College of Engineering: Cost Share Policy

Click here for an update regarding Matching Tuition and Fee Authorization (MTFA), formerly Graduate Fee Authorization (GFA)

Requests should be submitted online via the CoE Cost Share form 

Questions? All questions regarding cost share should be directed to Allen Quattlebaum ERA finance manager. Connect with Allen via email at quattlebaum.5@osu.edu

Cost Sharing Policy Statement – The College of Engineering will consider providing required cost sharing for internal and external sources of funds.

Basis for Policy – The cost sharing policy outlines circumstances where the college will contribute a portion of costs to a sponsored project and the timeline for requesting college support. The policy addresses both internal and external sources of funding.

Definition – Cost share is the portion of costs of a sponsored project charged to a source other than the sponsor.

Timeline for Submission– Draft proposal and budget two weeks prior to submission deadline.

Access a PDF of this Policy

Cost Share Evaluation

Eligibility

The requestor must be qualified to serve as a principal investigator, e.g., full-time faculty members or research scientists with an appointment in the College of Engineering. If the proposal includes PI's from other colleges, the COE cost share will only be provided in proportion to the expenditure credit percentage listed for COE PIs on the e-PA005 form.

• Cost share requests made after the proposal is submitted will NOT be considered.
• The College requires the PI’s home department (or other participating departments/centers) to participate in the cost sharing arrangement at the same level requested as the College. The general guideline is that the College will match department cost share 1:1, not to exceed 10% of the sponsor budget.
• Department/Center participation must be in cash support, and does not include:
  • Release Time
  • In-kind cost share
  • Equipment
  • Graduate School Fee Authorizations

Example

• A proposal has a sponsor budget of $1M and requires a 1:1 match from OSU.
• The College commitment in cash will not exceed $100,000.*
• The College will match 1:1 up to $100,000 in Department/Center matching cash.
• If department X commits to $100k in cash, CoE will match $100k in cash. If department X provides $150k, CoE will still match up to $100k.

*The College will participate in the cost share proposal contingent on the department/center cost share match, and if financial resources are available within the requested budget period.

The College of Engineering portion of required matching for internal and external sponsors will be honored when the following criteria are met:

• The cost share is required by the sponsor and is outlined in the proposal guidelines.
• The department or center participates in the proposal with cash cost sharing.
• The amount of cost sharing requested of College of Engineering corresponds directly with the amount of budget and expenditure credit assigned to College of Engineering units.
• The initiating department(s) and/or center(s) are able to document a 1:1 cash cost share.

Large Equipment Cost Share (purchases of > $250,000):

ODHE Support:

The Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) Action Fund is a program for leveraging university funding with State matching funds on proposals submitted to Federal sponsors that include the need for high dollar value equipment and systems purchases. The University defines large equipment as equipment (or smaller components combined to comprise a complete system) with an acquisition value over $250,000.  Due to modest appropriations to the ODHE Action Fund, the continued availability of these funds is in question.

The funding ratio is as follows:

Project support if ODHE funds are available:

Project support without ODHE funds:

All Action Fund requests are submitted to ODHE via the Office of Research. Requests for these funds must be presented to the Office of Research least 15 working days prior to the sponsoring agency's published deadline for receipt of proposals to ensure a proper amount of time for review and processing of the request by ODHE. Last minute requests, especially if they involve significant amounts of cost sharing and/or multiple departments or colleges run the risk of not being funded.

If the equipment purchase qualifies for ODHE Action funds but the PI does not make a request, the Office of Research will not provide support for cost sharing from other sources. The OSU split is shared equally between the Office of Research, the College of Engineering and the department of the Principle Investigator (PI). Often for interdisciplinary research, co-PIs’ departments participate based on the level of participation of the co-investigator.

Equipment Cost Share (purchases of < $250,000):

Funding for equipment costing less than $250,000.00 usually takes the following form: