OPE and Indirect Cost Rates

OPE (Other Personnel Expense), or fringe benefits and taxes, covers the costs of the College's contributions toward Social Security, Medicare, retirement, medical and dental insurance, worker’s compensation, tuition remission, unemployment, life insurance, disability, Washington State’s paid family and medical leave, and any other such payroll-related costs. OPE is only charged for College employees (faculty, staff, and students).

FY 2024-25 rates (effective July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025):

• Full OPE: 35%
• Federal Grants Full OPE: 31.5% (tuition remission, valued at 3.5%, is an unallowable charge to federal grants)
• Reduced OPE: 8.5%, which covers FICA/workers’ compensation. This rate applies to: (1) students employed in the summer, (2) faculty and staff who receive salary/stipends funded by external grant sources only above and beyond their institutional base salary (for faculty this is typically the summer salary/stipends outside of the 9-month contract), and (3) studio music instructors. OPE is not charged for students employed during the academic year.

Indirect Costs (IDC), also referred to as Facilities & Administration (F&A) or overhead costs, are expenses incurred by Whitman College in the process of conducting or supporting research, or other externally funded activities, that are not directly attributable to a specific project. Examples of indirect costs include utilities, building maintenance and repair, library services, proposal preparation and submission, grant administration, accounting, payroll, etc.

The IDC rate is negotiated with a federal agency (in Whitman’s case, the Department of Health and Human Services), and is subject to renewal every three years. All federal grant budgets must include IDC (unless waived by the sponsor). The negotiated rate must be used unless a different rate is requested by the granting agency. Many non-federal grant budgets may also include IDC/overhead.

Whitman’s current IDC rate (effective July 1, 2022) is 63%, calculated on a salary and wages only base (not including OPE). All salaries and wages (faculty, staff, and student) are subject to the 63% IDC rate. The indirect costs must be added to the direct costs in the grant budget.

Whitman College Distribution of Indirect Costs

When indirect cost returns are received by the College, they are distributed as follows:

• 50% is placed into a College account that can be used at the discretion of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty for grant-related purposes, including grant matching and faculty start-up funds.
• 35% is directed to the College’s operating budget to support staff who are critical to appropriate grant administration.
• 15% is placed into a College account to be used for professional expenses by the Principal Investigator (PI) or program who was awarded the grant.