The unhappy world of accounting has finally come down on us.
After so many years of having no user fees, we have now been
told to impose fees ASAP. Bad week...
I have seen the latest summary of charges in the archives:
http://wwitch.unl.edu/ammrl/archives/January-98/0057.html
but am less interested in the actual amount of the charges
as the details of how the charges are imposed. We are
considering a myriad of different possibilities, and no one
here seems certain what we can or cannot do. Seeing what
others are doing should help us avoid straying too much.
Those academicians of you that are willing to answer the
questions below will find me very grateful. I will
summarize the responses for the group.
1. Do any of you charge a flat fee per user, rather than hourly
charges? The department considered a flat fee for every grad
student for all services (NMR, MS, xray, glass shop, elec. shop,
machine shop, etc.), but we've been told that may not be legal.
2. Do any of you charge a training fee (ie. a fee up front to
gain access)?
3. Do any of you charge per sample fees for routine spectra?
4. Do you charge a flat hourly fee, or vary per instrument?
. If the fee changes, how were the different rates fixed:
total purchase cost of instrument, University cost (match
to Federal or State grant), etc.? Are labor/maintenance
costs included?
5. Do you "scale" the fees in some way?
. Do you impose a cap after which a user or research group
pays no more?
. Do you charge less for non-primetime hours?
. Do you bin groups or users according to use: ie., charge
flat fees for light, medium and heavy users?
6. What are the variations in fees charged to users on the same
instrument:
. are they different between department and campus users, or
the same rate across the campus?
. are there different rates for academicians outside of the
campus or university system?
. do you charge fees for operator assistance?
7. Are there any other aspects of your fee system that vary from
the suggestions/questions raised above?
Thanks in advance,
Charlie
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Charles G. Fry, Ph.D. Tel: (608)262-3182
Director, MR Facility Fax: (608)262-0381
Chem. Dept., Univ. Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706 USA email: fry@chem.wisc.edu
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