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title: "Course Buyouts and Associated Salary Savings"
canonical: "https://facultystaff.clas.uconn.edu/space/CFSKB/28972253188/Course%20Buyouts%20and%20Associated%20Salary%20Savings"
format: markdown
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**Established:** February 22, 2010  
**Updated:** May 22, 2026 

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The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognizes that certain activities, often research-related, may require time investment that is not compatible with the faculty member’s expected teaching load. When funds are available, faculty members may seek unit and college permission to utilize those resources to temporarily shift the balance of their responsibilities away from teaching toward these other activities. This is not to be confused with a [research leave](https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CFSKB/pages/28973072388).

## For Funding Course Buyouts (On Contracts, Grants, Other UConn Units, and Non-UConn Units)

- Because buyouts have staffing implications that may cut across multiple programs and campuses, the following approvals are required:
  - Faculty at the Storrs campus must receive approval from the department head; for those who hold joint appointments, the head or director of the other unit(s) must also approve.
  - Regional campus faculty must receive approval from the department head and relevant campus Dean.
- Faculty may not buy out of more than half their normal teaching load without the approval of the CLAS Dean.
- Faculty are expected to maintain a physical presence on their home campus, unless explicit permission has been granted by the Dean.
- Faculty are not released from other departmental duties and responsibilities.
- Faculty are responsible for ensuring sufficient funds for the buyout are available, as follows:
  - Tenure system faculty with a nominal load of 4 courses: 10% of their academic year salary and fringe
    - Humanities division
    - Social Sciences division
    - Statistics
    - Linguistics
    - Human Development and Family Sciences
    - Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
    - Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies
  - Tenure system faculty with a nominal load of 3 courses: 13.33% of their academic year salary and fringe
    - Mathematics
    - Psychological Sciences
  - Tenure system faculty with a nominal load of 2 courses: 20% of their academic year salary and fringe
    - Biological Sciences (EEB, MCB, PNB)
    - Chemistry
    - Earth Sciences
    - Marine Sciences
    - Physics
  - The buyout cost for research-inactive tenure system faculty, as defined by their department, will scale with their current course load.
  - Non-tenure system teaching faculty (based on the CLAS standard of 7 courses): 12.5% of their academic year salary and fringe.
- In-residence/lecturer faculty must be a PI or co-PI on the award covering the course buyout. Tenure system faculty members may hold other titles as key personnel.

## Distribution of Savings

Any salary savings to the College generated as indicated above will be subject to the following:

- 70% of the savings will be returned to the home department to be used to replace the faculty member’s teaching obligations. Any remaining funds will be used according to department policy.
- Regional campuses will comply with the above rules, with the caveat that they will act as the “home department” and will receive 70% of the savings. If the academic department has a policy on how remaining funds will be used, the regional campus will follow the department policy. The regional campus will be responsible for meeting the teaching responsibilities of the faculty member in consultation with the department head.
- The savings for the department will go into a predetermined (2-ledger) salary savings account in the department. If the department is distributing a portion of their savings to a faculty member, an additional (2-ledger) salary savings account will be created for the faculty member in their name. For any funds that remain unspent in the departmental instruction operating budget (GENX), rollover (ROL), and salary savings for department and faculty (SSV) at the end of a given fiscal year, the College will reduce these funds by 25% and return the remaining 75%.