OPE (Other Payroll Expense) is the College contribution toward Social Security, life insurance, disability, retirement, medical, dental, tuition remission, unemployment etc.

If your grant salary is your primary salary, your salary or wage qualifies for College benefit contributions. Therefore, the full OPE rate of 36.5% (through June 30, 2008) will be charged. This applies to private institution grants only.  All federal grants will be charged at a 5% lower OPE rate due to the cost of tuition benefits (i.e. tuition remission) which are not allowable for federal grants. This applies to faculty and/or staff. If your grant salary is not your primary salary, for example, summer research salary, then your OPE rate would be 12%. Some other exceptions would be an agency that restricts the charge to a rate less than 12%. Only faculty and staff salaries are currently subject to OPE. OPE is not charged for student wages or work-study students. This applies to Whitman College students only.

Projected full OPE rates for private grants:

 
Projected OPE rates for federal grants:

Indirect Costs

The current indirect cost rate, sometimes referred to as overhead rate, is 58%. This rate is valid for proposals submitted through June 30, 2009.

Indirect costs are charged only to salaries and wages. All salaries and wages (faculty, staff and student) are subject to the 58% IDC rate on the base values not including the OPE (fringe benefit).

The indirect cost rate is a calculation of the overhead costs incurred by Whitman College to administer a federal grant. This calculation is a negotiated rate between the College and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (our cognizant agency) effective November 2004. The indirect cost is only charged to federally funded grants.

At Whitman College, reimbursements for indirect costs are processed as follows: When you apply for a grant from a federal agency, there is a category for “overhead” or “indirect costs”. This is money that reimburses the institution (Whitman) for expenses relating to sponsoring the grant. Whitman uses the indirect costs in a generous way in that half of the 58% goes into a Whitman account called Grant Writers Reserve and the other half goes into an account for the faculty member or PI (Project Investigator) who was awarded the grant. These latter funds must be used for reasonable business purposes of Whitman College. Specifically they can be used to support the PI’s professional growth, instruction or research efforts. Examples include, among other things, the purchase of equipment/supplies, the wages of an assistant, or travel and other costs associated with a conference, as long as it has a valid business purpose and is not purely for personal benefit. This account cannot be used to pay for PI wages.