Types of Costs
Overview
Fee-for-Service Educational Activity (FSEA) units are expected to recover all allowable direct costs, including departmental administrative support costs, through the appropriate charges to its users. The cost of running a service center providing goods or services is charged to users on a “rate basis.” Rates are developed to recover direct costs described below.
Allowable and Unallowable Costs provides detailed information about the costs below.
Direct Costs
Direct costs are those that can be specifically assigned to a FSEA activity with relative ease and high degree of accuracy. The unit should keep supporting evidence to substantiate allocability, allowability, and reasonableness of these costs. Examples include materials and supplies used to deliver the service, salaries of technical personnel, etc.
The FSEA may also incur administrative support costs. Units should allocate these shared costs to individual FSEA’s based on a methodology applied uniformly among all the activities. Examples of such methodologies include percentage of time dedicated to different activities or as a percentage of direct costs applied. This methodology should be documented and kept on record by the FSEA. An example of FSEA support costs include salaries of administrative personnel, office supplies, property insurance, etc., directly involved in the operations of the unit.
Indirect Costs – University Administration
Indirect costs are those costs which cannot be specifically identified with the unit of output or service, usually benefiting several activities. Examples of these indirect (shared) costs include salaries and related costs of administrative and finance personnel supporting entire units/colleges.
Remember: Only specially designated Specialized Service Facilities are allowed to include Direct and Indirect costs of their services as part of their rate calculation.
Last Reviewed
Last reviewed on 03/20/2024
Resources
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards 2 C.F.R. §200 Subpart E §200.468 (“Uniform Guidance”)
OMB Uniform Guidance, Subpart E, §200.420 through §200.475
Contacts
Auxiliary Accounting: (352) 294-7236
Cost Analysis: (352) 392-5778