It varies per university. Looks like for UMich it is 56%. https://orsp.umich.edu/develop-proposal/budget-and-cost-resources/facilities-administrative-fa-costs-r

It varies per university. Looks like for UMich it is 56%. https://orsp.umich.edu/develop-proposal/budget-and-cost-resources/facilities-administrative-fa-costs-rates https://orsp.umich.edu/develop-proposal/budget-and-cost-reso... I believe Stanford is 60%. My university is 54%. Here is an explanation for the justification of this: https://spo.berkeley.edu/guide/fa.html https://spo.berkeley.edu/guide/fa.html It does certainly feel excessive as an academic. I've never seen actual tracking of where the F&A money goes in terms of a quantifiable breakdown, e.g., what fraction goes to university accounting for doing their needed work for supporting a sponsored project, what amount goes toward electricity, etc. Universities always seem to be negotiating with the Federal government to raise the rate. When I was at an institution with a 45% rate, though, it let me stretch my grants a lot further by allowing me to fund more students.