Spending Guidelines

All funds should be used to directly support your teaching, scholarly, or creative work, and expenses must follow college spending policies to be paid or reimbursed. If you’re unsure whether an expense is allowable, please reach out to your associate dean before making a purchase or commitment.

Please Note: The College will not cover expenses that violate college policies, regardless of the source of the funding. We encourage you to thoroughly read the policies that relate to the College’s financial operations and forms so that you will not be surprised by the policies. 

For each fund source, if applicable, faculty will be provided with his/her own personalized Faculty and Program Support Funds worktag to help align any payments, purchases, or expenses directly to your funds.  The worktag(s) can be used to reimburse faculty for out-of-pocket expenses through the faculty expense report, and to reconcile corporate travel card charges.  The worktag(s) can also be used for purchases such as supplier punchout orders from Grainger, Amazon or WB Mason, supplier invoices, and other transactions where the source of funds needs to be identified.  Faculty will also be able to track balances for each fund through a workday budget report application.  You will see how much of your sources of funds have been used and how much remains, making it easier to plan and manage your expenses.  

Instructions and resources, including tutorial videos, for using a worktag can be found on the Faculty Workday Resources page.

For donor reporting purposes, we will circulate a Google Form towards the end of the spring semester asking that you provide a brief summary report (max 100 words) on how each of your funds advanced your teaching, scholarship, and/or creative work. 

A. Travel

Travel for professional development includes attending conferences, research trips, or workshops. Allowable expenditures include lodging, transportation, meals, mileage, registration fee, and other expenses directly related to the purpose of the travel.  Note that the College covers economy class tickets for travel and standard rooms for lodging. We do not support extra charges for room or ticket upgrades above the standard rate. Expenses for family, spouses, and companions traveling with the employee are not reimbursed unless there is an approved business purpose.  Please reference the College’s travel policies for information related to airfare, lodging (including sales tax exemption in NY and several other states), meals, exchange rates for foreign travel, and other allowable expenses paid by the College. 

Travel arrangements for trips may be made through our travel agency Direct Travel (not mandatory) and charged to the Dean of Faculty account or paid for by the individual faculty member and reimbursed with a receipt showing payment has been made. Travel expenses must be submitted within twenty days of the end of your trip, through a Workday faculty expense report. 

B. Research Expenses

The Dean of Faculty will cover expenses for research that are directly related to carrying out the work including: supplies and books, equipment and instrumentation, participant payments, travel (within the restrictions), professional services, post-peer review publication costs, student workers, and/or other expenses allowed in the College’s spending policy. If you have questions about expenses that can be covered, we encourage you to reach out to your associate dean of faculty prior to committing to an expense. 

C. Purchasing Materials, Supplies, Services, and Equipment (for computer purchases see below)

The College has a few methods for faculty to purchase goods or procure services.  The following describe approved methods. 

For small dollar purchases up to $1,500, faculty may use a department’s purchasing card.  Faculty may also use Workday’s supplier punchout application to purchase items from Grainger, Amazon, or WB Mason.  Faculty can also use the faculty expense report to seek reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses.  

Large dollar purchases greater than $1,500 must be made through a purchase order (PO).  Faculty are to use Workday’s requisition application to request a PO.  All requisitions are submitted to the Procurement office prior to ordering or work commencing.  Supporting documentation, including vendor quotes and contract (agreement), must accompany the requisition.  Note: to ensure the College’s financial and legal interests, the Procurement office will need a few weeks to review the contract terms, so please plan accordingly.  If facilities management or LITS will need to be involved due to the nature of the item (electrical, mechanical, software, etc.), please be sure to obtain their approval prior to submitting a requisition.  Due to the volume of end of fiscal year processes, new requests to purchase goods or services through the Procurement office after May 31 will be charged to the subsequent fiscal year. 

Please refer to the College’s procurement policy for additional guidelines on purchasing materials, supplies, services, and equipment.  If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Mayer, Associate Director of Procurement.

Tax Exemption

The College is exempt from any and all sales tax in the state of New York.  This exemption applies to hotels, meals, rental cars, and business purchases.

New York State sales tax paid on College purchases will not be included in reimbursements for retail purchases, hotel accommodations, or meal charges in excess of $100.

