As input to the FY07 fee structure calculation, FY06 total operating expenses were estimated by adding the salaries of the current staff supporting MNCR operations and other (federally) allowed operating expenses from FY06.  The total estimated operating costs estimated operating expenses were divided by the total number of user hours in FY06 to determine the true operating cost (recoverable by federal guidelines) for MNCR usage.  Based on this data, the true operating cost for MNCR usage is $117.83 per hour.  This amount does not include tool installation costs.  If tool installation is included, the cost is higher and depends on the number of tools installed, as well as the complexity of the installations.  The basis for the MNCR rate calculation is on file in the Office of Research Finance and Administration.

Hourly Rate:

Rensselaer recognizes that most internal MNCR users cannot support the full cost ($117.83 per hour) of MNCR usage on their research contracts and be competitive with other research institutions.  The Institute, through the Office of Vice President for Research, will subsidize the cost of the MNCR usage for Rensselaer users and their collaborators.

The maximally subsidized rate beginning July 1, 2006, will be $45.00 per hour, which is approximately 16% higher than the current standard hourly rate but less than 40% of the full cost of using the MNCR.

User Fee Cap:

For FY07, the user fee cap will be continued.  This will assist budgeting by heavy users and to encourage more use of the facility.

1. RPI Users:  The user cap of 400 hours of usage per user per year will be continued (Does not include training).
2. Non-RPI Users:  No cap will be instituted for non-RPI users at this time, since we do not have industrial users.

Training:

It is our goal to encourage new users to make use of the MNCR whenever possible.  However, training new users is a time consuming activity which has a significant impact on staff resources, particularly as MNCR tools become more complex.  Further, we recognize that serving as a module lead can be difficult for busy graduate students.  Consequently, in the future we expect that training will be done primarily by staff, with module leads and other experienced users (certified as trainers) assisting as needed.  In order to more accurately document and recover some of the cost associated with training new users, these users (trainees) will enter the MNCR using their regular (billable) cards.  In addition to paying the hourly MNCR usage rate, the new user (trainee) will be assessed a training fee of $35 to $45 per hour (tool dependent) to help offset the cost of the trainer's time.  Trainers will obtain a temporary "Trainer Card" from the staff.  This card will be used to give the trainer entry to the MNCR, but the hours will not be billable to the trainer's account.  A log will be kept of all usage of the Trainer Card so that the appropriate trainee's account can be billed at the appropriate rate.

In special cases where the training will consist of two users working together (for example, when a trainer is training someone from his/her research group), the training fee shall not be applied.  In these cases, the more junior user will obtain a temporary "Apprentice Card" from the MNCR staff.  This card will be used to give that user entry to the MNCR, but the hours will not be billable.  A log will be kept of all usage of the Apprentice Card.  The more senior user will enter the MNCR using his/her regular (billable) card.  While using the MNCR, the Apprentice Card user and the trainer will work together as a team on all processing activities.

Faculty:

Faculty members are not billed for their presence in the MNCR when they are instructing or consulting with their graduate students.  Faculty members conducting processing for research are billed according to the new fee structure.

Module Leads:

Module leads are not billed while carrying out their duties in the MNCR.  Most, if not all, hold separate research cards.  It is the responsibility of the module lead to use his/her module lead card while serving as a module lead, and to use their research card while conducting research.

Other (Non-RPI) academic users:

1. Users from other academic institutions having an RPI collaborator will be billed the fully subsidized rate plus overhead.  With the current hourly rates, other academic users will pay $45.00 x 1.6=$72.00 per hour.
2. Users from other academic institutions that do not have RPI collaborators will be billed the unsubsidized operating rate of $117.83 per hour.

Industrial Users:

Industrial users will be billed at the unsubsidized rate plus overhead, or $117.83 x 1.6=$188.53 per hour.