Citadel Study Away Programs
Procedure #: 800.070
Date: 23 May 2006
Written By: Ralph P. Earhart
1.0
Introduction
This document establishes the procedures to be followed in requesting accounts, budgets,
obtaining expedited payments and advances, and making final reports for The Citadel
Study Away Programs.
The Citadel sponsors Study Away courses as part of the Summer School curriculum, as
well as Maymester, and in unique circumstances, during a break in classes (such as spring
break). Students enrolled in the programs pay a per-credit-hour fee, which is called a
“Course Fee,” as well as pay for the travel and miscellaneous expenses for themselves
and the accompanying faculty member in the form of a program fee.
The organizing faculty member’s salary and fringe benefits are paid from the Summer
School, Maymester, or other appropriate CGPS account. All other expenses associated
with the trip are charged to a specific trip account from a “program fee” developed by the
coordinating faculty member.
These definitions are critical for understanding this document:
Course Fee: The per credit hour fee (tuition) for the class. It will be deposited into the
Travel Abroad account and then later moved to Summer School where it will cover the
faculty member’s salary and fringe benefits.
Registration Fee: The fee charged by the CGPS Office to register for a class- currently
$15 per session.
Program Fee: fee developed by the trip coordinator to cover all the costs associated with
travel and instruction abroad. The program fee does not include the organizer’s salary
and fringe benefits.
Specific Trip Account: account established to cover the costs of the trip and into which
all income is initially deposited.
When discussing the cost of the program with the students, the total cost (course, registration and
program) needs to be communicated to the students. They will not care what the pieces are; they
need to deal with the total.
2.0
General Definition of Responsibility
The faculty member organizing the Study Away course for each trip is responsible
for completing and submitting to the Director, Financial Services, a tentative budget no
later than 2 months before the trip. An Excel spreadsheet is available on the Financial
Services webpage (http://www3.citadel.edu/fins/index.html) to aid in calculating this.
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The budget spreadsheet is designed to calculate the total costs for the trip and will result
in a course fee, registration fee, and program fee. Miscellaneous costs include special
side trips, cultural events, trips to museums, etc.
The faculty member is responsible for monitoring this budget in the Financial Reporting
System. Faculty members can make budget revisions at any time.
The faculty member is responsible for establishing a date after which student deposits are
non refundable. (Example: the trip plan may be for 8 students and the foreign host
provider will not do it for less than 8. Eight sign up and then one drops. A date needs to
be set so that the trip does not get cancelled because of the person dropping after a certain
date).
The faculty member organizing the course is responsible for monitoring the number of
participants enrolling in the course and coordinating with the Directors, CGPS about
whether the course will “make” or not.
The faculty member is responsible for coordinating the purchase of travel insurance
through the college’s Director of International Studies. All students traveling as part of a
Citadel Study Abroad Program are required to carry this insurance.
The faculty member should discuss trip cancellation insurance with the potential class
members, especially when international flights are involved.
The faculty member teaching the course is responsible for generating a payment from the
Study Away account to pay the individual student’s account for the cost of the course that
has been charged to his/her student account. This is done by informing the Director of
CGPS that the class roll is complete and requesting the Director forward the class roll to
the Treasurer’s Office. In other words, once all the students have registered for their
course, the coordinating faculty member needs to tell CGPS that the course is fully
registered and ask him to provide a class roll to the Treasurer’s Office.
The faculty member teaching the course is responsible for submitting requisitions for
expenses in a timely manner. All costs for these courses must run through The Citadel's
system. Most items require 10 days to process through The Citadel's system. Exceptions
are made for substantially discounted fares or rates or items requiring foreign currency
conversion. The need for an exception to the 10 days should be brought to the
Accounting Manager's attention so those steps can be taken to expedite the payment.
The faculty member teaching the course should close out the specific trip account within
four weeks of completing the trip. This close-out process will determine if refunds of the
program fees should be made.
Faculty are encouraged to close out the account shortly after returning.
The fees will be determined as described below:
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Courses stand alone with respect to costs, i.e. faculty salary and fringes, faculty
travel and other incidentals, and all student costs are to be used in determining the
fee.
Since the courses stand alone financially, the student status, whether graduate or
undergraduate, in state or out of state has no bearing on the development of the
fee.
Each study away fee will be comprised on three components: course fee,
registration, and program fee (see definitions of fees in section 1.0).
Since fees must be developed prior to recruiting for the program, it is possible that
the estimated number of participants may be different than the number upon
which the fees were developed. Guidance is:
CGPS will “make” money when more students sign up than estimated and will
“lose” money if fewer sign up. The Dean of the College of Graduate and
Professional Studies, in consultation with the Provost, will determine if a course
should be cancelled if not enough participants sign up to cover the faculty
member’s salary and fringe benefits. The course fee will not be refunded if more
students participate than planned.
The faculty member may request that pay be reduced in order to have a course
“make” if not enough students sign up- this will happen if the course fee
generated is not within 15% of the regular pay and fringe benefits.
Program fee should normally be estimated high and any unused portion should be
refunded to students once the trip is completed and all costs have been paid.
