific forms under the UST Internal Forms section of our website.

   How many copies of a grant proposal must be submitted?
This depends upon the agency – check the program solicitation.   In all cases, however, we will need one paper copy of your proposal, and we recommend that you keep a copy for your own files.

   What are the mailing options for my proposal?
Increasingly, proposals are being submitted electronically.  In cases where submission of a paper copy is allowed or required, you can either have us mail the proposal for you, or you can assume responsibility for mailing it yourself.  When the GRO mails the package, it will be sent by FEDEX overnight express in most cases.

   If I get a grant, who controls it?
If you will be using University resources to carry out your sponsored project, require a reassignment of time for any UST personnel, or the University will serve as the fiscal agent for the grant, the grant or contract is formally awarded to the University of St. Thomas.  The principal investigator is responsible for the intellectual content of a grant and for carrying out the project in a way that is consistent with University policies, agency policies, and the original proposal.

   Who can help me with electronic submissions?
We can help you with all electronic submissions.  There are also help pages available on this website for Grants.gov and Fastlane.

   What is the internal review/approval process like, and why do we need to bother with it?
The internal review/approval process is a mechanism that allows for full institutional oversight of all proposals for external grant and contract funding.  Most grant and contract proposals involve the commitment of faculty or staff time and effort, the use of University of resources, and sometimes even University cash.  When submitted as part of a formal grant or contract proposal, these commitments are essentially promises made on the part of the University of St. Thomas to the state or federal government, and the University is responsible for making sure that we are in compliance with all state and federal laws relating to sponsored programs.  All of these commitments have an impact on the University’s budget and its programs, and it is therefore important that University academic and fiscal officers have an opportunity to review and approve proposals prior to their submission to external granting agencies.

The review/approval process itself is quite straight-forward.  You are first asked to discuss your proposed project with your chair.  Once your chair approves your initiative, the our office helps you fill out a two-page internal form.  You sign it as the principal investigator, and then your dean, the Controller’s Office, the Grants Office, and the Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer review and sign off on your project.  This process—carried out by the GRO--is usually  quick and can often be completed in a couple of days (although we like to have more time in case key individuals are out of the office or unavailable).  Once your proposal has been fully reviewed and approved, the GRO sends you an e-mail confirming that fact.

   What happens if I don’t go through the formal review/approval process before I submit my proposal?
If you do not get full institutional approval prior to the submission deadline for your proposal, the University has several options.  First, if the proposal has not yet been mailed, the University could refuse to send the proposal to the agency.  Second, if the proposal has already been sent to the funding agency, UST could institutionally refuse—in whole or in part--any grant or contract that you might win as result of your submission.  Third, if the University chooses, in fact, to accept an award produced by a proposal that was not reviewed prior to submission, your dean will receive a financial penalty in the form of a reduced allocation of indirect costs.  It is just not a good idea to circumvent the review/approval process.

   If I submit a grant proposal through GRO, is it available for anyone to see?
No.  It is considered a protected piece of intellectual property.  We will release a grant proposal to a third party only if we have signed permission from the principal investigator.  Even when we receive permission to do so, however, we will not release the budget portions of a submitted proposal unless all individuals named in the budget sign a release as well.  This policy is meant to protect your privacy and that of your colleagues. 

The only exceptions to this rule pertain to 1) your chair, 2) the office of academic affairs, 3) the president, and 4) those individuals who have signed off on the proposal during the internal review/approval process.  These individuals have an absolute right to receive a copy of your complete proposal upon request.

   Why does the University have to take so much from my grant as “indirect costs?”
Indirect costs recovered from external funding agencies continue to be an irritant and a mystery to many principal investigators.  Why do you “lose” so much money to the University when you get a grant?  First of all, it is important to note that all universities and hospitals collect indirect costs when a grant is awarded – and most external grantmakers readily agree to pay these costs.  Why?  It is recognized that all institutions incur real costs when a faculty member carries out a sponsored project: administrative offices (the GRO, Corporate and Foundation Relations, the Controller’s Office) support grant projects, sponsored projects use physical facilities and utilities, and a variety of other offices provide indirect support for faculty as they carry out sponsored projects (libraries, registrar’s office, payroll, custodial services, etc.).  None of these costs is directly allocable to a particular sponsored project, but they are all nevertheless very real.  Through a lengthy and very exhaustive process, the federal government determines every five years how we can best estimate these costs and gives us a percentage and a formula for calculating them.  This process then produces the “indirect cost rate” that we use when submitting proposals to external funding agencies.

