Research Grant Budget Calculator

Indirect Cost Rate is applied to direct costs, not to the total award. Total Direct Costs equals Total Grant Amount divided by (1 + rate/100), so a 50% rate divides by 1.5, leaving direct costs at about two-thirds of the total and indirect costs at about one-third -- not the even 50/50 split you'd get if the rate applied straight to the total award.

Other Costs takes whatever percentage of Total Direct Costs is left over after Personnel (%), Equipment (%), Travel (%), and Supplies (%) are subtracted from 100%. If those four categories already sum to 100% of direct costs, Other Costs will be zero; if they sum to less than 100%, the remainder shows up here as an unallocated line rather than being silently dropped from the budget.

The calculator scales all four percentages down proportionally so they sum to exactly 100% of Total Direct Costs -- for example, entering 60/30/20/20 (130% total) scales each one down by the same factor (100/130) to roughly 46%/23%/15%/15%, which sums to 100%, rather than letting the four line-item budgets add up to nearly one-and-a-third times the real direct-cost budget. Other Costs is zero whenever this scaling applies, since there's no percentage left over to allocate. Category Allocation Check reports whenever this happened so the overshoot is visible rather than silently absorbed.

Not exactly. Real federal Uniform Guidance (2 CFR §200.1) defines MTDC as the base indirect rates are applied to, and it specifically excludes equipment purchases, along with capital expenditures, patient care, tuition remission, rental costs, scholarships, and the portion of large subawards above a federal threshold. This calculator blends Equipment (%) into the same direct-cost pool as Personnel, Travel, and Supplies when computing Total Direct Costs and Indirect Costs (F&A), so it understates Total Direct Costs and overstates Indirect Costs (F&A) relative to a true MTDC calculation whenever Equipment (%) is above zero. Treat the figures here as an illustrative simplified split, not a substitute for your institution's actual MTDC-based budget.

Published data on federally negotiated F&A rates shows most research universities cluster in the 50-70% range, averaging around 56-58%, though the exact figure is set individually by each institution's federally negotiated agreement and can vary by grant type, agency, and whether the work is on-campus or off-campus. Confirm the actual rate that applies to your specific grant with your institution's grants or sponsored-programs office rather than assuming the 50% default shown here.