SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Course Buyout Policy
(effective Fall 2025)
Purpose:
Faculty may request to increase effort expended on research activities during an academic quarter. The School of Physical Sciences’ policy for course buyout permits ladder rank senate faculty (including Professors of Teaching) to negotiate with their Department Chair to reduce their teaching assignment by charging a component of academic-year salary to extramural funds.
SoPS expects all faculty members to make meaningful, ongoing contributions to undergraduate and graduate education, and it is expected that the PI will teach in each of the quarters not affected by the reduction.
Participation and Costs:
Faculty participation in the program is voluntary and limited to a maximum reduction of two courses per academic year (with the second course approved by exception). There can be no more than three course reductions over a two-year cycle through this program. The faculty may request to buy out of the annual base rate per course, plus benefits and overhead, as applicable. The cost of participation varies based on rank and academic priorities and is broadly determined based on teaching and service loads. The associated salary savings will be retained by the Dean’s Office.
Assistant: 20%
Associate: 16%
Prof 1-5: 12.5%
Prof 6+: 10%
Participation Request and Processing:
Consult with financial analyst and department CAO/AP Manager
Complete the Faculty Course Buyout Request Form
Secure the signature of financial analyst and Department Chair
Department CAO/AP Manager will submit the form to PSAP@uci.edu
PSAP obtains approval from the Dean
Upon receipt of approval from PSAP@uci.edu the Department’s personnel team will implement the salary change in UCPath and will implement the financial arrangements. Course buyouts must be requested and fully approved prior to the start of the pay dates for the quarter (Fall qtr.: July 1-Oct.31; Winter qtr.: Nov. 1-Feb.28; Spring qtr.: March 1-June 30). Please coordinate with your department staff for unit specific due dates.
Guidelines:
Any proposed buyout and charging academic-year salary must be allowable by the granting agency and be consistent with the terms and budget of the award. Agency approval may be required. The best practice would be to include the cost of a buyout at the proposal submission stage. Please contact your financial analyst if you have any questions.
This policy applies to all extramural funds awarded to the School of Physical Sciences, including faculty budgeted from other academic units.
The amount of salary charged is the appropriate percentage of annual base pay rate per course per academic year, plus benefits and overhead. Benefits costs associated with the percent of effort charged to extramural funding will be charged to that funding source. Under no circumstances can compensated effort supported by extramural funds exceed 50% of a faculty member’s time in any given academic quarter or year.
Please discuss the financial implications of the F&A/overhead charges with your analyst.
The PI will be expected to certify the salary charged to the extramural award through the annual Payroll Certification System report associated with the budget period the salary is charged. By doing this, the PI verifies that the payroll charged to the award is correct and reasonable in relation to the work performed.
Per policy, faculty participating in NSP are not eligible for course buyouts.
Department Chairs will consider course buyout requests, along with sabbatical and leave requests, when determining teaching assignments for the coming academic year. Approval will depend upon whether the request can be accommodated without negative impact to the teaching program.
Approved participation does not relieve the faculty member in any way of their research and service obligations. A course buyout does not carry the privileges of sabbatical leave and the PI will continue to accrue sabbatical credit for each quarter of qualifying service. The PI will be expected to complete a full complement of research, mentoring, and service commitments.
No retroactive transactions will be approved or processed, consistent with standard accounting practices. Because both teaching assignments and academic salaries are determined for a full academic year, approval should be obtained from the Department Chair and Dean following the same timeline as requests for leave. Extramural funds will be charged consistent with 9/12 academic quarter payroll dates as follows: Fall: July-Oct, Winter: Nov-Feb, Spring: Mar-June. Without exception, course buyouts must be approved by the Chair and the Dean in time to be entered into the payroll system prior to the start of the buyout quarter’s payroll dates.
This program is subject to periodic review and may be modified or discontinued at the discretion of the Dean’s Office.