• Office of Sponsored Programs



• How Can OSP Help Me?
  • Overview of Services
    • Technical Assistance
    • Financial Assistance
  • Overview of Responsibilities
    • PI Responsibilities
• What's In It For Me?
  • Advanced Technological Education
  • STEM Scholarships
  • AAMI
  • Near Peer
  • MEP
  • Scholar-in-Residence
  • Abstracts
• How Do I Get Started?
  • The Grant Process
  • Preliminary Proposal Summary Form
  • Sponsored Program Approval Form
• What Do I Need to Know?
• Definitions
• Indirect Cost
• Cost Sharing
• Effort Reporting
  • Certification Statement
  • Top 10 Rules of Effort

Terms and Definitions

Terminology used in the grant administration process and their definitions:

• Chart String

  A series of five discrete numbers which identifies a budget unit for accounting purposes.

•  Cost Sharing

  That portion of project costs that are paid for by the college. These costs may include the portion of salary (personnel) or non-personnel expenditures paid by the College from state funded or privately funded sources that are accounted for within a College account number.

  • Committed Cost Share can be either mandatory (required by agency) or voluntary cost sharing, matching, or   in-kind funds quantified in the proposal budget, budget justification, or stated in the awarding documents.

    Uncommitted Cost Share is voluntary cost sharing, matching, or in-kind funds not pledged in the proposal and subsequently not stated on award documents. This type of cost sharing is more than what is agreed to as part of the award. This is commonly referred to as voluntary uncommitted cost sharing and does not have to be documented or reported.

• Direct Cost

  Expenses of a project that are paid for by the sponsoring agency.

• Effort

  The percentage of time spent on an activity (i.e.: sponsored project, ABAC support, etc.)

• Effort Reporting

  The required certification of time spent on a sponsored program and the matching payroll distribution.

• Funding Cycle

  The time or budget period being funded shown on the grant award notice.

• Indirect Cost

  The expenses incurred by the College in support of a sponsored project that cannot be directly charged to a specific project.

• In-Kind costs are borne by an external organization.  Funds do not flow through the College’s financial system.  In-Kind matching is funding received from another source in conjunction with, or often on the condition of, additional primary funding.

•  OCA Tracking Number

  The number assigned by the Office of Sponsored Programs to a submitted grant as part of the identification. It contains the date submitted and a control number for the year.

• Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD)

  The ABAC faculty or staff member responsible for the grant proposal and who will provide day-to-day management of the project.

• Project ID

  The unique number assigned by the business office to identify a grant for a specific budget performance period.

• Proposal

  A document submitted to a sponsor that outlines a specific grant or project and how the grant funding will be used.

• Short Name

  The unique short title of a grant assigned to indentify it in the physical and electronic filing systems of the Office of Sponsored Programs.

• Sponsored Program

  A grant, contract, cooperative agreement or sub-award that is externally funded, mission supported, institutionally approved, and specifically governed by a performance period, deliverables, and guidelines.

• Sponsoring Agency

  The organization which will be funding the grant.