Fringe benefits, including health insurance, social security taxes, retirement contributions, insurance coverage, and other employee benefit programs, are a form of compensation provided to faculty, staff, postdoctoral appointees, and clinical fellows. Benefit plan details, eligibility rules, and employee premium rates for certain benefits are managed by Human Resources.
The Controller’s Office is responsible for calculating the fringe benefit rates used to allocate employer-paid benefit costs to departments. These costs, net of employee contributions, are pooled and allocated as a percentage of salaries and wages based on employee classification. Fringe benefit rates represent the relationship between projected employer-paid benefit costs and total salaries within each employee group. Annual rate calculations also include adjustments for prior year over- or under-recoveries, as applicable.
Under the Controller’s Office, the Cost Analysis team, in collaboration with General Accounting, prepares WashU’s annual fringe benefit rate proposal. The proposal is submitted to and negotiated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Cost Allocation Services, to ensure rates are based on allowable, supportable costs and comply with federal cost principles for use on federally sponsored projects.
In addition to the annual proposal rates, out-year projections are developed for planning purposes and loaded into Adaptive Planning and RMS. Refer to Sponsored Projects Accounting – Personnel Cost for additional details on charging sponsored awards as well as current and projected rates included in RMS.
Contact the Cost Analysis Office for questions about the DHHS authorized rates.
FY2027 Authorized Fringe Rates:
These rates are effective for the period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.
Fringe benefits are applied only to the first $200,000 of base salary earned during each calendar year (the fringe cap). Once an individual’s cumulative base salary reaches the fringe cap for the calendar year, additional fringe benefits will not be charged.
| Applicable to: | Fringe Rate |
|---|---|
| Faculty & Staff – Federal | 35.5% |
| Faculty & Staff – Non-Federal | 38.6% |
| Post Doc Employees | 27.2% |
| Clinical Fellow Employees | 25.3% |
| Post Doc Stipends | 2.3% |
| Clinical Fellow Stipends | 1.4% |
| Supplemental | 4.3% |
| By Component | Faculty and Staff – Federal | Faculty and Staff – Non-Federal |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 14.9% | 14.9% |
| Retirement | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| FICA | 7.8% | 7.8% |
| Other | 2.5% | 5.6% |
| Total Fringe Rate | 35.5% | 38.6% |
Past Years
FY2026 Approved Fringe Benefit Rates (9/18/2025)
FY2025 Approved Fringe Benefit Rates (6/7/2024)
FY2024 Approved Fringe Benefit Rates (7/11/2023)
FY2023 Approved Fringe Benefit Rates (4/28/2022)