Participants are recipients, not providers, of a service or training associated with a sponsored workshop, conference, symposium, or other training activity. Participants (aka trainees) often include students, scholars, and individuals from the public or private sector such as teachers.<\/p>\n
Unlike employees on a sponsored award, participants do not have an obligation to meet a scope of work or produce an outcome. Conversely, employees, trainers, and conference speakers and organizers have an obligation to deliver, therefore they should be budgeted under \u2018Personnel\u2019 or \u2018Other\u2019 and not under \u2018Participant Support.\u2019<\/p>\n
Participant support costs should not<\/u><\/strong> include:<\/p>\n Costs for participant support should be budgeted under the \u2018Participant Support\u2019 category and exempt from indirect costs. In KR PD, select the Category Type \u2018Participant Support,\u2019 then select the appropriate Object Code Name: Other \u2013 MTDC exempt, Stipends \u2013 MTDC exempt, Subsistence \u2013 MTDC exempt, Travel \u2013 MTDC exempt, or Tuition\/Fees\/Health Ins. \u2013 MTDC exempt.<\/p>\n Like all costs in a budget, it is important to properly categorize costs at the proposal stage.\u00a0Costs awarded as participant support are generally restricted and may not be allocated to other budget categories without prior written approval of the sponsoring agency.\u00a0 As previously mentioned, participant support costs are excluded from calculating indirect costs when using a Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) base, so mis-budgeting or re-budgeting these costs has a direct impact on indirect cost recovery.<\/p>\n To appropriately track and manage participant support activity, a separate account is created and coded to not incur\u00a0indirect (aka, F&A) costs.\u00a0Budget in these accounts is restricted and may not be reallocated out of the separate account without prior written consent of the sponsoring agency.\u00a0Unexpended balances left in a participant support account at the end of a\u00a0project become de-obligated and cannot be used to offset expenses in the parent or other related project accounts.<\/p>\n Participants’ incentives are payments to individuals to motivate them to participate in research or service. Investigators offer incentives to help improve subject recruitment and retention. Incentives may be in the form of a cash payment or gift card, or they may be non-financial such as class credit, raffle entries, or promotional items as allowed by CSU and the sponsor. Cash incentives should not exceed $100 per incentive or $599 during a calendar year.<\/p>\n Costs for participant incentives (aka human subject incentive payments) should be budgeted under \u2018Other\u2019 and should be included in the human subject protocol that is approved by CSU\u2019s Research Integrity & Compliance Review Office (RICRO). Unlike participant support payments, participant incentives do incur indirect costs.<\/p>\n In KR PD, select the Category Type \u2018Other Direct,\u2019 then select the appropriate Object Code Name: Participation costs – F&A applies.<\/p>\n Other payments related to human subjects may include reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses (e.g. travel, parking, meals, lodging) and compensation to offset the time and burden to research participation. Like incentive payments, payments for reimbursement and compensation should be budgeted under \u2018Other\u2019 and are subject to indirect costs.<\/p>\n Costs for incentives, reimbursement, and compensation incur F&A and are shown as a line item in the 53 account. While these funds are not restricted, it is important that charges to the award are in-line with payments approved by RICRO and by the sponsor.<\/p>\n Side-by-Side Comparison<\/strong><\/p>\n The table below shows a side-by-side comparison of participant support and incentive costs.<\/p>\n\n
![\"screenshot\"](\"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/09\/Picture1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nParticipant (Human Subject) Incentives<\/h2>\n
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