Expense Guidelines
Read expense guidelines for internal TGS awards:
- TGS does not reimburse for alcohol.
- TGS only reimburses for non-compensation expenses (no salary, add pay, special pay, etc.), except for awards specifically for graduate student funding (years 1-5 only).
- Do not use for campus stockrooms or other purchases where the charges are put directly to the chartstring unless the expense is clearly identified in NUFinancials with the awardee name and award type. We’re unable to track and identify expenses otherwise.
- Computers purchased on TGS funds are the property of TGS/Northwestern, and may need to be returned to TGS when the student/employee leaves the University.
- If the awardee leaves the University, or is no longer in active student or employee status, the award terminates. Funds are not transferable or “cashable.”
- Un-used award funds do not roll forward into future fiscal years.
- For travel grants, only expenses directly related to the travel/conference are reimbursed by TGS. Research supplies, personal supplies/toiletries, and entertainment expenses are non-reimbursable. Reimbursable expenses include:
- Airfare
- Meeting registration fees
- Ground transportation
- Mileage, if driving to the conference/event (must be less than the cost of airfare)
- Rental car, if required due to conference and hotel locations (not for personal use)
- Hotel/lodging
- Meals while traveling (no alcohol)
- Poster costs, if presenting a poster at the conference
Tips to expedite expense approvals
- Attach all documentation in one PDF instead of multiple PDFs.
- Clearly indicate, either in the description, in the notes, or in the uploaded documentation, who the award is for and which award it is (e.g., GRG award for Tom Smith, recruitment expenses for history, etc.).
- For travel:
- Make sure all expenses are line itemized, including any expenses already pre-paid/directly charged to Northwestern (e.g., airfare through Egencia, corporate card transactions, etc.). Pre-paid expenses should be marked with “Y” for non-reimbursable, and need to reflect the chartstring to which they were charged.
- Do not include expenses for which you are paying out-of-pocket and not requesting reimbursement.
- Be sure to include itemized receipts for all transactions.
- For events, include a guest list and flyer/agenda/invitation demonstrating the nature/purpose of the event.
- When more than one chartstring is used (i.e., one from TGS and one from the home department), charge the entire amount of one or two items to the TGS chartstring to use up the funds instead of charging a percentage of all the line items. For example, charge the airfare and a portion of the hotel to the TGS chartstring, up to the target dollar amount, instead of charging a percentage of every line item. This is one of the biggest time savers when approving an expense report.