Carryover and No Cost Extension Guidance

In some situations, where you have remaining unspent funds near the end of a project period, you can use appropriate justification to request a carryover of those funds into the next budget period or a no cost extension to your project period. Information on what carryovers and no cost extensions are, as well as how and when to request them, are below and in the resource links. If you have further questions, contact your Sponsored Programs RA.

Carryover

Unobligated funds remaining at the end of any budget period that, with the approval of the sponsor or with automatic carryover, may be carried forward to the next budget period to cover allowable costs of that budget period. There must be a bona fide programmatic need justified for the use of carryover funds in the next budget period.

No Cost Extension (NCE)

Extends the project period beyond the original end date with no additional funding. Allowed when: the end of the project period is near; there is a programmatic need to continue research; and there are sufficient funds left to cover the extended effort.

Resources

• No Cost Extension & Carryover Presentation Slides (presentation deck from our Coffee with Colleagues event, including process detail and examples)
  
• NCE & Carryover Quick Reference Guide Infographic (general rules for NCE and Carryover requests by Sponsor, ie NIH, NSF, Non-federal)
  
• NIH Post Award Cheat Sheet – handy guide that summarizes expanded authorities and SNAP requirements based on NIH award type
• Institutional Prior Approval Request Form