Policies & Compliance
- Research Conduct
- Combatting Human Trafficking
- Federal Disclosure Requirements
- Research Handbook
- 1. Roles & Responsibilities
- 2. Standards for Conduct of Research
- 3. Overview of Sponsored Projects Administration
- 4. Funding Sources & Opportunities
- 5. Proposal Development
- 6. Budget Development
- 7. Procedures for the Submission of Proposals
- 8. Award Acceptance
- 9. Award Management
- 10. Research Related Regulations, Policies & Procedures
- 11. Other Conduct of Research Issues
- 12. Acronyms & Definitions
- 13. Glossary
- Procedure Library
- Regulations Library
Budget Development
6.5 Cost Sharing & Approval Requirements
Cost-sharing refers to the portion of total sponsored project costs that is not reimbursed by the sponsor and is supported by University resources or allowable third-party contributions. The University discourages voluntary committed cost sharing and expects proposals to include only the minimum cost sharing required by the sponsor.
All forms of cost sharing must be proposed, reviewed, and approved during proposal development through eProposal as part of the Document Summary Sheet (DSS). Cost-sharing commitments must be identifiable, verifiable, reasonable, allowable, and auditable, and may be applied to only one sponsored project.
Federal funds may not be used as cost sharing on another federal award. Additionally, if a sponsor designates Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs as unallowable, those costs are generally also unallowable as cost share.
For most sponsors and funding programs, cost sharing is not required. Investigators should carefully review sponsor guidelines and consult OSP before proposing any cost sharing.
Types of Cost Sharing
Mandatory Cost Sharing
Mandatory cost sharing is required either by sponsor policy, federal statute, or award terms as a condition of funding.
Requests for mandatory cost sharing must be fully reviewed and approved prior to proposal submission. Late or last-minute requests are strongly discouraged, as they require coordination among OSP, the Vice President for Research (VPR), and relevant academic leadership, as well as confirmed funding sources.
Voluntary Committed Cost Sharing
Voluntary committed cost sharing consists of costs or effort explicitly included in the proposal that are not required by the sponsor.
Examples include:
- Faculty or senior personnel effort identified in the proposal for which no salary or only partial salary is requested;
- Equipment or other major project costs described in the proposal but not requested from the sponsor.
The University does not normally approve voluntary committed cost sharing. Such commitments should be made only in exceptional circumstances, where a strong competitive or institutional benefit justifies the contribution.
Voluntary Uncommitted Cost Sharing
Voluntary uncommitted cost sharing refers to effort or resources provided above and beyond what was committed in the proposal or award and not communicated to the sponsor.
Examples include:
- Additional faculty effort beyond that described in the proposal;
- Academic-year effort when only summer salary was proposed, provided the effort was not stated in the proposal documents.
Voluntary uncommitted cost sharing is not tracked or reported to the sponsor and does not require prior approval.
In-Kind/Matching Contributions
Some sponsors require matching contributions from the University or third parties. These may be provided as:
- Cash contributions, or
- In-kind contributions, representing the value of non-cash support (e.g., donated equipment, services, or personnel time).
- In-kind contributions from external third parties must be fully documented and verifiable. They also require written confirmation supporting their use as cost-sharing.
