Composite Benefit Rates (CBRs)
Composite benefit rates are developed in order to cover the costs of fringe benefits offered by the university.
The primary goal of UCPath (implemented Spring of 2020) was streamlining and standardizing HR and Payroll processes for increased efficiency at the campus level and consistency across other UC Campuses.
One of the components of this implementation was the transition to a Composite Benefit Rate (CBR) structure, which provided a simplified and predictable methodology for forecasting employee benefit costs charged to the University.
UC San Diego uses Composite Benefit Rates (CBRs) for all financial planning activities, including sponsored agreement proposal budgets. This transition does not affect how or the amount individual employees pay for their benefits. This structure only changes how fringe benefits are charged within the University.
The Costing Policy & Analysis Office, in collaboration with the Campus Budget Office (CBO), created this webpage with various resources to assist departments in forecasting current and future benefit costs.
CBR Job Code and Earn Code lookup file is accessible through the following link: Job Code and Earn Code Lookup
The historical rates are accessible through the following link: Historical CBRs
| UCSD CBR Category | UCSD CBR Category Name | FY 2023-24 CBR | FY 2024-25 CBR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HCOMP Faculty & Doctors | 32.6% | 34.9% |
| 2 | Faculty, Leadership, & Professionals | 36.2% | 36.5% |
| 3 | Service Professionals | 59.5% | 60.6% |
| 4 | Campus Support | 50.5% | footnote (3) |
| 5 | General Staff & All Other | 47.3% | 47.1% |
| A | Faculty Summer Salary | 6.6% | 6.1% |
| B | Post Doc Scholars | 21.3% | 23.4% |
| C | Partial Eligibility | 7.6% | 9.0% |
| D | Students & No Eligibility | 1.4% | 2.4% |
What are Composite Benefit Rates (also known as CBRs)
The Composite Fringe Benefit (CBR) rate is an average of all eligible benefits applicable to an employee group. Each group is based on individual employee attributes which fall into a certain group. The composite fringe benefit rate is a percentage of the employee’s gross salary based on which employee group they fall into.
With CBRs, individual employee fringe benefits are assessed using one of the nine possible rates. Composite Benefit rates decrease the administrative burden to budget and manage sponsored awards and decrease the risk of under-recovering funds.
CBRs are approved by our Cognizant Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Projected rates are estimates for planning purposes only (e.g., multi-year budgeting, contract and grant proposal submissions) and are subject to change.
If future approved composite benefit rates are higher or lower than the projected rates budgeted at the proposal stage, PIs will need to re-budget accordingly.
What is included in the CBR?
To determine what costs are included in the CBR, three categories of benefits have been detailed below:
|
Retirement:
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Taxes:
Benefits Assessed Separately
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Applying CBRs
Beginning July 1, 2019, UC San Diego uses Composite Benefit Rates (CBRs) for all financial planning activities, including sponsored agreement proposal budgets.
CBRs are assigned to employees by looking at a few different attributes of their current appointment and benefits eligibility. Specifically, it will help in knowing the employee's
- BELI (benefits eligibility) Status
- Current Title Code/Job Code
- DOS Code/Earn Code
To view the recent history of our campus rates, click here.
| UCSD Values & Names | UCPath (SDCMP) Value & Names | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCSD CBR Category | UCSD CBR Category Name | Path Systen Value | Path Long Name | Path Short Name |
| 1 |
HCOMP Faculty & Doctors |
12 | Campus Rate #3 - Full Benefits | Campus Rt3 |
| 2 | Faculty HSCP - Full Benefits | Faculty HS | ||
| 2 | Faculty, Leadership, & Professionals | 11 | Campus Rate #2 - Full Benefits | Campus Rt2 |
| 1 | Faculty Not HSCP - Full Benefits | Faculty NH | ||
| 3 | Service Professionals | 13 | Campus Rate #4 - Full Benefits | Campus Rt4 |
| 4 | Campus Support | 10 | Campus Rate #1 - Full Benefits | Campus Rt1 |
| 5 | General Staff & All Other | 3 | Other Academics - Full Benefits | Other Acad |
| 4 | Staff Exempt - Full Benefits | Staff Exmp | ||
| 5 | Staff Non-Exempt - Full Benefits | Staff NExm | ||
| A | Faculty Summer Salary | 14 | Fclt Nt HSCP-Ful Ben Sumr Sal | Sumr Sal |
| B | Post Doc Scholars | 7 | Post Docs | Post Docs |
| C | Partial Eligibility | 8 | Faculty/Staff - Partial Ben Elig | Faculty/St |
| D | Students & No Eligibility | 9 | Faculty/Staff - No Ben Elig | Faculty/St |
| 6 | Students - Graduate/Undergrad | Students | ||
Sponsored Award Budgeting
Sponsored Award Budgeting
To ensure there will be sufficient funding to cover the cost of fringe benefits, it is important to apply the appropriate Composite Benefit Rate (CBR) during the budget development of a Sponsored Project proposal. Adjustments are made to CBRs each fiscal year in order to balance any over- or under-recovers from prior year activities. If an inaccurate CBR is included in a Sponsored Project proposal, it may result in the need to re-budget project funds from other direct-cost line items.
CBRs are assigned to employees by looking at a few different attributes of their current appointment and benefits eligibility. Specifically, it will help in knowing the employee's
- BELI (benefits eligibility) Status
- Current Title Code/Job Code
If you need assistance in collecting this information, please contact your Department Budget Officer.
- A list of CBR & CPBR and Detail Earning Code Worksheet is provided here
- A Job Code and DOS Code Worksheet is provided here.
Please note;
- GSR fees are not included as part of the CBR. If applicable, please ensure GSR fees are included in the project budget.
- The budget planning figures are for full-benefit eligibility employees. Partial (Campus Rate C) or no benefit eligible (Campus Rate D) appointments are included in their own categories.
- The projected rates are estimates for planning purposes only. They are subject to change as rates are adjusted and negotiated with our cognizant agency.
- Please use a 2% rate escalation for each additional year past what has been provided.