Frequently Asked Questions

Completing the Termination Notice is a condition of accepting the appointment. If the trainee doesn't respond after repeated attempts, contact GCA via gcahelp@uw.edu or via Grant Tracker.

Yes.

No. Trainees prepare Termination Notices only when their final year on the award is completed.

NIH prorates by whole months, then days within the month. The UW payroll calculates differently: number of working days in a half-month payroll cycle. When entering the trainee's total stipends use the UW amount.  A Termination Notice Proration Calculator has been developed to assist. Once the prorated amount has been verified, the actual stipend payments in MyFD, and the stipend amount listed on the termination notice must match the calculated proration.

E.g.  trainee was appointed a yearly amount of $22,032 but only trainees from 7/01/13-2/13/14

• xTrain calculates (22032/12*7)+(22032/12/28*13) on the term notice

• UW payroll would reflect the final month of payment as 9 of 10 working days multiplied by the half month: (22032/12*7)+(22032/12/2*9/10)

NIH accepts these differences that are within a reasonable amount.

GCA will approve Termination Notices if the difference over the entire training period is less than $20.

01-50, 01-90, and 08-02 are the only allowable objects codes that denote stipends. Using another salary object code can denote an employee/employer relationship, which is counter to the NIH Grants Policy Statement "stipends for trainees are not “salary” and not provided as a condition of employment..."  Other salary object codes also cause unallowable benefits to be charged to the grant AND can cause tax implications for trainees.

A correction to an underpayment of a trainee’s salary will post fringe benefits at whatever the rate is at the time of posting.  Please inform GCA of when you expect the charges to post to help us ensure the financial report submitted to the sponsor is accurate.

Tuition charges are a result of a department processing tuition scholarships or fellowships, through the University’s SDB (Student Data Base).  These charges are coded as 08-05 (please note that this is not the same as 08-02, which is for stipend payments).  Questions regarding tuition charges should be directed to Student Fiscal Services. They can be reached at: sfshelp@uw.edu, or 206-543-4694.

An unexpended balance is a result of awarded funds not being spent. That is to say that the total expenditures for a project are less than the amount awarded. If a sponsor has paid for the entire award then there could be cash remaining. If a sponsor is one that we invoice then there could be awarded, but yet to be paid, funds remaining.

There are certain circumstances that allow the University to keep and/or carryforward the remaining, or unspent, funds. Usually OSP (Office of Sponsored Programs) will identify an award as one where the University having the authority to retain unexpended balances. OSP will pass the information onto GCA (Grant and Contract Accounting) through the eFA (electronic funding action) process.

If OSP has not designated whether the University can keep and/or carryforward unexpended balances, approval may need to be obtained from the sponsor. If the project with the unexpended balance has a continuation budget (the continuation of a project under a separate budget number) it is possible to have the unexpended balance moved to the new budget number. If the project with the unexpended balance is a fixed price, or clinical trial, grant or contract, it is possible to move the unexpended funds to a corresponding department surplus account. If the budget with the unexpended balance is neither a fixed price, nor a clinical trial, has no continuation budget, and the University does not have the authority to keep and/or carryforward the balance, GCA will return the funds to the sponsor.