| Course | NS410 Integrative Nutrition Planning and Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Budget justification |
| Length | About 880 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Nutrition Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NS410 Unit 5
Every Line Beside Its Arithmetic: A Unit 5 Budget Justification for the Family Table Pilot
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NS410: Integrative Nutrition Planning and Management
Unit 5 Budget Justification
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The pilot, its wages, prices and totals are composite; the tax guide, the wage survey and the evaluation framework cited are real.
Budget Summary
The pilot runs 24 weeks with two cohorts of 20 households, each attending six Saturday sessions, for twelve sessions in all. The request totals $12,720.79 in five categories.
1. Personnel: $3,655.79.
2. Contracted services: $3,732.00.
3. Food: $3,030.00.
4. Supplies: $1,503.00.
5. Evaluation: $800.00.
Below the total sit two derived figures. The cost per enrolled household is $318.02, and the cost per household completing four or more sessions is $424.03 if 30 of 40 households do so, as Objective 1 targets.
Personnel
Each personnel line answers three questions: why the role is needed, how its hours were counted, and where the rate came from.
The coordinator is the only role that touches every part of the program, so the coordinator's hours were built from the session itself. Each session needs about ten hours: three for shopping to fill gaps in the Thursday delivery and assembling bags, two for reminder calls in English and Spanish, two for the session, and three for cleanup, data entry and the referral log. Twelve sessions at ten hours give 120 hours. The rate of $19.50 an hour is the pantry's current wage for its part-time assistant, so the pilot does not create a pay gap among staff. The line totals $2,340.00.
The demonstration cook works four hours per session: one hour of preparation, the 75-minute session, and cleanup. Forty-eight hours at $22.00 come to $1,056.00. The rate sits near the middle of the range for cooks in the area in the federal wage survey (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).
Payroll taxes apply only to the two employees, at 7.65 percent of their wages, because contractors set rates that already include their own taxes.
Federal payroll tax law sets the employer portion for Social Security plus Medicare at 7.65 percent of wages (Internal Revenue Service, 2025). Applied to $3,396.00 in wages, it adds $259.79.
Contracted Services
The registered dietitian reviews all six recipe frames for sodium, allergens and safe textures for toddlers, and leads one session in each cohort on feeding young children. Twenty-four hours at $55.00 come to $1,320.00, based on a written quote from a dietitian in private practice.
An interpreter attends all twelve sessions for three hours each, covering setup questions, the session and take-home instructions. Thirty-six hours at $35.00 come to $1,260.00, the rate a local refugee agency charges community groups. In Unit 2, five of eight focus group parents spoke through an interpreter, so this line is not optional.
Childcare runs during each 75-minute session plus setup and pickup, with two providers for three hours each session. That gives 72 provider-hours at $16.00, or $1,152.00. Focus group parents named childcare as the condition for attending.
Food
Food totals $3,030.00 in two lines. Take-home bags hold the ingredients for the session's recipe, so a family can cook it again within the week. Each enrolled household receives one bag per session: 40 households times six sessions give 240 bags. The food bank's price list for staples, such as beans, rice, tortillas, oil and spices, puts each bag at $9.25, for $2,220.00. Fresh produce comes from the Thursday delivery at no cost, which is the point of the program: the bags add the staples that turn a vegetable the family already took into a meal. Tasting food for each session, enough for 20 families and staff, is budgeted at $67.50 per session, or $810.00.
Supplies
Supplies total $1,503.00. Because 40.6 percent of surveyed households had no working oven, every recipe uses one burner, and each household receives a 12-inch skillet: 40 skillets at $17.50 come to $700.00. Two portable induction burners at $89.00 each, $178.00, let families cook at stations in the kitchen. Measuring cups and spoons for each household cost $6.50 a set, $260.00. Printing for recipe cards and surveys in two languages comes to $215.00, and food safety supplies, including gloves, sanitizer and two probe thermometers, to $150.00.
Evaluation
Each household completing a survey at enrollment and again at the last session receives a $10.00 grocery card each time, so 40 households and two surveys come to $800.00. The cards recognize the time families give, and the evaluation framework the pilot follows treats the burden placed on participants as part of ethical practice (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999).
In-Kind Support
The church kitchen is offered at no cost. At a fair rental value of $25.00 an hour for 48 hours, it is worth $1,200.00. Volunteer time and the extension educator's monthly visit are counted in hours but not priced. None of these appear in the cash request. Listing them lets a reviewer weigh what the pantry contributes without the ask itself growing.
What the Budget Does Not Include
The request carries no indirect cost line, because the small-grants round this pilot targets does not allow one. Transportation for families is also left out. Most households walk to the pantry, and a bus-pass line would need data the pilot does not yet have.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1999). Framework for program evaluation in public health. MMWR Recommendations and Reports, 48(RR-11), 1-40.
