Professional development reimbursement policy

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Contents

Changes and information about summer

  • Your Form B is either the Simmons College Non-Travel Related Expense Form or the Simmons College Travel Related Expense Form (to which you can also add professional organization memberships under Section III), found in paper form in the GSLIS Student Lounge under the flat screen tv or in pdf on the Accounts payable website [1]. If you would like to help expedite the process, you can make two photocopies of your original From B and receipts and submit them along with the original copy.
  • Submitted Form B's will be processed by GSLIS monthly. If there is missing documentation, then there may be a delay in reimbursement.
  • Summer 2012: The deadline to submit PDR requests for the summer semester (June-August) is June 15th. Please note that the summer semester is divided between two fiscal years, and thus between two separate yearly reimbursement maximums of $300. June 2012 falls into the current fiscal year (July 2011-June 2012), while July and August 2012 fall into the next fiscal year -- we will not be able to process requests for events or expenses that occur in June or earlier in the fiscal year if they are submitted after June 30. If you are not taking classes in the summer, but have taken classes in the spring semester and are enrolled for classes in the fall semester, then you may still apply for PDR over the summer.
  • A few notes regarding receipts, per college policy:
    • Receipts need to show the payment information -- the amount that you paid, the method of payment, and acknowledgement that the entity received the payment.
    • Your name needs to be shown as the payee to the corporate entity (hotel, car rental, airline, etc). For instance, if you are staying in a hotel room with other GSLIS students, only the individual to whom the room is charged may receive reimbursement, even if everyone's name is on the receipt as guests. If you would like to split payments, please try to receive multiple receipts showing each of you as the payee.
    • The college will not reimburse payments you make to another Simmons student.

Background

The purpose of the Library and Information Science Student Association’s (LISSA) Professional Development Reimbursement (PDR) is to encourage students to attend conferences, workshops, and other extracurricular Library and Information Science (LIS) events, and to share information about these events with the GSLIS community. To achieve these purposes, LISSA helps to offset the costs of attending extracurricular LIS related events, and encourages participants to contribute feedback about their activities to the GSLIS community.


Fundable events include: Attendance at professional or educational LIS conferences, workshops related to the field, courses related to LIS not taken at Simmons, membership fees to professional LIS societies (i.e. American Library Association, Special Library Association, etc) and other similar activities. LISSA will assist students who are interested in broadening their educational experiences but are limited by financial constraints. In many cases, students will not be able to rely solely on the PDRF to cover all of their expenses; students are thus encouraged to look for other sources of funding as well.


Looking for ways to take advantage of this opportunity?

Amount of Reimbursement

  • You are eligible to receive up to 75% of your personal expenses, for a maximum of $300 per fiscal year, which runs from July 1st - June 30th (thus, not each semester).
  • You may apply for reimbursement for events and memberships in the current or previous semesters in the present fiscal year.
    • An event taking place this semester (75% reimbursement)
    • An event that took place last semester (50% reimbursement)
    • Membership dues from this fiscal year (75% reimbursement)
  • If you received the full $300 in a previous semester, you are ineligible for funding for the rest of the fiscal year.
  • If you only received partial funding from a previous semester (in the same fiscal year), you are eligible for the remainder of the $300. For example, in Summer '11 you received $80 for professional memberships. You'd like to attend a conference in Spring '12; you would be eligible for up to $220. ($300 total - $80 summer = $220 remainder).

The Process

The process is broken down into three steps:

  1. Submit a Form A: Professional Development Reimbursement Request
  2. Attend your event
  3. Submit Form B and original itemized receipts from your event and get reimbursed

Submitting Form A

Each semester there is a deadline for students to apply for Professional Development Reimbursement, and emails will be sent out soon before that date calling for proposals. The dates of each semester and approximate deadline to submit your Form A for events that semester are:

  • Fall (September 1st – December 31st) deadline: October 1st
  • Spring (January 1st – May 31st) deadline: March 1st
  • Summer (June 1st – August 31st) deadline: June 15th

Please do not request funds for a semester after the current one. Annual memberships are an obvious exception in that the "event" lasts one full year. If you would like to submit a request for an event you attended in a previous semester, you may do so, but note that you will only be reimbursed at 50% of your personal contribution.

Students are asked to fill out Form A (below) to indicate their interest in attending an event, joining a membership organization, etc. Students must do research and submit preliminary information on the amount of money to be spent on the event. This includes:

  • transportation information (bus, train, plane, automobile mileage)
  • accommodations (hotel)
  • event registration
  • membership fees

Please note: If it is past the deadline, it will not be considered, although you can re-apply the following semester. (Please act as you would if this were an on-the-job request for Professional Development). You do not need to show purchase receipts yet, but please remember not to request more money than you need, as this will result in less money to go around for everyone.

Submitting your request: Please submit your requests to the current LISSA treasurer. The preferred method is the electronic Form A (a Google Doc form), although you may also submit a Form A via email (lissatreasurer@simmons.edu) or place printed Form A's in the LISSA Treasurer folder in the filing cabinet in the Student Lounge. The deadlines for request submission for each semester are above, and emails will be sent asking students to submit their Form A's.

Now what? Waiting: After you submit Form A, the treasurer will gather all of the requests and calculate how much money each student will receive toward their request. This amount is based on the number of requests and the amount of money available in the Professional Development Fund.

Attending Your Event

When you attend your event, please remember to keep original itemized receipts and documentation. If you pay by cash, get a receipt. This includes:

  • receipt of accommodations
  • receipt of transportation (train, plane, bus)
  • boarding passes for trains, planes, and buses
  • membership or event registration receipt

You will not be reimbursed food, drink, memorabilia, or non LIS-related extracurriculars.

You will not receive any money until after you attend your event and submit your Form B and original itemized receipts.

Submitting Form B

When you return from your event, please submit Form B with all original itemized receipts and documentation. In the case of electronic receipts, print out the confirmation email, showing a check or credit card number and deduction. If there is no confirmation email or it does not contain this information, you must submit a copy of a credit card statement, bank statement, or check image which shows you paid for the item. Because all Form B's include original documentation, they may only be submitted in paper.

For those on the Boston campus, please place them in the LISSA Treasurer folder in the file cabinets in the student lounge. For those at GSLIS West, please mail them to:

Simmons College GSLIS
c/o LISSA Treasurer
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115

Submitted form B's will be processed monthly. The LISSA treasurer ensures all the documentation is included. If everything is in place, it is either placed in your student folder to be taken to the Cashier's Window (for amounts below $100) or sent to Simmons Accounts Payable (for amounts above $100 or GSLIS West students).

Policy, FAQs, and Form A

Form A -- electronic (Preferred way of submitting Form A; a quick and easy Google Form!)

The following PDFs are not editable. If you will be emailing your Form A, please rename with your last name and the form type, and then send them to the LISSA Treasurer at lissatreasurer@simmons.edu. Example: GieddFormA.pdf. You may also print out the forms and leave them in the LISSA Treasurer Folder in the Lounge or mail them to the address noted above.

Form A: PDF

Please email the LISSA Treasurer at lissatreasurer@simmons.edu with any additional questions.

Retrieved from "http://gslis.simmons.edu/wikis/lissa/Professional_development_reimbursement_policy"
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