Key Contacts

For questions about the process, please contact the Manager, Accounting & Financial Analysis in the Finance Office.

Applicability

Faculty members shifting academic year salary to a grant, releasing general education fund salary and fringe.

Policy Purpose and Description

To move faculty salary and fringe to a grant, which releases a portion of GEF salary to a departmental research release account.  In these cases, the salary and 50% of the associated fringe is released for the faculty member to use in the same fiscal year for research-related activities that are not covered by a grant.  All funds released in FY24 (beginning July 1, 2023) and subsequently will follow this policy; requests for carry over to the next fiscal year will only be considered for a limited number of uses (see Frequently Asked Questions, below).  Existing research release funds that previously have been allowed to carry over must be spent by June 1, 2025, at the latest.

Departmental grant support staff will enter this information into the CLAS Research Release App to notify CLAS Finance staff that salary is being released and to indicate how these funds should be allocated.

Definitions

Research Release:  Faculty with substantial external grant funding may buy out their research time using funds from those grants if allowed.  Grant funds will be used to pay the corresponding part of their salary.  CLAS will return the released salary funds and 50% of the fringe to a research release account.  The faculty member may use the funds in this account for research-related activities that are not typically covered by a grant (i.e., RA support, summer salary, course buyout, P&S support, or general expense such as lab supplies). Funds must be spent in the fiscal year in which they are released except for summer salary which may be carried over to fund July and ½ of August salary.  Faculty may only request an exception to this no-carryover policy if they have a specific plan for spending in a limited number of categories including: equipment service contracts; support for ongoing graduate students in good standing; or equipment purchases.  

Procedure

The first-time entering data into the Research Release App for each fiscal year, select the Add Research Release for Fiscal Year box. Going forward, in the same fiscal year, when entering the App select the Create/View Research Release box.

Add Research Release for Fiscal Year:

• Select fiscal year for which release is being created (should default to current year).
• College should already be populated.
• Select department from drop down (should only have their department(s) in drop down).
• Click “Create Research Release”.

If the research release list for the year has already been created, the system will not allow a second list to be created. The message “Research Release list already exists |Edit Research Release List for FY20XX 11-<dept>|” will appear when attempted, and they can navigate to their existing research release list by clicking the button.

Create/View Research Release:

• College should already be populated.
• Select department from drop down (should only have your department(s) in drop down).
• Click “Search”.
• In results area, click “view” for current fiscal year.

Research Release – Summary Page:

Once the research release list has been created, information by faculty member can be added to the app. To enter grant release information for a faculty member:

• Click “Add New”.
• Enter PI name and click search.
• Select correct faculty from list.

Edit Research Release Grant:

Required fields:

• Grant program (from the grant that is allowing the faculty member to release salary).
• Grant end date.
• Salary amount being released for this grant.
• Fringe amount (this is the total fringe amount that corresponds to the salary being released and needs to be calculated using the current fiscal year’s fringe rate).
• Effort period begin date.
• Effort period end date.
• HR CoS Transaction # (or a note that salary release was entered during budget process).
• MFKs and amounts for where the funding should be allocated.

Notes:

• The released to college and released to department amounts on the form will auto-calculate based on the salary and fringe amounts entered on the form.
• The effort period end date must be before the grant end date or the end of the fiscal year.
• If the form is partially completed and is missing information, the form will save in draft, but it will not be able to be submitted.
• The released to department amount and the sum MFK amounts must be equal to submit the form.
• The release MFKs will validate, so a valid MFK is required to submit the form.
• The Fund, Org, Dept and FN fields of the MFK are locked.
• Once the research release is submitted it cannot be edited.  If there are changes to the release a new request should be submitted and either increase or decrease the request based on new information.

Process after Research Release is Submitted:

• System will generate an email that is sent to the Faculty Budget accountant and the Research Budget accountant.
• Faculty budget accountant will go in and review the form and pull back salary released from department salary account (00000000).
• Once salary has been pulled back, the accountant will mark the salary entry box as complete.
• Research accountant will go in and allocate funds to the requested MFKs in the “To Release MFK” section of the form. 
• As entries are made, the accountant will go in and mark the allocation complete box.
• Once all entries are done, the status on the research release list will change to COMPLETE.

Forms

Research Release App

Frequently Asked Questions

If I am supporting a Graduate Student/Postdoctoral Fellow using research release, can I request a carryover for this purpose? Yes, the accounting staff are happy to calculate stipend and fringe to carryover in support of a graduate research assistant in good standing, or a postdoctoral fellow. Funds designated for tuition for graduate research assistants may also be carried over.

I use research release to pay for the service contract on my microscope (for example, or other such necessary research equipment) and this is a necessary annual expense.  Can I request carryover of research release funds to continue to pay for the service contract? Yes, you may request carryover in the amount needed to cover an existing service contract.

I may want to do more traveling next year, or send a student to a conference.  I don’t know what conference, but I want to carry over funds in case I find something interesting. Can I carry over for this reason? No, carryover is allowed only for a limited number of clearly identified expenses with a timeline. Any carryover for such travel or other similar expenses will require a detailed spending plan.  

I would like to carry over my research release funds “just in case” some piece of equipment breaks in the future. Can I carry over such “rainy-day” funds?  No. Research release funds are general education funds that are intended to be spent in the fiscal year in which they are generated.  If there is a planned, well-defined future expense for a major equipment purchase and money from several years will be needed to accommodate the expense, we will consider a carryover request.  In such cases, the expense must be planned with a very clear amount and timeline.

Related Information

N/A