NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARD (NRSA) STIPEND INCREASE AND OTHER BUDGETARY CHANGES EFFECTIVE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000 Release Date: December 23, 1999 NOTICE: OD-00-008 National Institutes of Health Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Health Resources Services Administration The budgetary changes described below for Fiscal Year 2000 NRSA awards affect the stipend levels, the formula for calculating the NIH contribution to the combined cost of tuition, fees, and health insurance for all trainees and fellows as well as the institutional allowance and training related expenses for predoctoral trainees and fellows. Also, beginning with NRSA awards made in FY 2000, costs associated with family health insurance will be allowable. Implementation of each of these features is described separately in this notice. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE DESCRIBED BUDGETARY CHANGES ARE EFFECTIVE ONLY FOR NRSA AWARDS MADE WITH FY 2000 FUNDS. Retroactive adjustments or supplementation of stipends or other budgetary categories with NRSA funds for an award made prior to October 1, 1999 is not permitted. Budgetary adjustments for training grant and fellowship awards, therefore, will be made only at the time of the FY 2000 award. Adjustments of stipends and other benefits for trainees will be made only at the time of appointment or reappointment to training grants made with FY 2000 funds. STIPENDS: Effective with all awards made on or after October 1, 1999, the following annual stipend levels apply to all individuals receiving support through institutional research training grants or individual fellowships, including the Minority Access to Research Career (MARC) and Career Opportunities in Research (COR) programs. These awards are made under the authority of Section 487 of the Public Health Service Act. The new stipends are as follows: Career Level Stipend for FY 2000 Undergraduates in the MARC and COR programs Freshmen/Sophomores $6,948 Juniors/Seniors $9,732 Predoctoral $15,060 Postdoctoral Years of Experience 0 $26,916 1 $28,416 2 $33,516 3 $35,232 4 $36,936 5 $38,628 6 $40,332 7 or more $42,300 Competing and non-competing awards issued on or after October 1, 1999, which used the previous stipend schedule, will be revised by the awarding component to reflect the new stipend levels. The new stipend levels are to be used in the preparation of future competing and non-competing NRSA institutional training grant and individual fellowship applications. They will be administratively applied to all applications now in the review process. FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE: On NRSA awards, self-only health insurance has been an allowable cost when health insurance was required for all persons in a similar training status regardless of the source of support (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not97-007.html). In order to adjust policies to facilitate the recruitment of women and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds as required by Section 487 of the Public Health Service Act (as amended); the NIH will begin to allow costs associated with family health insurance. Beginning with NRSA awards made from FY 2000 funds, family health insurance will be an allowable cost for trainees and fellows who have families and are eligible for family health insurance coverage at the awardee or sponsoring institution. Self- only health insurance will continue to be an allowable cost for trainees and fellows without families. Beginning with new and competing awards in FY 2000, institutions may include the cost of family health insurance for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees and predoctoral fellows who are eligible for this coverage in the calculation of the combined cost of tuition, fees, and health insurance. As in the past, the tuition, fees, and health insurance cost category will not be adjusted in non-competing applications (see https://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsaguidelines/nrsa_app.htm - appe1). For individual postdoctoral fellows, the cost of health insurance is an allowable cost within the institutional allowance (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not97-002.html). Beginning with competing and non-competing awards made in FY 2000, the cost of family health insurance is also allowable under this cost category for individual postdoctoral fellows with families. Future applications for individual postdoctoral fellowships need not be changed to reflect costs associated with family health insurance. TUITION FORMULA: To partially offset the additional costs of family health insurance, the formula by which NIH calculates its contribution to the combined costs associated with tuition, fees and health insurance will be changed. For all competing and non-competing awards made in FY 2000, the NIH will award 100% of the combined costs of tuition, fees, and health insurance up to $3,000 and 60 percent of the combined costs above $3,000. Grantees are reminded that the tuition formula is used for award calculation purposes only. Actual reimbursement is not limited to this formula. INSTITUTIONAL ALLOWANCE AND TRAINING RELATED EXPENSES: On individual predoctoral fellowships, the institutional allowance will be increased from $2,000 to $2,500. On institutional training grants, for predoctoral trainees, the Training Related Expenses for predoctoral trainees will be increased from $1,500 to $2,000 per trainee. These adjustments will be applied to all competing and non-competing NRSA awards made with FY 2000 funds. As in the past, the institutional allowance on predoctoral fellowships can be used to help defray expenses associated with research supplies, equipment, travel to scientific meetings and other training related items. Similarly, the training related expenses for training grants will be used to help defray training expenses associated staff salaries, consultant costs, equipment, research supplies and staff travel. The institutional allowance and training related expenses for postdoctoral trainees and fellows will not be changed. INQUIRIES Questions concerning this notice or other policies relating to training grants or fellowships should be directed to the grants management office in the appropriate NIH Institute or Center. Walter T. Schaffer, Ph.D. Research Training Officer National Institutes of Health 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 6184 Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7911 Phone: 301-435-2687 FAX: 301-480-0146 EMail: ws11q@nih.gov
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