Graduate Assistants

At BGSU, reasonable compensation for work performed by graduate students is comprised of three (3) components: salary, fringe benefit costs, and tuition.  All three components need to be included in budgets. 

• Salary component is budgeted for in the personnel or salary budget line. 
• Fringe Benefits component is budgeted for in the personnel budget line. 
• Tuition component is normally budgeted for in the other expenses budget line.  

Example of a total compensation package for $32,859:

Student salary 3 semesters $18,000 + Fringe Benefits $828 + Tuition $14,031

1. Salary.  When budgeting for a graduate student salary on a sponsored project please use the Research Assistant I rate(s) set by Graduate College; the minimum rate for FY26 is $6,000 per semester (fall, spring, summer) for a 0.5 FTE position (full maximum of 20 hours per week) and the maximum rate is set at the current NSF GRFP rate.  See the Graduate College website for stipend updates.  The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Cost Principles regarding reasonable and allocable compensation must also be observed (Sections 200.404/200.405).  An understanding of typical rates in your discipline and the NSF GRFP rates may help to inform your decision to ensure sufficient funds to competitively recruit a high-quality student.

2.  Fringe Benefits.  Fringe benefits must be applied to all personnel salaries and wages and the rate(s) should be noted in the budget justification.

Fringe Benefit Rates FY2026-FY2027 for budgetary planning purposes

NOTES:

1. The University uses employee fringe benefit rates to recover the actual cost of employee benefits from external funding sources. While on an individual basis, an employee may not participate in all benefits, the use of benefit rates serves to apply an average percentage to all employees within the same group.
2. The rates provided may not be equivalent to actual costs on awarded projects and may change during the award period.  The benefit rates associated with the salary or wages paid to an employee must follow any costing changes made within the payroll system. 

3. Tuition.  At BGSU, tuition is considered a component of a graduate assistant compensation package for the work performed while on appointment.  All proposals, including re-submissions, competing renewals and supplements which include salary support for graduate research assistants where tuition is not prohibited by the sponsor, must also include the appropriate tuition amount in the budget.  Tuition should be provided by the same funding source as the salary; the full cost of in-state tuition should be included with all proposals, renewals and contracts as part of the proposal budget.  Out-of-state tuition waivers are automatically provided by the Vice President for Research to all extramurally funded graduate assistants regardless of support source.  Tuition rates are available through the Office of the Bursar.  Note: a fulltime graduate student is defined as a student registered for eight semester hours; see the policy on Enrollment and Registration-Graduate (#3341-3-7)