Current through all regulations passed and filed through December 16, 2024
(A) Policy
statement. Residual funds from external grants and contracts will be deposited
in an account of the office of the dean(s) of the college(s) or head of
unit/division from which the original proposal emanated, provided that the
policies of the external agency permit such a disposition of unused
funds.
(B) Purpose. The intent of
this policy is to ensure that all research grant/contract and other sponsored
program funds received by Youngstown state university ("university") are
delegated to the general purpose for which the grant/contract was intended.
Furthermore, because the university has limited ability to reward faculty and
staff for seeking external funds, use of such residual funds to support
research or other scholarly and service activities intended by the external
agency and sought by faculty/staff will provide an additional discretionary
resource to the colleges and/or other units/divisions as an incentive to seek
additional external resources.
(C)
Definitions.
(1) "Agency" is any external
organization, whether governmental or private, that awards a grant/contract or
other sponsored program to the university. It does not include legislated funds
for which no competitive application was made by the university.
(2) "College(s) and/or other units/divisions"
include those academic colleges or other major departments/units (not in an
academic college and usually supervised at an executive director or higher
level) that prepared the original application for external funding to the
funding agency.
(3) "General
purpose for which the grant was intended" means that residual funds will be
used to support research/scholarship, instruction, and/or service with the most
general interpretation. It does not mean that the expenditure of funds will be
used only for the specific purpose originally cited as a deliverable in the
grant award.
(D)
Procedures.
(1) At the conclusion of an
external grant or contract award from an agency, after all accounts have been
reconciled, remaining funds will be transferred to an account in the office of
the dean(s) of the college(s) and/or the head of the nonacademic
department/division that originally submitted the funding proposal.
(2) Grants/contracts made on a fixed price
basis will not require additional agency verification that funds do not need to
be returned. In other cases where agency guidelines are unclear as to
disposition of residual funds, written approval for disposition from the agency
will be needed and obtained by the principal investigator/project director.
Approval in written or electronic form is acceptable evidence of agency
approval. The principle investigator shall forward documentation to the office
of research services.
(3) Disposition of residual funds from
completed/closed grant/contract or sponsored program accounts will be completed
by the office of grants
accounting within ninety days of grant closeout.
(4) If the project was collaborative
between/among several college(s) and/or other units/divisions, the disposition
of funds will be prorated according to the overall budget distribution as
specified in the original/modified grant application. The office of research
services will determine the allocation for such
distribution to the participating college(s) and/or other units/divisions with
the approval of the director of research services and provost for research
when informed by the office of grants accounting that residual funds are
available for distribution.
(5) Use
of residual funds by the college(s) and/or department/division is discretionary
to the dean (or nonacademic department/unit head), but will normally support
research, scholarship, education/training, and/or service. Deans (or
nonacademic department/unit heads) are encouraged to seek the advice of those
individuals whose grant funds have contributed to the sponsored program/grant
that generated the residual funds. Any dispute as to the appropriate use of
such funds shall be decided by the director of research
services and the provost. Funds shall be held in a restricted
account.
