Summer 2026 Research Compensation - Guidelines

University of New Mexico faculty with 9-month appointments who have contract/grant awards with summer salary itemized in the budgets may receive summer research compensation. This compensation is provided only for actual time worked and effort spent during the summer research period. It can only be paid for periods the faculty member is actively working on the project.  Summer research compensation cannot be paid to faculty on vacation, committed to other projects, or for time worked outside of the summer research period.

Please also see the 2026 Summer Research for 9-month Faculty memo for the Summer 2026 periods of work and processing deadlines.

2026 Summer Research Guidelines

1. The award budget must have adequate funds to cover the summer salary including fringe benefits.
2. In accordance with OMB’s Uniform Guidance §200.430 Compensation—personal services, summer research compensation is limited to 3/9ths of institutional base salary (IBS). 
   1. UNM’s institutional base salary (IBS) is defined as the 9-month base salary. IBS does not include:
      1. Overload Payments,
      2. Extra Compensation as described by Faculty Handbook Policy 140
      3. Monetary Awards
      4. Special Administrative Component (SAC), per Faculty Handbook policy C180
      5. The “Plus” component of Base Plus and Extra Compensation Paid by the University.  Base plus for calculating summer research maximum has been paused.
   2. Specific funding agencies may have distinct policies. For example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) guidelines stipulate "under normal re-budgeting authority, a grantee can internally approve an increase or decrease in person-months devoted to the project after an award is made, even if doing so results in salary support for senior personnel exceeding the two-month salary policy. No prior approval from NSF is necessary unless the re-budgeting would cause the objectives or scope of the project to change. NSF prior approval is necessary if the objectives or scope of the project change." For additional NSF information, please see: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappg20_1/nsf20_1.pdf
3. The pay rate (Rate 1) for May and June is determined by the 2025-26 academic year salary. The pay rate (Rate 2) for July and August is determined by the 2026-27 academic year salary. Note: For faculty represented by collective bargaining, the 2026-27 academic year salary will be determined upon completion of compensation negotiations.
4. All Summer Research forms must be processed no later than the deadline given in the 2026 Summer Research for Nine-Month Faculty memo. Any exceptions will need to be accompanied by a justification signed by the chair and dean.
   
   1. May and June Summer Research forms will be available on the OAP website in March 2026.
   2. July and August Summer Research forms will be posted after any potential compensation increases for FY26/27 are determined.
5. The faculty member’s FTE cannot exceed 125% FTE for the pay period, including all summer research, summer administration, and summer instruction assignments.
   1. Assignments above 100% FTE must be approved, by Academic Affairs, in advance by the faculty member’s chairperson/director
   2. Exceptions to 125% FTE must be approved in advance by the Senior Vice Provost.
   3. If a summer teaching agreement is also in effect, days identified for teaching cannot also be identified as summer research.
6. Requests for summer research salary must be processed using the Summer Research Form and must be submitted for processing via ePAF.
   1. For a faculty member receiving a summer research payment for the first time or the payment requires manual entry, if the payment is supported by restricted funds, the department must:
      
      1. Submit the completed Summer Research Form to Contracts & Grants (C&G) for review and approval. C&G will then submit the form directly to the Office for Academic Personnel (OAP) by using the Faculty Transaction Portal located on the OAP website.
      2. Forms submitted for manual entry that are supported by restricted funds that do not have C&G approval will be returned to the department and will not be processed until C&G approval is secured.

Faculty Members with Special Administrative Components

• Institutional base salary excludes Special Administrative Components (SACs). See the Budget guidelines for more information.
• SACs can be distinguished from base salary as they are identified with an S suffix associated with their position number.
• See the example below from the Active Employee Report in HR Reports, you will only include the $75,000 (annual salary) associated with the 00 Suffix:

Example Calculation for the 3/9ths Summer Research Limit

Example A: Professor X’s academic year salary for Academic Year (AY) 26 is $90,000. Rate 1 for May and June will be $10,000 ($90,000/9). For FY26/27, Professors X’s academic year salary is hypothetically $95,000, reflecting a compensation increase to the academic year salary. Rate 2 for July and August will be $10,555.55 ($95,000/9).

The amount payable in May and August is pro-rated since the full months of May and August are not available for summer research compensation, The total research compensation for May and August combined should equal 1/9 ^th of the summer research pay, based on the number of workdays in each month. Use .667 as the multiplier for calculating the May payroll and .333 for the August payroll.

For information on how the multipliers were determined, please see the explanation at the end of the guidelines.

Using Example A, the maximum allowable payments for the summer research period of May 17, 2026 through August 8, 2026 are outlined in the following table:

Example B:  Faculty A (see payment schedule from Example A) will be conducting summer research and will receive maximum payment for May, June, July, August.

Example C: Faculty A (see payment schedule from Example A) will be conducting summer research for several weeks during the summer research period. Payment can be pro-rated by the number of days worked in the month.

The maximum number for workdays per month for the 2026 summer research period is given below.

Example C.1: Faculty A working 5 days (1 week) in May

Calculation:     5 days/10 total workdays* maximum May Payment           

                        5/10*$6,670*.667= $2224.45

Example C.2   Faculty A working 10 days (2 weeks) in June

Calculation:     10 days/21 total workdays*Maximum June Payment

                        10 days/21 total workdays*$10,000 = $ 4,761.90

Example C.3: Faculty A working 15 days (3 weeks) in July

Calculation:     15 days/23 total workdays* Maximum July Payment

                        15 days/23 total workdays*$10,555.56= $6,884.06

Example C.4: Faculty A working 2 days in August

Calculation:     2 days/5 total workdays*Maximum August Payment

                        2 days/5 total workdays*$3,515.33*.333= $468.20

Basis for Determining May and August Percentages:

The percentage of 1/9th of the faculty member's salary that can be paid during the partial months of May and August is based on the proportion of workdays in each of those months.

Should you have any questions about the form, please call the Office for Academic Personnel at  277-4528 or send an email message to faculty@unm.edu. 

If you have questions about your index/grant, you may call the Contract and Grant Accounting.

By email: indexcga@unm.edu or by phone: 505-277-4721