Fringe Benefit Rates
Fringe benefits include employer contributions for social security, employee insurance, workers compensation, etc. The universities calculate fringe benefit rates which are then charged to sponsored project agreements so that each project (federal and non-federal) pays its fair share of these support costs. The fringe benefit rates are assessed as a percentage of total salaries. Separate fringe benefits rates are calculated for each of our three universities.
The universities fringe benefit rates consist of multiple rate components as follows:
- Employee health, life, and dental
- Graduate assistant health, dental, and vision
- Termination vacation and sick
- Workers compensation
- Retirement
- OASDI
- Overseas worker’s compensation
Fringe Benefit rates are calculated annually by various university offices: System Government Costing, University Accounting & Financial Reporting, Risk Management, and other units.
Once the fringe benefits rate calculations have been completed, a fringe benefit proposal package is submitted to our cognizant federal agency, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for negotiation and approval. ONR contracts with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) to perform audits of the rate proposals. Once final rates are determined, ONR issues a formal pre-determined fringe benefit rate negotiation agreement between ONR and the Universities which outlines the maximum rates the Universities are permitted to charge sponsored projects during the fiscal year specified.