Prior to applying for most external fellowships, a CLAS faculty member must seek and obtain department/center and college approval by completing an online CLAS Faculty Fellowship Approval request (see Fellowship Guidance for CLAS Faculty). This request requires the faculty member to indicate whether the award will be (1) managed by the university or (2) self-managed by the fellowship recipient. This is an important distinction with implications for the recipient’s pay, taxes, employment benefits, and UF recording of their professional activity.
The guidance below is intended for faculty on 9-month appointments and applies to many fellowships, but it cannot cover every possible case. To discuss how the guidance may change for 12-month faculty or for a specific award, please contact the Associate Dean for Research (clasadr@clas.ufl.edu).
The differences and commonalities across university management and self-management of an external fellowship are itemized in the sections below. Click on the to the right of each heading to see section content.
- Payment Mechanism: Generally, the sponsor sends the fellowship stipend to UF, which disburses the funds through the payroll system. In some cases, the sponsor may also pay other costs (e.g. travel, housing, per diem) or provide in-kind benefits directly to the recipient.
- Stipend Allocation: In most cases, the college disburses the total fellowship stipend uniformly over the award period. During the Fall and Spring semesters, the recipient receives their regular biweekly pay from UF, but the cost (salary plus fringe) is partially transferred from college sources onto the fellowship award. Any stipend not disbursed during the 9-month academic year is paid as summer salary and fringe.
- Tax Consequences: Any fellowship funds paid to the recipient as salary are taxed in the same way and at the same rate as state-funded salary would be.
- Impact on Employment Benefits: The only effect may be an increase in certain benefits (such as retirement plan contributions) if the recipient receives UF summer salary under the fellowship.
- Faculty Reporting Impact: The award will automatically prepopulate the recipient’s Tenure, Promotion, and Post-Tenure Review templates.
- UFOLIO Requirements: The award is considered an “inside activity” and requires no disclosure in UFOLIO.
- UFIRST Requirements: If the applicant elects university management, then once the online CLAS Faculty Fellowship Approval request has been approved by the college, the application must be entered and approved as a proposal within the UFIRST system. Only when UFIRST approval is complete will the faculty member be authorized to submit their application to the sponsor. Who is responsible for setting up the proposal in UFIRST depends on whether or not the applicant belongs to a unit that is supported by the college’s Research Office (CLAS RO); click here to see a list of college-supported units.
College-supported units:
CLAS RO will guide the applicant through the UFIRST approval process. The applicant must contact CLAS RO (by email to resoffice@clas.ufl.edu) to begin the UFIRST process at least nine UF business days before the sponsor’s submission deadline. There are subsequent deadlines as specified in the CLAS Proposal Deadline Policy. The applicant is expected to be available by email to work with CLAS RO staff throughout the period leading up to final submission.
Other units:
Applicants from Anthropology, Chemistry, or Physics should consult department administrative staff for guidance about the UFIRST process, including applicable deadlines. Applicants from any other unsupported unit should contact the Associate Dean for Research (clasadr@clas.ufl.edu).
Example: A fellowship offers a total stipend of $30,000 and runs from January 16 through July 15, thus spanning 4 months of Spring and 2 months of Summer. The fellowship award managed by UF will produce savings for the college equal to $30,000 × 4 / (4 + 2) = $20,000, realized by charging part of the recipient’s Spring-semester salary and fringe directly to the award. The remaining $10,000 of stipend will be paid out as salary and fringe under a summer appointment for the recipient.
- Payment Mechanism: The sponsor sends all fellowship funds, including any stipend, directly to the recipient.
- Stipend Allocation: Unless the sponsor specifies otherwise, the college deems the fellowship stipend to be earned by the recipient at a uniform rate over the entire award period. The college recoups an amount of salary and fringe equal to the portion of the stipend that covers the 9-month academic year. College savings are achieved by reducing the recipient’s UF FTE during the relevant Fall and/or Spring semester(s).
- Tax Consequences: All or part of the award may be considered taxable income. The recipient is responsible for understanding and acting on any change in their tax position.
- Impact on Employment Benefits: A reduction of academic-year FTE (as described above under Stipend Allocation), may significantly impact the recipient’s UF benefits including retirement contributions and health coverage. The recipient must consult with UF Benefits to understand the consequences of FTE reduction and the options available to maintain certain benefits.
- Faculty Reporting Impact: The award will not automatically prepopulate the recipient’s Tenure, Promotion, and Post-Tenure Review templates and will need to be added manually.
- UFOLIO Requirements. Because the recipient is receiving compensation for work from an entity outside UF, the fellowship will be considered an “outside activity.” Recipients need to report and obtain approval for this activity through UFOLIO (https://coi.ufl.edu/).
- UFIRST Requirements: Applicants planning to self-manage an award do not need to receive approval for their application through UFIRST. Once the online CLAS Faculty Fellowship Approval request is approved by the college, the applicant should proceed to submitting their application to the sponsor.
Example: A fellowship offers a total stipend of $30,000 and runs from January 16 through July 15 of a certain year, thus spanning 4 months of Spring semester and 2 months of Summer. The self-managed fellowship award will pay the full amount of $30,000 directly to the recipient. The fellowship will be deemed to produce savings for the college equal to $30,000 × 4 / (4 + 2) = $20,000, realized by the recipient reducing their UF FTE for the Spring semester. Hypothetically, if the recipient’s 1.00-FTE salary plus fringe for the semester totals $37,000, their spring appointment would be reduced to approximately ($37,000 – $20,000) / $37,000 = 0.46 FTE.
- Salary Savings: Any amount of the recipient’s college-funded nine-month salary replaced by fellowship funds is called the college’s “salary savings.” These funds return to CLAS, which uses them for various purposes, including covering the teaching of faculty whose fellowships take them out of the teaching rotation. The dollar amount of salary savings is the same regardless of whether an award is university- or self-managed.
- Effects on Teaching: Most fellowships disallow teaching during the award period. The college may provide the recipient’s unit with funds from salary savings to cover their teaching while on the fellowship. The amount (if any) returned to the department will be determined by CLAS on the basis of demonstrated need.