A participant is defined as a non-employee who is the recipient, not the provider, of a service or training opportunity as part of a workshop, conference, seminar, symposium or other short-term instructional or information sharing activity funded by a sponsored award. Participants may be, but are not limited to, students, scholars, scientists from other institutions, or teachers.

Participants are not paid salaries or wages to provide any deliverable, other than meeting the program requirements (e.g. attendance, testing, etc.).

See FAQ #5 for further information regarding who and what type of costs do not qualify as PSC.

Participant support costs are typically incurred for projects that include an education or outreach component. Participant support costs are allowable with prior sponsor approval, per the Uniform Guidance. These types of costs are most commonly included in National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, such as the following programs:

• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
• Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)
• National Research Traineeship (NRT)
• Research Training Groups (RTG) in Mathematical Sciences
• Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT)

While NSF has historically allowed participant support costs, NIH only allows participant support costs if they are explicitly identified in the Funding Opportunity Announcement. Other Federal sponsors that may allow participant support include EPA, USDA NIFA or NRCS, NOAA, and others. Non-Federal sponsors may allow participant support costs under some circumstances. Review the funding solicitation for specific instructions and contact RSP with any questions prior to proposal submission.

Yes, participant support costs must be explicitly identified in the budget and budget justification. The NSF budget form has a section on line F specifically for participant support costs, and they are identified in the categories listed in FAQ #4 below. If the budget form you are using does not have such a section, but you plan to include participant support costs, please explicitly identify any participant support costs in the budget and budget justification. Participant support costs are excluded from the MTDC base when calculating F&A costs. Identifying participant support costs will help ensure prior sponsor approval is requested and, if awarded, that RSP sets up a separate project with appropriate F&A.

Participant support costs for a project may include registration fees for the event, transportation to/from and lodging during the event, as well as a per diem allowance to cover meals and incidental expenses.

• Stipend: A stipend is a set amount of money to be paid by UW-Madison directly to the participant. For more information regarding stipends, please see FAQ #11.
• Travel: Travel includes the costs of transportation and associated travel-related expenses and must follow sponsor guidelines as well as UW-Madison policies and guidelines. The sole purpose of the trip must be to participate in the project activity.
• Subsistence Allowance: The cost of a participant’s housing and per diem expenses (reduced accordingly if meals are provided at the meeting/conference) necessary for the individual to participate in the project are generally allowed, provided these costs are reasonable and limited to the days of attendance. Participants who live in the local area are not entitled to subsistence payments, although they may participate in meals and breaks provided at the meeting or conference. Subsistence allowances can be either a lump sum direct payment to the participant or reimbursement of actual expenses through e-Reimbursement, based on UW-Madison policies and guidelines.
  • Provided business meals (excluding catering): The meals paid on behalf of a participant in connection with meetings, conferences, symposia, or training projects are generally allowable costs. Please see FAQ #6 for more information.
• Other: Certain other costs in support of the participant’s involvement may be allowable, including training materials or laboratory supplies that can be tied to specific participants. (This differs from conference supplies, which should be charged to the non-PSC project.) See Fees example below. Check the funding solicitation for guidance and contact RSP with questions.
  • Fees: The fees paid by or on behalf of a participant in connection with meetings, conferences, symposia, or training projects are generally allowable costs. Additionally, these fees may include laboratory fees, passport or visa fees (for foreign participants, if allowed by solicitation), and registration fees.

Participant support costs do NOT include the following types of expenses:

• Costs for PI or project staff*, such as salary and wages, fringe, or travel
• Costs for a consultant or trainer providing services to the University project or program, such as fees or travel
• Costs for a guest speaker or lecturer, such as honoraria or travel
• Conference/workshop support costs such as facility rental, catering, supplies, or media equipment rental
• Costs for collaborators, such as travel
• Human subject payments for participating in a research project

In general, costs listed above may be allowable on the non-PSC project, not the participant support project. If your area of concern is not addressed in this FAQ, please reach out to your RSP accountant to discuss further.

*Project staff include those individuals who are listed in the Senior/Key Person or Other Personnel sections of the project budget. These individuals generally have an employment relationship with the University and are engaged in accomplishing the project’s scope of work or deliverables.

It depends. Catering is not a permissible PSC expense. Business Meals, however, if expenses are for participants, in place of a meal per diem, are eligible to be considered PSC. It must be a budgeted cost or we must have received prior sponsor approval. We are required to follow institutional definitions provided by Business Services, to determine what category of expense the food/meals provided fit(s) into. The payment mechanism, such as a Purchasing Card, Corporate Card, Personal Card, or the use of a Purchase Order, does not determine PSC allowability. See the PSC Food Chart for additional visual guidance.

Per Business Services, a Business Meal is a breakfast, lunch or dinner attended by multiple people which has a UW business purpose. Business Meals do not have a fixed timeline or agenda and may be attended by employees and non-employees. To be considered allowable on PSC, only the participant’s portion of the meal is allowable within the UW’s per person event meal limits. This can be prorated if necessary, between the non-PSC project to include employees working on the grant in attendance, and the PSC project for only the participants in attendance. Itemized, paid receipts are required for all business meals.

