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Salary reserve benefit as gap support funding for research faculty members
Research faculty members (defined as those appointed to Assistant Research Professor, Associate Research Professor, or Research Professor positions), or RFM, are non-tenure eligible faculty with the primary responsibility for engaging in or overseeing a significant area of research. The salary and benefits of research track faculty are supported through extramural awards (i.e., “soft-money” sources). Given the uncertainty of continuous and uninterrupted grant support through extramural means, small amounts of internal funds are sometimes needed to ensure continuity of salary support for RFM during periods of an external funding gap.
NAU facilitates continuity of compensation for RFM through a centralized salary reserve benefit. This benefit is described in recent revisions to the NAU Policy for Research Centers, Public Service Centers, and Institutes (revised 1/2024), and is described in detail in section 7D of that document. The process for establishing program eligibility, as well as accrual and use of the benefit, is summarized in the following sections.
Eligibility for salary reserve benefit Accordion Closed
- Research track faculty should contact ovpr@nau.edu to confirm their date of hire at NAU and to verify eligibility for enrollment in the benefit.
- Eligibility for the salary reserve benefit is established as soon as a research faculty member (RFM) generates F&A recovery funds from a sponsored project where the role of the Research Faculty member is listed as PI, co-PI, or other named personnel.
- The benefit available to the RFM will accrue over time proportionally to the amount of recovered F&A associated with salary and ERE associated expenses paid on these awards. Specifically, 35% of the recovered F&A associated with these expenditures will accrue toward the eligible benefit. Example: If $10,000 of a RTM’s salary/ERE is supported over a given amount of time from an award with an F&A rate of 52.5%, then the benefit to the RTM over this period would be $1837.50 ($10,000 x 0.525 = $5250 total F&A; 35% of this is $5250 x 0.35 = $1837.50).
The benefit will accumulate for a period of five calendar years from the initial eligibility date or until the first request to access the benefit is made (see below), whichever comes first. The amount of benefit available to an RTM is capped at an amount equivalent to one academic year+ERE.
Salary reserve benefit use Accordion Closed
- After establishing their eligibility, a RFM may use the salary reserve benefit to cover any gap (whether partial or complete) in their salary/ERE funding. To access the benefit, RFM should complete a Salary Reserve Use Request Form to specify the amount and duration of support needed.
- Upon review and approval by the OVPR and Office of Central Finance personnel, the requested salary/ERE support will draw from a centrally administered fund. Bear in mind that there is an expectation that any faculty using the benefit will make a good faith effort to secure future funding to support their position at NAU. NAU reserves the right to rescind access if it believes such a good faith effort is not occurring.
- Use of salary reserve funds to pay RFMs salary/ERE will draw-down their available reserve benefit on a dollar-for-dollar basis and stop their accrual of any additional salary reserve benefit (e., it is not allowable to simultaneously accrue salary reserve benefit and draw-down from salary reserve funds).
- The RFM may continue to use the reserve benefit until all the funds for which they have accrued eligibility are expended, or after a period of one (1) year has elapsed (defined as the consecutive 12-month period commencing when a RFM first accesses salary reserve funds), whichever occurs first. RFMs may also request to stop using the salary reserve benefit at any time.
- Any unused salary reserve funds will remain available for the RFM to use at a future date; however, there must be a period of at least twelve (12) consecutive months between a RFMs use of salary reserve funds. Example: If a RFM uses 50% of their accrued benefit to support a salary gap from 11/1/24 through 4/30/25, then they would not be able to request use of the remaining 50% until 5/1/26.
One-time re-establishment of salary reserve benefit Accordion Closed
- RFM can re-establish eligibility the salary reserve benefit after the first instance of requesting and accessing the support. The benefit will accrue as before for a second period of five calendar years (starting from the date that funds from the reserve benefit were last accessed) or until a second request to access the benefit, whichever comes first.
- After conclusion of this second period of accrual, RFM will have no further opportunity to establish eligibility for or accrue additional salary reserve benefit. The maximum benefit that may be accumulated is equivalent to the RTM’s academic year salary/ERE. Accrual into the account will stop when this amount is reached.
Account balances for available salary reserve benefit Accordion Closed
Working together, OVPR, and OCF can make an estimation of the accrued salary reserve benefit for RFM who have been paid from extramural awards since their hire, and can provide this information when requested. The accrued salary benefit will change for each month RFM are supported on new awards, or as the benefit is drawn down during gaps of support. RFM may receive an estimate of benefit at any time during the year. Please reach out to ovpr@nau.edu with inquiries.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is the salary reserve benefit available to all research faculty members?
A: Yes, the benefit is available to all RFM who are supported on external grants, regardless of whether their home unit is a research center or academic unit.
Q: When salary support benefits are initiated, am I required to use all the benefit I have accrued?
A: No. RFM may request partial support through the salary reserve as desired up to one year of support. At the end of this time, the remaining accrued benefit will be available for draw down later.
Q: What is the maximum effort that can be supported using funds from the salary reserve benefit?
A: RFM can request up to 100% of their effort supported on accrued reserve benefit during a gap in salary support. If full (100%) effort is paid through the reserve benefit, however, the RFMs work must not be assignable to/paid from any sponsored projects during this time.
Q: What is the minimum effort that can be supported using funds from the salary reserve benefit?
A: There is no minimum amount required to be used once a request for support is made. However, RFM should be mindful that initiation of the salary reserve benefit will serve to stop accrual into the reserve from the portion of their salary paid on active grants and will also end the period in which the salary reserve may be built, whether or not the five-year/1 FTE limits have yet been reached.
Q: Am I required to use the reserve benefit to cover my full time effort or may I request reduced salary support (i.e. less than 1.0 FTE) to extend the length of time that I remain benefits eligible?
A: Yes, the amount of total FTE coverage and length of time (up to a year) requested for the support are up to the RFM.
Q: May the salary reserve benefit be used for salary support in off-contract periods (i.e., summer salary)?
A: No. The reserve benefit is intended as salary bridge support during the academic year. The OVPR hosts a number of other intramural programs where eligible PI may apply for funding, including for summer salary.
Q: Can the salary reserve benefit be used as a cost-share for future programs?
A: No, work effort funded through the salary reserve benefit may not be assignable to any sponsored project and thus is not allowable to use to fulfill cost sharing requirements.
Q: I am leaving NAU for a new position at the beginning of the year. May I expend my accrued benefit in my final year of employment?
A: No. Salary reserve funds are intended to act as a bridge from one funding source to another for research faculty who intend to stay at NAU. Thus, there is the expectation that a research faculty member actively drawing down salary reserve funds will make a good faith effort to secure future funding to support their position at NAU. NAU reserves the right to rescind access to the salary reserve funds if it believes that such a good faith effort is not occurring.
Q: What is the maximum amount of benefit that I can accumulate into the salary reserve?
A: The maximum benefit available for salary support is equivalent to one year of your academic year salary+ERE.
Q: Will the salary reserve funds accumulate into a local account?
A: No, all funds for bridge support of RFM will come from a single, centrally-administered account.
Q: I have been an RFM with external support for several years. Will my previous grant support count toward my accumulated salary reserve benefit?
A: Yes. The OVPR and OCF will consider the previous grant activity of RFM in their calculations of the reserve benefit available to faculty who are enrolled in this program.
Q: If I have salary reserve funding in a local account afforded by the previous policy, will these funds still be available for salary support?
A: Any funds that were available to you for salary support through the previous policy will still be available to you in the new policy, but salary support will be administered through a central as opposed to local account.