Additional Compensation Guidelines for Faculty

At times, faculty may take on compensated, professional responsibilities in addition to their full-time appointment. Examples of additional jobs include overload teaching, administrative service, consulting duties, etc. However, faculty salary supplementation is limited and regulated by both federal and university administrative policies. All units are responsible for ensuring that any additional faculty jobs adhere to the policies governing additional compensation.

Related information on additional faculty compensation can be found at:

A guiding document on the Boulder campus for additional pay for faculty is the 23 July 2001 policy that follows below. It sets the general principles by which additional compensation is allowed or restricted. In addition, as of September 2008, Academic Affairs has set forth a policy on overload teaching by faculty. There is also a process for receiving additional pay for service activities. Any work done off campus must fall within the “1/6th Rule" and be reported. Additional documents addressing tenured and tenure-track faculty are the policy statements on Institutional Base Salary and Summer Salary Limits for Academic YearFaculty.

Boulder Campus Policy on Additional Pay to Regular and Research Faculty

(Adopted July 23, 2001)

This Boulder campus policy describes faculty salary limitations and conditions for supplementation. In 1998, the Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee recommended to the Vice Chancellor that the Office of Faculty Affairs review and define a set of limited circumstances for which compensation above the approved base salary may be justified. Their interest was in curbing compensation for service activities which they considered to be part of the normal expectations for faculty on campus. The guidelines are derived from Federal policies as well as common administrative practices, policies, and traditions across the campus. Earlier versions of this policy were issued as memos from the Office of Faculty Affairs, dated 2/9/99 and 2/23/00. A policy that covers much of the same material as it applies to officers and exempt professionals was distributed 7/7/00 by Vice Chancellor Tabolt. The University-wide policy on compensation can be found here: .

This memo is divided into four parts: a short section on definitions, a second section that deals with salary limitations, a third section that describes conditions when additional pay may be authorized, and a final section that offers an example.

Academic year: August to May, abbreviated “AY”. Most regular faculty (instructor, assistant, associate, full professor) appointments are AY appointments.
Fiscal year: July 1 through June 30, abbreviated “FY”. Most Libraries faculty and research faculty (professional research assistant, research associate series, research professor series) appointments are FY appointments.
Faculty: This policy is directed to faculty on 100% AY or FY appointments. Faculty on less than 100% time appointments, as defined in their letter of appointment or reappointment, may take on additional duties and compensation equivalent to 100% full time effort.
Academic year base salary: Sometimes also referred to as the “academic year salary” or “9/9ths salary”, AY salary is the sum paid in consideration of normal services rendered for an academic year appointment, recognizing that the academic year is approximately 9 months in length. Faculty members who elect to have their 9/9ths salary paid to them over 12 months have made an independent personal financial management decision, and such a decision doesn’t impact any of the policies below.
Fiscal year salary: Exempt Professional employees and faculty on FY appointments are generally paid at an annual or a monthly rate. When exempt professional employees and FY faculty are on 100% full time appointment, their annual salary is considered equivalent to the 12/9ths formulation used when talking about salaries of AY faculty appointments.

Part II. Salary Compensation Limits

II.A. Academic Year & Fiscal Year Salary Limitations

  1. Campus policy prohibits AY faculty from supplementing their 9/9ths salary with grant funds during the academic year period. Federal policies similarly restrict supplementing 9/9ths salary with federal grant funds in most cases. AY faculty, with approval of their chair/director and dean, may reduce their 9/9ths academic year salary and replace those dollars with grant funds if their workload expectations are similarly adjusted.
  2. Academic year base salaries (9/9ths) may be supplemented by a variety of stipends and other adjustments. These include administrative appointments (as for a chair or director), awards, academic year overload teaching and academic year continuing education teaching. These additional forms of compensation are themselves restricted by policy (see Part III), and have explicit pre-approval requirements. These supplemental sources of compensation do not figure into the calculation of 9/9ths (see line A of example).
  3. Fiscal year appointed personnel (faculty and exempt professionals) may not, in general, supplement their fiscal year salaries. However, fiscal year employees may accept monetary awards acknowledging their service or accomplishments. (Award programs are addressed in part III, below.) Many FY faculty members earn salary derived from federally funded grants and contracts. The Federal government policy on the subject of additional remuneration (2 CFR 200.430(h)(8)) permits pay for extra services when in accordancewith university policy. Federally supported FY faculty earning additional remuneration must be able to document that their workload and hours committed to their federally funded project remain the same. FY faculty members should also note that Federal policy recognizes as a normal workload the hours and effort historically associated with an appointment. Thus a normal work week of a research faculty member may often be considered as more than 40 hours long. As such, taking on additional duties (research, teaching, service) for pay outside of normal workday hours may not have sufficient justification if the normal workday hours are already extended. Federally supported FY faculty contemplating additional duties and remuneration should first consult with their appropriate dean’s office and their funding agency.