Please refer to the tax exemption homepage to request a tax exemption card and for additional exemption details related to hotel reservations, rental cars, and exemption status with other states.

D. Hiring Individuals as Independent Contractors (Consultants)

Individuals providing services to the College must be properly identified as either employees or independent contractors.  No taxes on payments are withheld for independent contractor services.

The hiring supervisor is responsible for completing the following steps when procuring an individual’s services. 

• Complete the independent contractor checklist. Upon review, the supervisor will be informed to hire the individual as either an employee or an independent contractor. 
• If the individual is hired as a consultant, the supervisor works with the individual to draft a service agreement which outlines the services to be performed, compensation, and contact information. Then the supervisor sends the draft agreement to Nicolas de la Riva for review. Note that the agreement needs to be fully signed before any work commences. In addition, the agreement is signed by the Dean of the Faculty office on behalf of the College. 

• If the total cost of the service agreement is greater than $1,500, the supervisor must also use a purchase order (PO) to hire an individual’s services.  Faculty are to use Workday’s requisition for service application to request a PO.  All requisitions are submitted to the Procurement office prior to work commencing.  The service agreement must accompany the requisition.  Note: to ensure the College’s financial and legal interests, the Procurement office will need a few weeks to review the agreement terms, so please plan accordingly.  Due to the volume of end-of-fiscal-year processes, new requests to hire an individual’s services through the Procurement office after May 31 will be charged to the subsequent fiscal year.  

• If the individual should be hired as an employee, please consult with Nicolas de la Riva for next steps.

Please refer to the independent contractor vs employee guidelines for additional information, including services that may be exempt from the independent contractor review and agreement. Do not pay service fees with personal funds and seek reimbursement. Payment for services to be funded with college funds must be processed directly by the payroll or accounts payable office to ensure proper tax reporting.

If you have questions about what is an allowable service to hire an external (or even an internal employee of the College), please contact your associate dean before committing to the work. 

E. Computers, Printers, iPads, and such

Computers, printers, and iPads are centrally purchased through LITS after obtaining a quote from Desktop Integration Services via the New Device Purchase Portal. For purchases that are financed through HART funds, startup, professorships, postdoctoral research expenses etc., Desktop Integration Services will generate a quote to help you fill out the computer purchase form which you may then send to your associate dean to sign.  The associate dean will forward the form to Desktop Integration Services and include the account number to be charged.

Computers purchased with college money, including endowed chair, startup, postdoctoral research, and HART funding sources, belong to the College and must be entered into the LITS database.  Requests for computers, iPads, printers and items ordered through Desktop Integration Services must be made before May 31 of each year.  Requests received later than May 31 will be charged to the next fiscal year.

F. Student Employees

All student employees, including research and teaching assistants, need approval through the department chair when utilizing the department’s operating budget. Supervisors should complete and send the employment authorization spreadsheet to Anna Moskal in HR (amoskal@hamilton.edu) and copy their chair and AOA. However, when hiring student employees through DOF managed funds (HART funds, startup, professorships, postdoctoral research expenses etc…), the supervisor needs to complete and send the employment authorization spreadsheet to Nicolas (mdelariv@hamilton.edu) in DOF for approval who will then share it with Anna Moskal in HR. The spreadsheet replaces the previously used Employment Authorization Form. Note that students must be in the system prior to commencing work. HR will work directly with students to ensure all paperwork is completed. 

Please refer to the student employment and payroll procedures for additional information such as determining pay rates and approving timesheets. If you have any questions, please contact Nicolas de la Riva.

G. Student Travel

Students presenting their research at conferences are eligible for up to $500 from the Dean of Faculty by submitting a Student Travel Request Form (associate dean of faculty approval is required). In addition to these funds, a faculty member may use funds from their annual allocation of HART funds, endowed professorship, or startup to help supplement a student’s travel to present faculty/student collaborative research. 

H. Professional Memberships

Annual professional memberships can be covered by a faculty member's HART, endowed professorships, and startup funds. The College does not support the purchase of multi-year or lifetime memberships, even when there is an associated cost savings.

