Fringe Benefit Rates

Since the University uses fringe benefit rates for purposes of charging benefits to sponsored projects, it is required by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to submit and negotiate an annual fringe benefit proposal.  This process is carried out by the University’s Budget Office and, when finalized, the rates are appended to the University’s F&A Rate Agreement.

FY 2021 Approved Fringe Benefit Rates

The University of Minnesota Office of Budget and Finance has reached an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on the FY21 fringe benefit rates as follows:

FY21 Fringe Benefit Rates:

• Academic = 36.5%
• Non-Academic = 31.8%
• Student Professional with GA Health = 19.9%
• Trades = 8.0%
• Student Professional with UPlan Health = 25.4%

The new fringe benefit rates should be used in sponsored proposal budgets for all work that will be conducted on or after July 1, 2020. Since most of the rates have increased, PI’s and their staff are encouraged to use the new rates in their proposals immediately if the project will be conducted in the next fiscal year.

To accommodate proposals that have already been submitted to SPA, or are in progress in the academic departments, SPA will allow the old rates to be used during a brief period of transition. However, all proposals submitted to SPA after the close of business on Thursday, April 30th will be expected to incorporate the new rates.
The EGMS support team will be updating EGMS to reflect these new rates as soon as possible. The Budget Office will soon be posting the fringe rate matrix and graduate tuition remission table at U Budget Instructions: Annual Budget. After the Board of Regents approves the FY21 budget, those documents will also appear in the appendices section of the budget policy.