Examples of business meals could include purchased food, such as pre-packaged box lunches, sandwiches, cheese trays, pizza, cookies, fruit, etc., purchased from a licensed restaurant and/or catering operation and served by University staff on University property. Prepared food may be delivered by the vendor or picked up at the vendor’s site by University staff. An example is a PI buying lunch to be delivered from a local restaurant for a group of NSF REU students so that, over lunch, they can discuss the projects to which the students have been assigned. Business meals provided by the University that are directly charged to a PSC project are in lieu of the participant receiving a per diem reimbursement or stipend. The per diem or subsistence allowance, if any, is to be correspondingly reduced.

Per Business Services, catering occurs when a vendor provides food service for University sponsored programs on property owned or leased by the University, is both licensed and insured, and prepares, transports, set outs and/or serves the food. Catering is not an allowable expense on PSC funds.

Examples of catering may include a conference the University is hosting at Union South, where the vendor prepares, sets out, and serves the food. As noted above, catering is not an allowable expense on PSC funds.

Some examples that would be considered participant support costs:

• An NSF project has been awarded an REU supplement. The REU supplement will enable 5 undergraduate students from around the country to participate in a summer research project with a UW-Madison PI. The students will be paid a stipend and provided room and board over an 8-week period. The stipends and room/board would be considered participant support costs.
• The UW-Madison is awarded a grant from a Federal agency to host an educational workshop in Washington, DC. Individuals (the audience is primarily postdoctoral fellows from around the country) will apply for financial support to attend the conference. The financial support will cover the costs to travel to and attend the workshop. Travel reimbursement costs, lodging/per diem during the event, and registration fees would be considered participant support costs. However, costs of hosting the event, such as room rental, AV equipment rental, or catering, would not be allowable as participant support costs and would need to be charged to the non-PSC project.
• The UW-Madison receives an award from the NSF that includes an REU component. The REU component allows the PI’s lab to support UW-Madison undergraduate students during the academic year over the course of the three-year grant. The students will be mentored and will assist with various research projects, e.g., media preparation, plant tissue culture, cloning, and mutant analysis. The student stipends would be considered participant support costs. Undergraduate student stipend payments require special treatment and should not be paid as student hourly wages. Consult your divisional office for guidance.
• NSF provides an award to UW-Madison that includes a RET activity. The PI will host a teacher over the course of the summer who will gain research experience, and then use that knowledge to develop educational materials and activities. The teacher will pilot the activities with students and present the materials at regional conferences with fellow teachers. The teacher’s summer stipend, supplies for the activities, and travel to regional conferences would be considered participant support costs.
• A Federal agency provides an award to UW-Madison to train teams of classroom educators and community members from around the state. The teams of educators and community members will then engage local youth in community-based science and service-learning projects. The workshops to train classroom educators and community members take place over the summer. The costs associated with the workshops that enable the individuals to attend, including stipends, transportation, and lodging, are participant support costs.

Some examples that would not be considered participant support costs:

• The UW-Madison is part of a scientific collaboration involving PIs from five different institutions. The UW-Madison PI hosts a meeting with her Co-PIs and other scientists to discuss project progress. Collaborators must travel to Madison to attend the meeting. The costs for this meeting of scientific collaborators to discuss the project would not be considered participant support costs.
• As part of a conference grant, a UW-Madison PI invites an expert in the field to talk about recent discoveries that were featured in a prominent scientific journal. In order to support the expert’s attendance, the grant provides an honorarium of $2,000. The honorarium for the speaker would not be considered a participant support cost.

Rebudgeting may be allowed, but in almost all cases requires prior approval from the sponsor. See the Research Terms and Conditions Prior Approval Matrix. Rebudgeting requests should be processed during the life of the award. More information is available below.

1. Can I rebudget funds from a PSC project to a non-PSC project within the award after an award has been received?
   Maybe. Generally, it is not allowable to rebudget from the participant support costs category into other budget categories unless prior written approval has been obtained from the sponsor. If approval is obtained from the sponsor and funds are moved from participant support costs into other budget categories, F&A costs will be applied to the rebudgeted funds as appropriate.
2. Can I rebudget funds from the non-PSC project into a PSC project?
   If a participant support project were approved as part of the original award, then funds could be rebudgeted from the non-PSC project in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award. If the award did not already include a participant support project, then adding a participant support component to the award would need the sponsor’s prior approval. See part c. for more detail.
3. If participant support costs were not included in the original award, can I add a participant support component to my project?
   Maybe. Adding a participant support component to the project will need prior approval from the sponsor. With the sponsor’s approval, one option to fund this new component would be to rebudget unused funds into participant support costs. RSP can assist with submitting a prior approval request to rebudget funds for this purpose. The other option would be for the PI to request a supplement for participant support costs. A supplemental proposal would need to be submitted, but discuss with your program officer first. If approval were obtained for participant support costs, RSP would set up a new project under the award in order to separately account for these costs and apply a 0% F&A rate as required by the Uniform Guidance.
4. Can I rebudget funds within the different participant support cost categories?
   Generally speaking, rebudgeting within different participant support cost categories is allowable. An exception would be for NSF awards. If the intent were to rebudget funds into the “Other” category, that action may need agency prior approval. Given that NSF closely scrutinizes costs in the “Other” category, please contact your RSP accountant with questions.
5. How would I make a prior approval request?
   Please work with your RSP accountant to submit a prior approval request to the sponsor. A RAMP record is not required, but you may need to submit a rebudgeting request according to sponsor requirements. Note that NSF prior approval requests must be initiated by the PI in Research.gov. Click here for instructions on how to process an NSF PSC reallocation request.