Fees will be established individually for each trip.
If the number of participants in the program reaches twice the number used in
determining the Course Fee, an additional faculty member may be assigned and
paid from the CGPS account. If the number of participants is not double that
amount and another faculty member is needed, that faculty members costs should
be include in the program fee development, not the course fee.
Only the trip leader and those students enrolled in the course are permitted to travel and
participate with The Citadel group. Spouses and friends are not permitted to participate in the
events of the trip, unless their presence is needed to meet the requirements of the tour operator,
and then only with specific permission of the Dean. Such participants will pay their own costs
and appropriate share of the tour costs. Example: If a tour requires 12 individuals and then the
trip leader can go for free, and 11 students sign up for the trip, then a spouse, family member, or
friend may join the tour. They will deposit their share of the tour costs into the study away
account, but they will be responsible for paying all other costs directly. The Dean will retain the
approved request so he will know who, in addition to the class roll and the trip leader, is
accompanying the students. Generally, a trip will not be approved unless 80% of the participants
are students enrolled in the course.
3.0
Key Documents
A.
Foreign Study Budget Form is an Excel spreadsheet located at:
http://www3.citadel.edu/fins/index.html (See Study Away budget in Excel using
internet explorer- not Netscape).
The faculty member teaching the Study Abroad Program completes this form.
 The Completed form should be forwarded to the Director Financial
Services for review.
 Once reviewed and all the issues are answered the faculty member needs
to obtain clearance from the Provost.
 An account is established in the accounting system after the Provost
approves the trip.
 The budget form is sent to the Budget Office and
 Appropriated fees are sent to the Treasurer for input to the college’s billing
system.
B.
Internal Payment Request Form - (obtained from the Financial Services web
page- forms: http://www.citadel.edu/fins/forms.
This form is used to initiate a separate refund to each student at the end of the trip.
A form needs to be completed for student receiving a refund.
4.0
Processing Outline
A.
B.
C.
D.
Get budget approved Director Financial Services.
Get Provost approval if this is a new course.
Complete a Travel Authorization Form. This form has all the information that
needed to have the foreign travel authorized. This needs to be approved before
any payment documents are prepared.
For travel costs to be paid by The Citadel, arrangements must be made through
the College’s selected travel agent or through the Director of Procurement
Services. Purchase orders are required for airfare, tour guides, and consolidators.
In the past, trip organizers have found it useful to let the students make their own
air travel arrangements so that they can take advantage of family frequent flyer miles, and the
students do not have to come to Charleston to begin the trip. In that case, only the trip organizer
would have to use the College’s travel agent, unless a lower fare can be obtained through the
internet or directly with the airlines. College policy is that the only authorized travel agency is
AAA, and only AAA will process college purchase orders. College personnel are permitted to
book airlines through the Internet, but they must use their own personal credit cards to do this.
D.
Deposits made by students to the faculty trip leader need to be taken to the
Treasurer and deposited OR the trip leader may require students to make their
own deposits individually with the Treasurer. Academic departmental
administrative personnel can check the trip account to tell the trip leader which
students have paid and how much they have paid.
E.
Establish a date after which student deposits may be considered as non refundable
should they drop the trip.
F.
Once the students have registered and the class roster is established, the trip leader
needs to provide a class roll with each student’s name to the Treasurer. The Treasurer will
initiate a payment to pay the course fee and registration fee that have been charged to
each student’s account.
NOTE: This transaction will reduce the revenue in the study away account so that only
program revenue remains.
G.
The trip leader must coordinate the purchase of travel insurance through the
Director of International Studies. The insurance is mandatory. Consider whether to
require trip cancellation insurance, especially for trips involving international air travel.
H.
Faculty member expense payments must be made separately, except in the case of
the registrations with the foreign vendor. Use the purchase order system to initiate
payments for registration fees and cash advances to the faculty member in charge of the
trip.
Note: Travel advances are permitted for the trip leader. Do this with a purchase
requisition. It can cover meals, lodging and other expenses the trip leader may
incur. Use the foreign travel object codes. This will be an advance and the
faculty member will have to "settle up" using a Travel Reimbursement Form upon
return. Travel advances are for only 80% of the travel, so make sure
adequate funds are requested.
I.
Any money that is to be given to the students will be issued to the trip leader to
distribute- charge object code 3121. Signatures are required from each student to whom
you give money. Cadets are familiar with this practice.
J.
Contact the Accounting Manager to wire funds. Regular expenditure
documentation will be required in order for this to be initiated.
K.
A check can be made out to a faculty member for the cadet travel expenses, as
well as his per diem expenses. A Purchase Order does this and it must be properly
classified so that the cadet travel is charged to object 3121 and the faculty expenses will
post to the employee travel object code (43XX).
L.
Upon return, the trip leader needs to settle up for any travel advance and all travel
expenses incurred. Remaining funds should be issued to the students as soon as possible,
but no later than 4 weeks after the trip in completed. Do an Internal Payment Request for
each student refund.
M.
Your departmental secretary has been through this many times and is a valuable
asset to you and can save you much frustration.