L&S departments/programs may use the tool from this page to estimate the cost of a Faculty buyout. Last updated June 2025.
The tool linked below is for use by L&S departments/programs to estimate the cost of a Faculty course buyout. A course buyout refers to Faculty using alternate funding to reduce their instructional duties. This tool is not meant to calculate the cost of other course releases (e.g., administrative assignments).
This tool references the L&S Buyout Policy Framework. The tool populates with default values based on the College’s framework, but also allows for custom values to be entered. If you have questions about your department’s framework, please contact Ben Weisse.
Disclaimer: This tool is for planning and budgeting purposes only. The actual cost of a buyout will change with any changes to the salary rate. The final fringe cost may also differ from the tool’s estimate.
Fields – Buyout Estimate
Buyout Framework
Field Name
Description
Full-time faculty teaching load
Enter the full-time faculty teaching load for the department. Faculty with joint appointments should enter the full-time value in this field.
This is a drop-down field with the following options:
4
3
2
Other
If you select 'Other', you need to enter a value in 'Custom course buyout %'
Default Course Buyout % (no entry)
This field contains a formula. It the standard course buyout percentage, based on the full-time faculty teaching load entered above and the pre-approved L&S buyout %.
Optional Adjustments
Field Name
Description
Custom course buyout %
If you selected ‘Other’ for the full-time faculty teaching load, or if your department does not use one of the pre-approved L&S buyout %, enter the buyout percentage here.
Fringe Rate
The composite fringe rate from RSP (31.4%) is entered by default. This percentage may be adjusted if needed.
Buyout Plan
Field Name
Description
Full-time Base Rate
Full-time base rate. This spreadsheet assumes that the rate is nine-month/C-Basis.
# of fall buyout
Planned number of courses bought out for fall.
# of spring buyout
Planned number of courses bought out for spring.
Estimated Cost of Buyout (no entry)
This table will calculate the cost of the buyout based on the values entered above.
The ‘Buyout salary’ column will show the salary cost per semester, with a cost for the year in the bottom ‘Total Cost’ row.
The ‘Buyout salary plus fringe’ column shows the total cost of the buyout per semester, using the ‘Fringe Rate’ entered above. The total for the year is listed at the bottom) with the ‘Fringe Rate’ from above applied.