Similar to other award-related expenses, a department must maintain back-up documentation for all participant support costs. This would include a list of program participants and evidence of attendance of participants, such as a daily log or similar documentation.

Yes. Previously, in A-21, the definition of MTDC did not address participant support costs. In the Uniform Guidance, the definition of Modified Total Direct Costs addresses participant support costs. This means, for awards from any agency that are made under the Uniform Guidance, participant support costs (similar to equipment) should be excluded from the base used to calculate F&A costs.

Stipend payments to participants should be made according to the individual’s status as a student or non-student and whether the individual is affiliated with the UW. Please note that participant support stipend payments may not be made using P-Cards.

Please note that the guidance below reflects typical payment mechanisms. Deviation from the following instructions may be necessary per the program solicitation or in extenuating circumstances. Please contact your RSP accountant with questions. See the PSC Stipend Diagram for additional visual guidance.

1. Student participants


• UW-Madison students: For UW-Madison students, please follow the Student Payment Guide, available at this website. The Student Payment Guide can be accessed under the “Determining what type of payment to make” section, by clicking on the button entitled, “Download the Student Payment Guide (PDF).” Participant support payments are considered non-credit research support payments. As such, almost all UW-Madison student participants should be paid through the Bursar’s Student Information System (SIS). In order to use SIS to make participant support payments, departments need to complete the OSFA "Request to Establish Student Support Program in SIS (Google Form)”, found on this website. Such payments should be made using account code 5709.
  
  

  There are a few NSF programs that direct UW-Madison to categorize support for graduate students as participant support costs. These include the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program and the Research Training Groups in Mathematical Sciences (RTG) program. For these programs (or any other where a sponsor provides specific directions), UW-Madison should appoint these individuals on non-service appointments. Please read the guidance and complete the Job Aid Form at this link on non-service appointments. Consult the program solicitation and the RSP accountant for the award as needed. Students should be appointed as a Trainee in HRS and paid using account codes 5712, 5732, or 5742, as appropriate.

  
  
• UW System (non-UW-Madison) students: Students who are enrolled at another UW System school (affiliated with the UW System, but not a UW-Madison enrolled student) should be paid participant support stipends on a Payment to Individual Report (PIR), using account code 3755.


• Non-UW System students: Non-UW System students should be paid participant support stipends on a Payment to Individual Report (PIR), using account code 3755.


2. Non-student participants
• Non-students who are not affiliated with UW-Madison: Non-students (e.g., teachers in the NSF RET program) should be paid participant support stipends on a Payment to Individual Report (PIR), using account code 3755.


• Non-students who are affiliated with UW-Madison: Individuals affiliated, but not employed, with the UW-Madison but who are not undergraduate or graduate students may be participants. Payments should be initiated with a Payment to Individual Report (PIR), using account code 3755.
  
  

  There is an NSF program, the Research Training Groups in Mathematical Sciences (RTG), that directs UW-Madison to categorize stipend support for postdoctoral associates as participant support costs. For this program (or any other where a sponsor provides specific directions), UW-Madison should appoint these individuals on non-service appointments. Please read the guidance and complete the Job Aid Form at this link on non-service appointments. Consult the program solicitation and the RSP accountant for the award as needed. Postdocs should be appointed as a Postdoc Fellow/Trainee in HRS and paid using account codes 2720, 2724, or 2726, as appropriate.

No. A payment to an individual who agrees to participate as a human subject in a research project is not a participant support cost and should be budgeted as Other Direct Costs in the project proposal. Information on payments to research subjects/participants is available at the UW Policy Library.

The answer depends on the sponsor. Generally, costs for training grant programs are not considered participant support costs. Training grant programs are not typically short-term experiences and are not consistent with the types of experiences considered to be participant support activities. Trainees are also actively engaged in the scope of work, where participants do not perform work or service for the project or program.

It depends. If UW-Madison has determined that student hourly employee is the appropriate role, then a compelling justification should be sent to the sponsoring agency representative about why that determination was made. Guidance from the National Science Foundation is that the institution determines whether a student hourly employee or participant is appropriate for the project.

However, for the NSF REU program, any student involved would be considered a participant. The NSF REU program is intended to provide a practical educational experience for undergraduate students, to develop their research skills while being mentored. Given the goals of the NSF REU program, it is not possible to have both student hourly employees and participants – all students on an NSF REU project should be considered participants.