Conference & Event Fees

Effective October 1, 2018, conference activity should adhere to SUNY Policy #7200 as noted below:

Conferences are formal events sponsored by an outside organization (i.e., a third party, and not conducted by campus department personnel) that are normally of short duration, and not offered for academic credit. Conferences may be held on campus or off (recreational center, hotel, etc.). The registration fee income for such conferences, and direct conference expenses such as hosting, honoria for outside speakers, and travel reimbursements, are activities appropriate for handling through agency accounts. Uses of campus facilities by such conferences are subject to appropriate permit requirements and subject to campus facilities use fees that must be deposited in an IFR account. Conferences that are sponsored by the campus (i.e., conducted by campus/department personnel) must be administered through an IFR account. 

Below are two sample budget templates that are commonly used for conferences & events at Stony Brook. The layouts are similar, only one has more details on the breakdown of costs for the venue.

• Departments must initially work with their VP Office in preparing a budget for the event. All level approvals are required-Department, VP Office, and Office of the Controller.
• The Administration Overhead rate as a reduction to the revenue must be included.
• There must be no profits from registrants paying with State or Federal funds (aka Internal funds, users or sources).
• If the Net amount is a deficit, please re-evaluate your budget or indicate subsidy amount(s) with the funding account(s).
• Account Deficits resulting from the event must be subsidized by the department.
• If CVENT set-up is required for registration, the department is to work with the SB Events team. Their link is here.
• If a new IFR account is required for the conference, the Account Request Form and IFR Allocation Worksheet can be found here.Your VP Office will guide you through the necessary steps to complete the forms and submit for account creation.

General Guidelines:

A rate review must be performed at a minimum of every two years for those accounts that are service operations and supported by a user fee. New service center accounts must be reviewed in one year to ensure that the rates remain sufficient to cover related operating costs. Accounts with significant changes in the fee, usage, and/or large deficits must also be reviewed in one year. Failure to perform a proper review may result in the suspension of the rate.

• All account actions are the responsibility of the individual VP areas. Consequently departments should submit all requests for new accounts, allocation and expenditure transfers, and rate structures to the appropriate Dean and VP coordinator who will submit the required documents to the Office of the Controller (see below Required Documentation)
• For new service centers, a rate review must be approved prior to submission of a new account request.
• For detailed procedures on the rate development process please refer to instructions in the Rate Schedule Worksheet link at the bottom of the page, under References.
• When a service is provided only to internal users, the account must break-even at a fiscal year-end.
• It is the responsibility of the Account Manager to maintain account integrity by ensuring that sufficient revenues are generated to support operational costs
• It is the responsibility of the Account Manager to maintain internal records of all information included in the rate, including account receivables, inventories, usage logs, purchase orders, and sales invoices/billing statements. Records must be retained for the current fiscal year and the prior four fiscal years.
• For new rates and changes to existing rates, a viable revenue stream with the names of potential clients must be provided to justify usage estimates.
• All existing rate reviews require submission of a prior month-end accrued balance sheet. This presents the financial status of the service center. When applicable, a Department must have an approved Deficit Recovery Plan.
• The account director is responsible for maintaining logs which identify the amount of excess external revenue collected. Excess external revenue is revenue collected in excess of the external rate. Only documented excess external revenue can be excluded from the rate process, and retained by the department.
• Sponsored employees must not be included in the billing rates as their salaries are already being funded by grants.
• Prior salary transfers and other pending JTs, where applicable, must be processed timely.
• Personnel costs that are included in billing rates must match HR records. The employee’s annual salary plus fringe benefits costs, if applicable, will be distributed per service, based on the percentage of effort.
• Expenditures in service center accounts must be directly related to the purposes for which income was collected. This means expenditures made from the accounts must fall within the stated purposed of the account, must be related to the reason for which revenue was collected, and correspond to the approved rate structure.
• In establishing billing rates to external users care must be taken to insure that the rates charged are not significantly different than the prevailing rate for identical services provided by commercial organizations in the area/
• Some unallowable costs are identified by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to curb abuse in various categories of expenditures are alcoholic beverages, bad debt, personal use of organization-funded automobiles, unreasonable reimbursement for travel expenses, cost of entertainment, etc. For more details see References below for the link to Allowable and Unallowable Costs.
• Cost of equipment cannot be entirely included as a cost in the year purchased. Equipment should be depreciated over its life. A general guide for asset classification and expected useful life can be found in SUNY’s Asset Capitalization and Depreciation Policy # 7004.
• Depreciation cost for equipment purchased from Federally funded sponsored programs cannot be included in billing rates.
• Rates must be approved by the Chair, Dean’s Office and the VP area (email approvals are sufficient for service centers only)
• The University Controller provides final approval for all service center fees.

Required Documentation for New Rate Reviews:

• Completed new account request form with the description of account purpose, services offered, and relevant details
• Completed rate worksheet
• Justification and support for projected expenses on the rate worksheet
• Justification of usage estimates through viable revenue streams (State, Federal, SBF funds, External Third Party funds, etc.)
• Initial review and approval by Dean’s Office (if applicable) and VP Coordinator

Required Documentation for Existing Rate Reviews:

• Completed Rate Worksheet
• Completed Balance Sheet as of the prior month-end
• Detailed documentation for accounts receivable, inventory, excess revenue from external sources (markup total), equipment POs and liabilities, if applicable
• Initial review and approval by Dean’s Office (if applicable) and VP Coordinator

General Information:

Fees for credit-bearing academic courses require approval from SUNY. Requests must include documentation and justification of the need for the charges and a budget for the funds of accruing from the fee. Please refer to SUNY Fee Policy Number 7804.

