Chancellor's NIH Institutional Training Grant GSR Cap Gap Program (TCGP)

Owned by Hannah Van Etten
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024
8 min read

The new compensation requirements for graduate student researchers (GSRs) have increased the gap between existing GSR stipend rates and NIH T-series training grant salary caps. These grants provide critical funding support to our GSRs as well as our research enterprise. They also bring significant prestige to our talented students and to our institution.

We are pleased to announce that Chancellor Khosla has committed up to $4.3 million in funding for fiscal year 2024-2025 to provide relief for PIs who are successful in securing training grants for their students. Funding will be provided to cover stipend gaps, with PIs continuing to fund tuition and fees.

We appreciate our faculty PI colleagues who brought this need to our attention and whose leadership on these institutional training grants is essential to their success.

This page is a work in progress; check back or follow this page for updates!

 

The “cap gap” refers to the difference between the maximum rate paid by a sponsor, and the institutional rate paid to an individual per an employment contract. This term is commonly used in the context of a salary cap for PIs and other researchers on sponsored awards (most commonly, funded by the NIH).

For predoctoral trainees on awards eligible for this pilot program, the cap gap refers to two different limits:

  1. The stipend cap gap is the difference between the allowable stipend amount on NIH training grants (click here for current level) and the institutional support level for the individual graduate student trainee. The payment to the student that covers this gap is called the supplement.

  2. The tuition and fee cap gap is the difference between the tuition and institutional allowances on NIH training grants (click here for current level) and the charges assessed to the predoctoral trainee by UCSD.

Neither of these shortfalls may be paid on the training grant; rather, an alternate funding source must be used to pay the gap.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) T15 and T32 Institutional Training Grants with predoctoral trainees are eligible to participate in this program. No other agencies or award types are eligible for this program at this time.

This program will provide funding for the stipend supplement only, up through the equivalent of salary point 4 at 50% on the Graduate Student Researcher scale (see salary scales here).

Predoctoral trainees paid on T15 or T32 awards eligible for this program may or may not be employees paid via UC Path. For more information on determining if a student is in the BR bargaining unit, and how to set up payment in either case, please see https://ucsdcollab.atlassian.net/wiki/x/2oMGOg.

The supplement payment amount eligible for reimbursement is only the difference between the NIH stipend level and the equivalent level of support of the GSR, at a rate up to the equivalent of salary point 4, at up to 50%. If a student is supported at a higher salary point, regardless of the rate of effort, (e.g. salary point 5 or 6), the mentor/PI/department is responsible for funding the shortfall above and beyond the salary point 4.

Reimbursable expenditures will be identified using reports to validate the following criteria:

  • Is the expenditure posted to a project set up per the below guidance?

    • If no, the expense will not be reimbursed. See “Project Setup and COA Information” setup below.

    • If yes …

  • Is the expenditure on account code 500000 Academic Salary and Wages?

    • If yes, is the appointment job code 003160?

    • If yes, does the employee have an appointment on job code 003155 paid on a T15 or T32 award?

    • If yes, the expense is reimbursable at the step 4 salary point, up to 50%

  • If no, is the expenditure on account code 511002 Graduate and Postdoc Aid/Fellowship?

    • If yes, does the student also have a stipend payment paid on a T15 or T32 award?

    • If yes, the expense is reimbursable at the step 4 salary point, up to 50%

  • If no, this is not an reimbursable expense.

The Chancellor's NIH Institutional Training Grant GSR Cap Gap Program (TCGP) will provide funding for the stipend supplement at a rate up to the equivalent of salary point 4 only - see the above section “Eligible (Reimbursable) Expenses” for details.

Ineligible expenditures include:

  1. Any related fringe benefit costs for contract-covered employees (CBR, General Liability, NGN) will not be reimbursed. A resource journal from a discretionary project or chart, on fund 13991, must be processed by the award-owning organization to cover these benefit expenses. A cost-transfer is not the correct mechanism to cover these expenses.

  2. Any contract-related benefits of employment will not be reimbursed (including, but not limited to, childcare reimbursements, dependent care reimbursements, etc.).

  3. Tuition and fees will not be reimbursed. (See the above section “What is the “cap gap”?”)

  4. Supplement payments at a rate that that exceed the salary point 4 equivalent will not be reimbursed.

In the case where a student is paid at salary point 5 or 6, funding preparers may do either of the following in UC Path to appropriately fund the supplement position:

  1. Have two funding lines in UCPath on the job code 003160 supplement position.

    1. One line for the supplement that will be covered by the TCGP on the designated chart string

    2. A second line for the supplement not covered by the TCGP and paid on a discretionary chart string

  2. Have one funding line in UCPath on the job code 003160 supplement position.

    1. A single funding line for the TCGP on the designated chart string. Note: only a portion of the supplemental expenditures will be reimbursed (up through GSR salary point 4 at 50%); a resource journal to cover the remaining shortfall for salary point 5 or 6 will be processed by the administrative organization managing the financial unit on the project.

Reminder: the funding on the UCPath job code 003155 stipend entry will always be the T15 or T32 grant.

Quarterly, the Financial Support Unit (FSU) will run an blended activity hub report to identify eligible expenditures on projects that have been correctly set up and classified (see below section on “Project Setup and COA Information”).

The report will combine research, financial, employee, and student data to verify reimbursable costs are affiliated with predoctoral trainees on T15 or T32 awards.

FSU will then process a resource journal crediting the designated cap gap project on each financial unit. FSU will not reimburse ineligible expenditures. Responsibility for any shortfall* resulting from ineligible expenditures will fall to the administrative organization managing the financial unit.

As the NIH stipend level and the salary point 4 rate are set annually, the program will reimburse the same dollar amount per eligible student paid on the cap gap project. (Note: amounts listed below are formatted as monthly / 12-month annual. They are based off the Oct. 2024 range adjustment; July-September 2024 amounts will be reimbursed based on the prior year rates).

Salary Point

NIH Stipend FY25 (Cap)

Supplement FY25 (Gap)

Reimbursable by TCGP

Shortfall*

Salary Point

NIH Stipend FY25 (Cap)

Supplement FY25 (Gap)

Reimbursable by TCGP

Shortfall*

1

$2,352 / $28,224

$528.38 / $6,340.50

$528.38 / $6,340.50

$0

2

$2,352 / $28,224

$751.63 / $9,019.50

$751.63 / $9,019.50

$0

3

$2,352 / $28,224

$992.17 / $11,906.00

$992.17 / $11,906.00

$0

4

$2,352 / $28,224

$1,251.38 / $15,016.50

$1,251.38 / $15,016.50

$0

5

$2,352 / $28,224

$1,530.67 / $18,368.00

$1,251.38 / $15,016.50

$279.29 / $3,351.50

6

$2,352 / $28,224

$1,831.58 / $21,979.00

$1,251.38 / $15,016.50

$580.20 / $6,962.50

*See FAQ below for more information on any shortfall.