II.B. Summer Salary Limitations

  1. For tenured and tenure-track academic year appointed faculty, campus policy allows for a maximum of an additional 3/9ths to be earned in salary for additional activities conducted in the summer months using the Institutional Base Salary (IBS) to determine those earnings. (See the Summer Salary Limits for Academic Year Facultypolicy.) Federal policies similarly restrict summer earnings from federal grants to an additional 3/9ths. Hence campus policy restricts a faculty member’s fiscal year earnings to a maximum of 12/9ths of the IBS salary. Any exceptions to this 12/9ths limitation requires prior approval of the dean’s office and the Office of Faculty Affairs, and may also require prior approval by other offices and federal agencies.
  2. Summer salary is functionally restricted to 3/9ths of the Institutional Base Salary (IBS) so a faculty member who wants to take on optional advising, teaching, or other paid activities must reduce their grant-funded salary accordingly to ensure the sum from all sources does not exceed 3/9ths during the summer. Compensation for summer teaching for Summer School as well as summer teaching for Continuing Education is also considered when calculating the 3/9ths summer salary total. Compensation for Maymester teaching is considered summer teaching, not academic year overload teaching. See the Summer Salary Guidelines for Boulder Campus for details on what activities constitute CU Boulder’s 3/9ths summer earnings and for situational examples.
  3. Summer compensation for an endowed chair or professorship is subject to the 3/9th summer salary limitation.
  4. Administrative appointments, such as those for department chairs and faculty directors, are subject to the 3/9th summer salary limitation.
  5. Compensation by entities not associated with the University for consulting activities during either the academic year or during the summer is not restricted in dollar amount. The amount of time an AY faculty member may dedicate to consulting activities during the academic year, however, is restricted under a separate policy often referred to as “The 1/6th Rule.” FY faculty are also allowed to consult 1/6th of their time as long as it does not interfere with their full time federally supported work.

Part III. Policies on Additional Pay

Faculty academic year salaries are considered to be in compensation for the labors and efforts of faculty in the areas defined by their individual workload formulation (usually a defined mix ofteaching, research or creative work, and service). The nine month academic year base salary is considered full compensation for all usual and reasonable activities associated with each of these areas. Special stipends and additional pay are prohibited as supplementary academic year base salary compensation for those usual and reasonable activities.

III.A. Compensation for Research and Consulting

  1. Compensation of AY faculty during the summer months from grants or contracts awarded to or administered by the University is allowed at rates not to exceed 1/9 of the academic year base salary per summer month and is guided by policies of the Graduate School, the Research & Innovation Office, and the Federal government. Compensation for consulting activities performed for entities not associated with the University is subject only to time limitations defined by the 1/6th rule, not by dollar limitations.
  2. Faculty members on AY appointments may not earn additional salary for research or scholarly activities during the academic year. With permission from their dean, a faculty member may reduce their academic year base salary from the University in order to accept compensation from research grants and contracts during the academic year, but research salary plus University salary normally may not exceed the academic year base salary monthly rate (1/9th).

III.B. Compensation for Teaching Activities

Additional pay may be earned by AY faculty for supplemental or “overload” teaching activities (defined as those activities in excess of teaching activities expected as part of the defined workload formula) subject to the conditions and limitations below. Compensation policy distinguishes between academic year teaching and teaching during the summer. Academic year teaching may sometimes be considered as overload teaching and thus is not considered part of a 9/9ths calculation. Neither the Boulder campus nor most federal funding agencies consider summer teaching an overload activity. As such, compensation for summer teaching is considered part of the summer 3/9ths salary calculation.

  1. Summer School and Continuing Education instruction are the most typical forms of teaching activities for which additional compensation to AY faculty is allowed. Compensation for these activities is provided according to a pay schedule set by the college or school dean in consultation with Dean of Continuing Education and Associate Vice Chancellor for Summer School.
  2. Overload teaching within an AY faculty member’s “home” unit during the academic year generally may be compensated for by adjustments in the teaching workload in a subsequent semester or by favorable compensation as part of the annual merit evaluation process. With approval by the dean or his/her designee, overload teaching within the home unit may be compensated by additional pay at a rate defined by the college or school. In units without departmental structure, approval of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is required.
  3. Overload teaching for units other than the home unit may be compensated by additional pay or stipend as long as the home unit’s director, chair, or dean certifies by authorizingsignature on the PAF that the teaching expectations and other responsibilities within the home unit are also being met.
  4. AY Faculty with reduced classroom teaching duties as part of a differentiated workload agreement shall not normally be eligible for compensation for overload teaching. Units seeking to provide additional pay for overload teaching activities should consult their dean’s office before offers are made. Additional pay for overload teaching is subject to review by the dean or his/her designee.
  5. Compensation for teaching during the Maymester or summer sessions is not considered overload teaching, and compensation for such teaching is therefore not excluded from the 3/9th summer or 12/9th FY calculation.

III.C. Compensation for Service Activities

  1. Additional pay for activities in service to the University will be approved only in limited circumstances. Service during the academic year to other departments, schools, or colleges, service to University committees or organizations, or participation in University activities are examples of activities that all faculty members should expect to undertake without additional compensation as part of their service obligation to the University. This is particularly true of faculty members holding the rank of associate professor or professor.
  2. Service that includes a significant leadership or supervisory responsibility may be eligible for additional pay compensation when it is not a regular and ongoing component of a faculty member’s workload formula. Approval by the Office of Faculty Affairs is required in advance of any compensation for service activities, either as stipends or as additional pay.
  3. AY Faculty may be compensated for performances or lectures offered in service to other University offices and organizations. Units or individuals wishing to offer additional pay (often referred to as honoraria) for performances or lectures should consult their dean’s office before offers are made to individuals to determine that the activity under consideration qualifies as compensated service.
  4. Deans, chairs, and directors supervising exempt professional employees need to be aware that members of the exempt professional staff are salaried employees and, if on 100% time appointments, are not eligible for additional pay for additional work by Regent policy. Exceptions by title have been pre-approved by act of the Regents. All other additional compensation to exempt professional employees must be consistent with campus policy, referenced above.
  5. Compensation for service, teaching, or research activities that does not include additional pay but does involve transfer of funds from one University account to another account designated for or controlled by the faculty member providing the service shall be subject to the same review and approval procedures. Reimbursements for actual documented expenses do not fall under these review and prior approval procedures.

III.D. Recognition Awards to Faculty

  1. AY Faculty and FY Faculty are both eligible to receive monetary awards for exceptional service, teaching, research, creative work, or contributions to the community. Approved awards do not contribute to 3/9th or 12/9th salary totals.
  2. Recognition award program approval and implementation policies are the same as those for award programs designed for exempt professional employees. Departments, colleges, or other units planning awards programs should consult the compensation policy for exempt professionals distributed 7/7/00 by Vice Chancellor Tabolt, referenced above for specifics. In brief, recognition award programs may be developed and approved by deans or other officers of the University, but vice chancellors are responsible for monitoring program Guidelines for implementation. Recognition awards which are not part of an approved program may also be granted in exceptional circumstances to individuals, and generally should not exceed $1,000 dollars. Awards of $1,000 require approve by a vice chancellor, awards over $1,000 require Chancellor approval. Finally, recognition awards are generally not made more than once to a single individual.


Questions concerning these guidelines may be directed to the appropriate dean’s office or the Office of Faculty Affairs.

Part IV. Example: Assistant Professor Able

In this example, Professor Able earns $45,000 for her nine month AY appointment. She also teaches one course for continuing education, and she received a monetary award for her teaching. Professor Able also pays herself from her NIH grant in the summer. Professor Able is also asked to teach in summer school.

AY base salary = $45,000
Line A. 9/9ths = $45,000; (1/9 = ($45,000 ÷ 9) = $5,000)

Additional earning for AY continuing education teaching = $4,000
Monetary recognition of campus teaching award = $1,500

Total academic year compensation = $45,000 + $4,000 + $1,500 = $50,500

Line B. Maximum allowable summer salary (from all sources) = 3/9th = $15,000
Professor Able pays herself this sum from her NIH grant.

Line C: Maximum FY salary = 9/9ths base + 3/9th summer + stipends & awards
=$45,000 + $15,000 + $5,500 = $65,500

(If Professor Able had accepted a summer school teaching appointment worth $4,000, she would have had to reduce her NIH grant income by an equal amount ($4,000) so that her summer salary, from all sources, did not exceed 3/9th. Professor Able elected not to teach summer school.)

Part V. History:

Adopted: July 23, 2001
Revised: April 2023, February 2019