Policy on Unallowable Costs

Policy Statement

Allowable costs on sponsored projects are defined by specific sponsor guidelines as well as federal, state and university policies and guidelines. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2 CFR PART 200—UNIFORM ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS, COST PRINCIPLES, AND AUDIT REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL AWARDS provides principles for determining allowable costs on sponsored agreements. It indentifies specific costs that may not be charged to sponsored agreements.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to identify costs that cannot be charged to federal programs per federal regulations.

Unallowable Costs

The following costs have been identified in UG 2 CFR 200 as not being allowable to sponsored agreements as either a direct charge or as part of the F&A recovery:

• Advertising, except for help wanted and other advertisements for services necessary to carry out the award.
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Alumni Activity
• Bad Debts
• Contingency Reserves
• Commencement and Convocations
• Costs of Selling and Marketing any Services of the Institution
• Donations and Contributions
• Entertainment Costs
• Excessive Employee Recruitment Costs
• Fines and Penalties
• First Class Travel
• Fund Raising and Investment Costs
• Goods or Services for Personal Use
• Housing and Personal Living Expenses
• Lobbying Costs
• Losses on other Sponsored Agreements
• Memberships in Civic or Community Organizations or in Social or Dining Clubs
• Promotional items and memorabilia, including models, gifts and souvenirs
• Student Activity Costs

This list may exclude expenditures that have been explicitly unallowed by the University of Massachusetts. See the University policy for “Management of University Funds”.