1.9 Establishing Scholarship and Fellowship Projects

Overview

This procedure is intended to explain the method of establishing a new scholarship or fellowship project number and account maintenance in the accounting records of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

General Guidelines/Applicable Policies

The Accounting Services Department is charged with the establishment of scholarship and fellowship project numbers in the accounting system to allow expenditures by the Georgia Institute of Technology upon receipt of properly authorized/approved budgetary and invoicing documentation. The Accounting Services Department is also responsible for budget entry and review of expenditures incurred and payments received from donors/sponsors for scholarship and fellowship accounts. Each authorization should be initiated by an award notification from the donor/sponsor and approved by authorized personnel in the Office of Student Financial Planning and Services or other units that may control distribution of awards to the Institute. Additionally some requests are received resulting from proposals submitted through the Office of Sponsored Programs. Requests received by the Accounting Services Department without sufficient will be returned to the appropriate unit for further action.

Procedure

1. Upon receipt of a request for a new scholarship or fellowship project, the Accounting Services Department will assign the project number within the appropriate range of numbers (997xxxxx for Scholarships / 998xxxxx for Fellowships) and updates the accounting records of the Institute.
  If “deliverables” (e.g. progress report, financial report, etc.) or a contract/agreement mutually signed by the sponsor and the Institute (either GTRC or GIT), the award documents should first be forwarded to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for review. OSP takes necessary steps to execute the agreement and requests project assignment from the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting (GCA).
  If a scholarship or fellowship project is to be created as a sub-project under an existing project number, the department is required to submit an online budget revision request through the Grants Management System (3.18.0 Establishing a Sub-Project Account). This request should include the proper department/organization number (997 for scholarships, 998 for fellowships) PI name, start/end date, project name, amount and specific explanation in remarks before submitting the revision.
2. The Accounting Services Department (or GCA as required) notifies the requesting unit of the project number. This notification is the first opportunity for allowable expenditures related to the scholarship/fellowship award to be recorded to the accounting records of the Institute.
3. Requests for payments from scholarship or fellowship awards require various approvals based upon the specific award's guidelines. The award package is maintained by the Office of Student Financial Planning and Services or other designated campus administrative office.
4. Copies of award documents requiring invoicing should be forwarded to the Accounting Services Department for action with the request for project number assignment. This will help the proper accounting office maintain complete account files and insure timely invoices to donor/sponsors.

Forms

There is no specific form used to request new scholarship or fellowship projects. The request should include at a minimum the following information:

1. An award letter from the donor/sponsor.
2. Source of funding (i.e. GTF account number, external sponsor, etc. to be invoiced) for costs incurred.
3. Effective and expiration dates in the donor/sponsor award.
4. Campus contact for questions regarding the award.
5. If funded by a GTF or GTRC project, a signature of authorization/approval line should be included in the request for a project assignment prior to transmittal to the Accounting Services Department. If not funded by GTF or GTRC, billing instructions or collection instructions should be provided with account request.
 
6. Requests received without approval will be forwarded to the Georgia Tech Foundation, the Georgia Tech Research Corporation or other appropriate campus unit.

There is no specific used to request payments from scholarship or fellowship project. The request should include at a minimum the following information:

1. The awardee’s name and GT ID number
2. Source of funding (997xxxxxx or and 998xxxxxx)
3. Description of the expenditure (account code and purpose such as payment of tuition and fees, stipends, etc.) to be charged to the scholarship or fellowship account.
4. Amount and distribution date(s) for payment(s) to awardee.
5. If funded by a GTF or GTRC account, scholarship and fellowship expenditures will be automatically invoiced to those entities on a monthly cost-reimbursable basis. Adjustments made to invoices will be reviewed and reconciled by the Accounting Services Department. Notification will be forwarded to the Office of Student Financial Planning and Services or other unit authorizing expenditures to request a cost transfer for expenditures in excess of funding or expenditures not authorized by the sponsor’s award document.

Rev. 7/31/2005