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Northwestern University

NIH Salary Cap

Updated 3-9-18

These guidelines are set forth to help faculty stay within the rules established by the federal government regarding the NIH salary cap.  These guidelines apply to faculty with a salary exceeding the NIH salary cap who charge a portion of any month’s salary to an NIH grant.  NIH will pay only the percentage effort based on the current salary cap.  This is most challenging for summer salary because the cost shared salary above the cap must be charged to non-sponsored funds; however, it can also have an impact on situations where faculty charge a portion of their academic year salary to NIH grants.

The current NIH salary cap can be found on our Rates and Data for Proposals page.

Academic year salary

Faculty with salaries in excess of the NIH salary cap who have committed effort on an NIH grant and who recover academic year salary from an NIH sponsored project may only charge effort based on the NIH monthly salary cap rate. 

Weinberg academic year policy: 

Summer salary

Weinberg summer salary policy:

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