Overview
Cost Share is the portion of sponsored program costs not paid by the sponsor. Resources dedicated to cost-share may draw from contributions, donations, or proportional matching from the University and/or external Third Party (“In-Kind”) entities. There are three types of cost share associated with sponsored programs:
- Mandatory Committed
Cost-share is required by the terms of the sponsored program and must be included and budgeted for as part of the sponsored award. It is explicitly required by the notice of funding opportunity and must be included in the proposal for consideration by the sponsor. - Voluntary Committed
Cost-share is not required by the terms of the sponsored program but is included and budgeted for as part of the sponsored award. It is not expected by the sponsor in the proposal and cannot be considered as a factor of merit review by the sponsor unless criteria for consideration are explicitly described in the notice of funding opportunity. - Voluntary Uncommitted
Cost-share is not required by the terms of the sponsored program and is not included or budgeted for as part of the sponsored program. It is neither proposed nor expected but may occur during program administration.
Inclusion of cost share in a funding proposal requires approval by the Department Chair/Director/Dean via approval in RAPSS. Moreover, only the mandatory cost-share is advised due to University resource restraints. Please download the Cost-Share University Policy to learn more.
The table below summarizes the University’s procedure for collecting budgets with cost-share detail and tracking expenditures via companion accounts, depending on the type of cost-share involved:
| Cost Share Type | Budget Template w/ Cost Share Detail at Time of Proposal | Budget Template w/ Cost Share Detail at Time of Award | Tracking Method |
| Mandatory Committed | Required | Required | Companion Account |
| Voluntary Committed | |||
| Effort unpaid by sponsor (e.g. State Lines) | Requested* | Required | Companion Account or Third Party Certified if Applicable |
| Supplies, Equipment, Other | Requested* | Required | Companion Account or Third Party Certified if Applicable |
| Over the Cap Salary, Tuition, and/or Health Benefits | N/A | N/A | Departmental Tracking |
| Voluntary Uncommitted | N/A | N/A | N/A |
* = A detailed cost share budget is not required to be submitted to our team at the proposal stage, but cost share must be flagged in RAPSS. Departments may choose to require the budget template. If so, the cost share budget should be submitted to us with the proposal packet for review and will result in expedited award set-up, if an award is received. Note, a cost share budget is required at time of proposal if the type of cost sharing is mandatory committed.
Budgets and companion accounts are not required, unless funds are not recovered up to the maximum amount allowed by the sponsor.