Participant Support Costs

Participant support costs are a direct cost budget category intended for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with meetings, conferences or training projects.

Amounts allocated to the participant support cost budget category of federal awards are excluded from the Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) base and may not be reallocated into or out of other budget categories without the written approval of the sponsor.

To track and manage participant support activity, a separate sub Project Grant (P/G), which is not coded to incur an indirect cost, must be established for awards containing a participant support cost budget allocation.

Because the participant support cost budget category is restricted and may not be reallocated to other budget categories, any unexpended balance left in a participant support sub P/G at the end of the project period will become a de-obligated balance and cannot be used to offset expenses in the parent P/G or other sub P/Gs.