   What happens to the indirect costs that are collected from my grant?
It is perfectly appropriate (and common) for universities to collect indirect costs from a grantmaker and allocate 100% of these funds to their general fund.  In the case of the University of St. Thomas, though, we have made a commitment to redistribute up to 50% of these funds back to the grantseeking community: 20% is allocated to your dean, and 30% to the Grants and Research Office to support additional university-wide programming.

Budgets

   Who can help me prepare my budget and answer questions about my budget?
Call David Steele at 2-6038 for assistance developing your budget.  You can also check the resources available at this website under Budget Preparation.

   What is the University of St. Thomas’ indirect cost rate?
Our indirect cost rate is 39% of modified total direct costs.

   What are “modified total direct costs?”
“Modified total direct costs” is the basis on which we calculate the recovery of indirect costs from external funding agencies.  It is the sum of all direct costs in your budget, MINUS equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, tuition remission, rental costs of off-campus facilities, scholarship and fellowships, and subcontracts to other institutions in excess of $25,000.

   What are our current fringe benefit rates?
Information on current fringe benefit rates and how you calculate them are available on this website.

   How much time can I devote to grant projects during the academic year?
This is negotiable.  If you are planning to work on a grant project during the academic year (when you are a full-time employee of the University of St. Thomas), you must indicate to the government how much of your effort (a percent of your time) you plan to spend on the grant project.  This diversion of effort must be approved by your chair, your dean, the Controller’s Office, GRO, and the executive vice president for academic affairs.  If the appointment is approved, a percentage of your salary (commensurate with the level of your actual effort on the grant) will be paid by the grant, and the UST funds that would have covered that percentage of your salary (if you had not received a grant) will be allocated to your department.

   What happens to the salary funds that are displaced because I am being paid by a grant?
In most cases, these funds become discretionary funds for use by your chair.

   How much time can I devote to grant projects during the summer?
You are free to commit time and effort to grant projects during the months when you are otherwise not being compensated by the University of St. Thomas.  Some agencies, however, restrict you to two months (the National Science Foundation is a good example).

   What does the University of St. Thomas consider to be the academic year and what is the summer?
The definition of an “academic year” depends upon your tenure home:

Faculty Tenure Home	Formal Academic Year
Most Academic Departments/Colleges	September 1 to May 31
School of Law	August 1 to May 31
School of Divinity	August 15 to May 31

    How many weeks can I budget for when planning an appointment for a student assistant?
You can budget for up to 15 weeks during Fall Semester, 4 weeks during January Term, 15 weeks during Spring Semester, and 15 weeks during the summer.

   How much should I pay a student assistant?
UST Human Resources establishes pay rates for student assistance.  Use their website as a guide.

   Should I set aside money for fringes for student assistants?
When a student is working on a grant-funded project and not taking any classes (typically in the summer), you must budget for fringes at a rate of 7.65%.  In the case of students who are taking courses (during summer or the academic year), you do not have to budget for fringes.  More information is available on  our website.

   How can I get cash to match my external award?
Contact David Steele to discuss matching funds.

   What’s the difference between the GRO, the Faculty Development Center, and Corporate and Foundation Relations?
These are separate offices that share a common commitment to helping faculty and staff find the funding you need in order to carry out your teaching, research, and service responsibilities.   The GRO and Corporate and Foundation Relations focus on EXTERNAL sources of support, while the Faculty Development Center focuses on INTERNAL sources of support.  They divide their responsibilities like this:

• GRO – focuses on state and federal governmental programs only
  
• Corporate and Foundation Relations – focuses on corporations, foundations, and individuals only
  
• Faculty Development Center – sponsors internal programs and provides internal funds

If you are unsure of which office you should contact, don’t hesitate to call any of us.  If you do not get the right office at first, we will direct you to the office you need.

   I got a grant!  What happens now?
First of all, congratulations!   You should immediately notify your chair, the GRO, and the Controller’s Office (Lindsey Sargent, 2-6612 and ldbarott@stthomas.edu).  The GRO and the Controller’s Office will work with you to take care of any final paperwork relating to the incoming grant, and you will be asked to meet with Lindsey Sargent to set up a grant account from which you can begin expending funds.