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:     [email protected]

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