Internal Revenue Service. (2025). Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's tax guide. U.S. Department of the Treasury. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025). Occupational employment and wage statistics: May 2024 national occupational employment and wage estimates. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm
Reading the NS 410 Unit 5 instructions
For Unit 5, NS410 asks students to prepare a line-item budget for the program and a written justification for each line. The prompt often names categories, such as personnel, contracts, supplies and other costs. Build quantities from the program design rather than guessing totals: sessions times hours, households times bags. Give every rate a source a reviewer could check, such as current pay, a quote or published wage data. Apply payroll taxes or fringe benefits only to employees. Show in-kind contributions separately from the cash request. Add derived figures like cost per participant so the reader can judge value. State what is excluded and why, especially indirect costs. Make sure the table and the narrative agree to the cent. Most sections expect three to five pages plus the budget table.
How the NS 410 Unit 5 example is put together
The sample opens with a five-line summary and the request total, then gives cost per enrolled household and cost per completing household. Personnel follows, starting with the coordinator, whose 120 hours come from a ten-hour breakdown of each session's tasks. The demonstration cook's 48 hours and the wage survey reference come next. A highlighted sentence explains why payroll tax touches only two lines. Contracted services cover the dietitian, the interpreter and childcare, each tied back to the needs assessment. Food is split into 240 take-home bags and per-session tasting food. Supplies tie the 40 skillets to the households without ovens. Evaluation covers grocery cards for surveys. In-kind support values the kitchen at fair rent. A final section explains the absence of indirect costs and transportation.
NS410 Unit 5 rubric: what earns full points
Budget justifications are mostly graded on accuracy, traceability and fit with the program design. The bulk of the marks goes to whether each line shows its arithmetic and a credible source for the rate. Totals that do not match between table and narrative cost points quickly. Instructors give credit for applying payroll taxes correctly and for treating contractors differently from staff. In-kind contributions shown outside the request demonstrate an understanding of how funders read budgets. Derived figures, such as cost per participant, earn points for analysis. Linking costs to needs found in earlier units, like interpreter time tied to focus group language data, shows integration. Clear statements of what is excluded show judgment. Formatting and APA 7 citations for wage data and tax guidance complete the rubric.
NS410 Unit 5 help from the desk
A frequent budget problem is round numbers with no arithmetic, such as $3,000 for staff. Another is applying fringe or payroll tax to contractors as well as employees. Some writers add volunteer time to the cash request, inflating it. Rates often have no source, or come from national averages when local figures exist. Quantities sometimes do not match the program design, for example budgeting ten sessions when the plan calls for twelve. The narrative and the table drift apart after revisions. Indirect costs are added without checking whether the funder allows them. If your program design is set but the numbers will not add up, a writer can rebuild the budget from your sessions, households and rates so every line traces back to the plan.
Get an NS410 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Budget prompts vary widely: some supply unit costs, others expect research into local rates. Send your Unit 5 prompt with the rubric, the program design the budget has to serve, and any figures your site has provided. Each line comes back with its quantity, rate and derivation shown. A first custom sample costs nothing, and turnaround is 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More NS410 papers and BS in Nutrition Science samples
- NS410 Unit 1: Food Pantry Needs Post
- NS410 Unit 2: Pantry Needs Assessment
- NS410 Unit 3: Family Table Logic Model
- NS410 Unit 4: Program Objectives Memo
- NS410 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- NS410 Unit 7: Menu and Session Plan
- NS410 Unit 8: Staffing and Training Plan
- NS410 Unit 9: Evaluation Plan
- NS410 Unit 10: Integrated Program Proposal
- NS325 Unit 5: Length Channel Shift Reading
- NS310 Unit 5: B12 Marker Review
- NS305 Unit 5: Roast Turkey HACCP Plan
- NS235 Unit 5: Deficiency Case Study
NS410 Unit 5 questions, answered
Should the budget include indirect costs?
They belong in it when the prompt or the funder's stated rules call for them, with the rate and its base stated. Many small community grants cap or exclude indirect costs, which is why this sample shows none and says so in a note. A budget that silently omits overhead invites the question; one that explains the choice answers it.
Can volunteer time count toward the budget?
It can appear as in-kind support, valued at a stated hourly rate with its source, but it should sit outside the cash request. The sample counts volunteer hours and leaves them unpriced, a conservative choice that some instructors prefer. Whichever approach is used, the volunteers named must actually have agreed to the hours listed.
Where do realistic rates come from?
From the site's own payroll or purchase records where permission allows, from published wage data such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational estimates for the area, and from written quotes for goods. Each rate carries its source in the justification. A rate that cannot be sourced is better labeled as an estimate than presented as fact.
Where can I find a free NS410 Unit 5 sample paper?
A full Unit 5 budget justification is on this page, pricing a pantry cooking pilot line by line across personnel, contracts, food, supplies and evaluation, with in-kind support shown outside the request.
Should payroll taxes apply to contractors in the NS410 Unit 5 budget?
No. Contractors set rates that already cover their own taxes. In the sample, the 7.65 percent employer share applies only to the coordinator and the cook, the two employees.