I. Publication Costs

The Dean of Faculty offers support for costs associated with faculty publication of their own scholarship. The Dean supports expenses related to the technical aspects of publication post peer-review when a manuscript has been accepted for publication. The Dean does not support content (e.g., fact checking) or developmental editing.

Examples of the types of publication expenses the DOF will support include: 

• indexing
• press subventions/page charges
• image reproduction costs
• print permissions
• post peer-review copyediting services 

The Dean will not fund publication expenses before the acceptance of a peer-reviewed manuscript with limited exceptions such as professional English-language editing for non-native English speaking faculty.

The DOF has limited funds that it can use to support faculty publications. If a faculty member has startup, professorship, or postdoctoral research funds available, those will be used first. 

Open Access

DOF will support open access fees on a limited basis and scale comparable to press subvention/page charges. Please reach out to your associate dean of faculty for the acceptable range of expenses we cover for Open Access charges. The DOF does not support open access fees when a reasonable green level of access is available after a fixed embargo term.

Other Types of Publication Costs

We normally will not support expenses for developmental editing, copyediting, or fact-checking before the peer review process has occurred and a publishing contract has been issued. Faculty with startup, professorship, or postdoctoral research funds may use those funds for supporting the development of a publication, but only after a manuscript has been accepted for publication. 

Receipts and Reimbursement Processes

To ensure compliance with college policies and to facilitate accurate reconciliation and timely reimbursement, all faculty expense reports must include appropriate documentation.  Please review the college’s receipts & reimbursement guidelines, which can be found here, before submitting your report.

The following list provides several common examples that must be accompanied by appropriate documentation.

• currency
• tax-exempt status
• original, itemized receipts
• lost or missing receipts
• meals
• alcohol
• lodging

Fiscal Year Charges

Please note that the College’s fiscal year starts July 1 and ends June 30.  All reimbursement requests (including receipts) and vendor invoices must be submitted to the DOF in a timely manner throughout the academic year. This is particularly important when we approach year-end deadlines. 

All reimbursements and vendor invoices for goods received and services rendered on/before June 30 must be turned in to the Business Office by mid-July.  Reimbursement requests and vendor invoices received after the mid-July deadline, which is specifically communicated to all employees by the Business Office in early June, will be posted to the next fiscal year.

What cannot be funded?

Non-research types of expenses, even if related to your job (e.g., rental of cap and gown, office furniture, home furniture), will not be funded. Other expenses that the College does not fund through these sources include: the purchase of one's own publications, course buyouts, cellphones, data plans, childcare, and the purchase of gifts (e.g. as a thank you to a staff member for services performed, or as congratulations to a student for a celebratory event). The college’s guidelines for celebrations can be found here. The college will not cover extra costs associated with travel including: costs associated with upgrading lodging or travel tickets, passport or official document renewal expenses, tips for hotel room service, unnecessary airfare costs or fees (added costs for extended trips, itinerary changes, or cancellations), kennel or pet charges, hotel laundry bills, hotel phone or media charges, fitness club access, or anything not directly connected to the purpose of the trip. 

College’s alcohol policy

Except when alcohol is purchased in connection with approved employee travel on College business, all alcohol purchases using College funds must receive prior approval from the appropriate senior staff member or their authorized delegate.

The following guidelines outline the conditions under which faculty and staff within Academic Affairs may use College funds for alcohol-related expenses.

Alcohol Purchase and Reimbursement Policy

1. Events that include students:

• Alcohol may be served only at valid business or celebratory events, such as hosting a guest speaker or holding a senior toast.
• Alcohol must be purchased and served by a licensed third-party vendor (e.g., Parkhurst for on-campus events or a licensed local business for off-campus events).
• The vendor is responsible for complying with all legal requirements, including verifying that all individuals served are 21 or older.
• Reimbursement will not be approved for alcohol purchased from an unlicensed vendor, such as a grocery or liquor store.

2. Events that do not include students:

• The same requirements above apply.
• Exception: For off-campus events with a legitimate business purpose, alcohol purchases from a licensed retail vendor (e.g., a grocery store or liquor store) may be reimbursed.
• On-campus events that include alcohol must be scheduled through Parkhurst Catering.