A Course Buyout is when grant funds “buy” a faculty member’s released time by paying for a portion of their salary so that the equivalent amount of university effort (%) can be spent working on the funded project.
A “Buyout” situation applies when a faculty member is granted a course release in order to accommodate a faculty member’s work on an externally funded project. The corresponding percentage of the faculty’s appointment is directly charged (accounted for) to the grant account (budget) during the term of the buyout.
UIS Course Buyout Request Form (pdf)
The UIS Course Buyout Request Form Template above must be filled out with all the required signatures when a portion of a faculty member’s salary is being financed or subsidized through grant funding. The form should be submitted to the Department Chair and the Dean of the respective college for approval.
It is highly recommended that the chair and dean be involved in buyout conversations at the proposal stage so they may begin preliminary preparation for course coverage. After receipt of a Notice of Award, the Request Form must be routed for appropriate signatures and receive approval through the Non-Instructional Assignment (NIA) process.
Budgeting Guidelines
A faculty member may elect to “buy out” of teaching (often referred to as “course release”) to work on a sponsored project at a rate equal to 1/8th of a nine-month Institutional Base Salary (IBS) plus benefits/fringe for each course released. For grants that require indirect costs to be assessed on salary and benefits, this must be accounted for in the budget at the time of proposal submission. See samples below using Fiscal Year 2026 rates.
| Institutional Base Salary* | 1/8 of 9-month contract | Fringe | Indirect Costs | Single Buyout Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $65,000 | 12.5% (or 1.125 academic months) | 48.31% | 41.2% (on-campus) | $65,000 * 0.125 * 1.4831 * 1.412 = $17,014.86 |
| $85,000 | 12.5% (or 1.125 academic months) | 48.31% | 17.8% (off-campus) | $85,000 * 0.125 * 1.4831 * 1.178 = $18,562.85 |
| $110,000 | 12.5% (or 1.125 academic months) | 48.31% | 10% (sponsor limited) | $110,000 * 0.125 * 1.4831 * 1.1 = $22,431.89 |
INCLUDING: Regular Salary, Endowed Chair or professorship stipends; and Paid Professional leave (pay for sabbatical, vacation, and sick leave- not including sick leave pay payouts when departing from the university);
EXCLUDING: Administrative stipends; Summer salary for non-12-month appointees; Service in excess payments; Royalties paid by the university; Reimbursements; and Any compensation of external professional activities, such as consulting or compensated peer review activities.
NOTE: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) sets an annual salary cap to limit the Institutional Base Salary (IBS) used to calculate salary and fringe benefits costs for an NIH application budget. Effective January 1, 2024, the annual salary cap is $221,900. If a faculty member’s actual annualized base salary exceeds this amount, then the salary cap of $221,900 must be used as the annual base for salary and fringe benefit cost calculations in the application budget.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) require that salary requests in grant budgets be expressed as months. No more than 2 months’ of regular salary may be requested for any senior personnel in any one year without proper justification and budget approval. The limit of two months’ salary includes compensation received from all NSF-funded grants²
FAQs
- What if my sponsored research extends to more than a single semester or I want to participate in a course buyout for multiple terms?
- That is fine, we simply ask that a new form be completed for each term of buyout.
- When does the 1/9 rate apply for a summer course buyout?
- The 1/9 rate only applies to faculty members with 12-month appointments.
- Can faculty still do an overload of coursework?
- A buy-out falls within 100% of an employee's university effort. An overload is effort expended above 100% of university assignments. It is the responsibility of the faculty's Dean to decide if a project falls outside of a faculty member's scope of duties, and may apply for an overload of coursework through the Service in Excess process. Our guidelines suggest that deans maintain balance and not overload faculty so that research can get done.
If your questions are not addressed on this page, please submit your question to ora@uis.edu
¹Notice on Salary Limitation on Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts