Charge Reduction Programs

This page provides information about charge reduction programs, funded by the College of Engineering, for internal, University of Michigan, users. The general billing procedure is described here. Please see the Financial Memos page for details about the current fee schedules and rates.

There are three programs that apply to internal users (i.e. users whose fees are charged to a U-M shortcode). The first two programs apply to individual LNF users (students, post doctoral researchers etc) and the third program applies to research groups (i.e. it works at the PI level).

• Monthly Charge Reduction for new LNF users
  
• Monthly Charge Reduction for heavy use, new program introduced in 2022
  
• Annual Faculty Incentive Accounts (FIA)
  

Monthly charge reduction programs

Details of programs (thresholds levels updated July 1, 2024)

• Laboratory access charges for new U-M LNF users (individual students, post doctoral researchers, ...) are reduced during their first year in the LNF: they receive an 80% discount on their first $2,200 of laboratory usage charges (store purchases are not included).
  
• Annual spending accrued by an individual U-M LNF user above $22,000 (individual students, post doctoral researchers, ...) is reduced by 40%. This applies to all room and tool charges (store purchases are not included). Note that the annual period for each user is set by their individual start date in the LNF. If there are multiple years of significant negative net revenue, the Heavy Use Charge Reduction may be suspended in the next fiscal year.
  

The charge reductions will be issued as monthly credits to the shortcode used for LNF fees and will appear in the monthly LNF usage report emails sent to PIs. Note that usage charges and charge reduction credits can also be monitored for each user on the LNF online system (instructions are available here), and that the charge reduction only applies to room and tool charges, not to store purchases.

Billing process for charge reduction programs

The full amount of lab usage fees is billed on a monthly basis to the appropriate shortcode via Service Unit Billing (SUB) with the expense code 613280 (Lurie Facility Expense). The subsidy credits are applied for each user/account via Journal Uploads (JU) depending on the type of the account being billed as described below.

• Case A – Sponsored Projects (account fund = 20000 or 25000)
  • Charge Reduction amount is credited to the shortcode, with expense code 613280 (expense credit)
  • Charge Reduction amount is debited as a budget line item with fund 10000, with expense code 613280 (expense credit)
  • Charge Reduction amount is credited as a budget line item with fund 10000, with expense code 450600 (revenue)

• Case B – Cost Sharing Accounts associated with a sponsored project (fund = 10000 and program = CSTSH)
  • Charge Reduction amount is credited to the shortcode, with expense code 450600 (revenue)
• Case C – Non-Sponsored Projects
  • Charge Reduction amount is credited to the shortcode, with expense code 613280 (expense credit)

Faculty incentive accounts

This is a program that applies to U-M faculty members based on the total spending of their entire research group. LNF faculty incentive funds are distributed annually to faculty members whose annual LNF net room and tool usage charges exceed a designated threshold. The intent of this program is to enable new or expanded research activities in the LNF. The accounts are funded as a percentage of the previous fiscal year’s usage charges and funds are provided to the faculty member for future LNF usage. General funds will be transferred from LNF to a Faculty Incentive Account under the faculty member’s name, administered by their home department.

• The account is available to the Project Director for any LNF charges (“Lurie Facility Expense”) during the upcoming fiscal year.
• Carry over up to $55k will be allowed (updated July 1, 2024)
• Any deficit on the account will be the responsibility of the Project Director, and any non-”Lurie Facility Expense” costs on the account will prevent receiving additional funding until resolved.

Faculty Incentive Account amount calculation and thresholds (updated July 1, 2024):

Net Annual Charges per PI	Funding provided to FIA
Above $11k	15% of net charges
Above $55k	$8.25k + 25% of net charges above $55k

Examples of FIA amounts (updated July 1, 2024):

Net Annual Charges per PI	FIA Amount
$150,000	$32,000
$100k	$19,500
$55k	$8,250
$20k	$3,000
$11k	$1,650