Current Duke Rates

Fringe benefit rates are expressed as a percentage of salary. There are separate fringe benefit rates for faculty/monthly employees, bi-weekly employees, and students. (The rate for students is only to be used when a student is not currently enrolled.) In addition, beginning in FY 99/00, there are two sets of rates; one for all federal grants and contracts and one for non-federal. The lower federal rates result from the government's decision to end participation in the tuition reimbursement portion of Duke's fringe benefit program.

Duke's fringe benefit rates are negotiated with the U.S. Department of Health and Huamn Services; however, the negotiated rates usually cover only one fiscal year at a time. The University's Corporate Controller projects fringe benefit rates several fiscal years in advance. Unless the Sponsor stipulates otherwise, faculty are expected to use the projected rates when preparing proposals. The Controller's office notifies the faculty and ORS of changes in the projected rates. Current and recent past rates are available on the Financial Services website (see link above).

The budget periods in a proposal do not always correspond to fiscal years. A given budget period may include more than one fiscal year and, therefore, more than one fringe benefit rate would be applicable to that period. The method for resolving this issue depends upon the sponsor and the anticipated award mechanism. If the award will be a grant, federal or non-federal, it is usually acceptable to use the fringe benefit rate which would apply to most of the proposed budget period. If the award will be a contract, the sponsor may require that each month of the budget period carry the correct rate.

When submitting a budget to ORS, include the worksheet that shows how fringe benefit rates were applied. The worksheet will not be part of the official proposal but will help Research Support check the budget figures.

SPS NOTE: Of course, if the proposal is submitted through the Sponsored Projects System, a worksheet will not be needed by ORS or by the budget preparer.