Inflating Salaries

Most grants will ask applicants to supply the base salary for year 1, the percentage of a person's time that will be devoted to the project, the number of months that the person will be paid, and the amount required to cover benefit costs. For federal grants, the percentage and number of months are multiplied together and submitted as a single figure called person months.

The base salary is the amount that a person will be paid at the beginning of the grant. Since grant applications are prepared up to a year in advance of the start date, than the base salary is often the current salary with an estimated inflation rate. The inflation rate for year 1 should be 4% and no more than 4% unless there is a justifiable reason that there will be other increases. Other increases include any raises, promotions, or changes in payscale that will occur during the life of the grant.

If you anticipate that the person will change salary scales altogether, do not inflate their current salary. Instead, use a justifiable substitute for their salary and inflate it 4%. The best substitute can be a salary derived from established salary schedules. Or you can use the salary of another employee who has the anticipated job title and experience.

Every year, the salary should be inflated to account for cost of living increases. The University of Washington will approve up to 4% per year. Most government sponsors, including NIH, will only approve a 3% inflation.

Examples

#1: Dr. X is a full professor. Since promotion is not an option, then X would only receive a 4% inflation in year-1 and 3% in all following years.

#2: Dr. X is an associate professor. X will be on a five year grant and is expected to be promoted to full professor during that time. Use her current salary in OPUS and inflate it 11%, 4% for the standard and 7% for the anticipated promotion.

#3: Dr. X is a research scientist who will be appointed as a research assistant professor during the grant. Look for a current research assistant professor that has close to the same amount of experience, use their salary as a substitute and inflate the salary 4% standard.