Any changes to course number or course additions to an existing fee must be formally communicated to the Office of the Controller with approval from department Chair, Dean and VP Offices (see required documentation below). All changes or additions must be approved by SUNY before charging the fee.

All new fees and revision to existing fees must be reviewed and submitted to the department’s VP Office before submission to the Office of the Controller.

Due Dates For Course Fee Submissions:

Please send fee proposals through your VP Office for submission to the Office of the Controller by:

Factors That Allow For A Course Fee:

From SUNY Fee Policy 7804: A fee must be charged for a course, or courses, that have extraordinary costs that meet the following criteria; this listing is not intended to be all-inclusive:

• Special course supplies and materials where the student retains an end product of worth
• Special and unique services provided by the course
• Extraordinary costs associated directly with degree, diploma, or certificate program delivery (i.e. maintenance or purchase of specialized equipment, testing or certification fees, clinical and practicum activities)
• Costs associated with a course specific to scientific chemicals, supplies and materials, modest equipment, and proper disposal od waste
• The fee represents a financially significant savings to the student

Note that these fees are not permitted for routine materials (textbooks, etc.) and revenue from these fees may not be used to fund the cost of instruction, academic staff, or technicians.

Course Based Fees, including amounts, must be disclosed in campus publications used by students for degree, course and area of study selection.

Guidelines For Course Fee Submissions Are As Follows, But Not Limited To: 

• Due to the significant administrative effort and indirect costs for initiating new course fees, as well as subsequent management of the fees campus wide, the minimum threshold of recouping expenses on course fees is $5,000.
• Each fee requires a separate budget template (link on bottom of this page).
• Each fee should have a separate IFR account or subaccounts for tracking and audit purposes.
• Are expenses or equipment shared with other labs? If yes, then item cost must be allocated across the number of labs.
• If expenses are not shared equally, separate fees are required. Complete a separate budget template for each fee.
• The same fee can be applied to multiple courses as long as the expenses are shared equally among the courses and average enrollment is taken into consideration.
• PSR IS NOT ALLOWED in the course fee proposal (No cost of instruction, academic staff, or technicians).
• Projection of Enrollment, Revenue and Expenses: Actual annual enrollment is used as the basis for revenue projections. Enrollment data for the past several years is required to support estimates. Similarly, actual annual expenses should be used as the basis for expense projections and support is required.
• Expense projections should be broken down by categories/type of expense (example for Supplies: Gases-$1,000, Acids-$500, Gloves-$850) and include itemized cost per unit, when possible.
• Purchase Orders or Quotes are required for large maintenance agreements, equipment, etc.
• Equipment cost should be broken down and depreciated over its useful life. A comprehensive schedule should be provided as support. Purchase Order numbers must be included.
• For equipment useful life please contact Property Control.
• If the cost is associated with a student project, a breakdown of materials to build one unit is required. Documentation supporting the unit costs are required (Itemized cost, PO, quote, contract, or invoice).
• Unallowable costs as identified by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cannot be included. For example, alcoholic beverages, bad debt, personal use of organization-funded automobiles, unreasonable reimbursement for travel expenses, cost of entertainment, etc. For more details on allowable and unallowable costs, visit the link below under References.
• Fees are not permitted for routine materials, textbooks and items commonly available to students at local merchants or the campus bookstore.
• Inclusion of account deficit to increase the fee is not permitted.
• Projected revenue should not exceed projected expenses. Profiting from student revenue is not allowable. There should not be an accumulation of surplus in the course fee IFR account.
• IFR Cash balance for existing course fees - A large surplus should not remain in the account. A surplus due to timing of invoices pending payment is allowed if the expense was already incurred (not for future purchases). Support must be provided (ex. Invoices, POs, quotes, etc.)
• Co-mingling of separate fees within a single IFR account will be allowed only if a separate tracking system is established to provide for a clear accounting of revenue generation use by approved fee. At a minimum, an excel spreadsheet tracking the revenue and expenditures tied to each fee within the single IFR account must be provided annually to SUNY’s Office of Finance and Business.
• A summary to justify the need to charge a fee must be provided. This should be on the department letterhead, signed by the Chair.
• Please include the following points in the justification statement:
• Indicate if the course is required for graduation/completion of a degree or if it is an elective.
• If there is a tangible end-product that is retained by student at end of course
• If there are significant savings for the student and estimate the dollar amount saved per student.
• How the expenses are currently funded.
• Based on the nature of the course fee request, additional information may be required.

Required Documentation: 

• SUNY Budget Template (Course Fee Request Template)
• Supporting details for all estimates as described in the above guidelines
• Course number with title and course description
• Upon final review by the Office of the Controller, the following approval letters are required on department letterhead with signatory title:
• Letter from the department Chair explaining the need for the fee (include points from notes above to support your case)
• Letter from the Dean approving and endorsing the need for the fee
• Letter from the Provost office (or other VP office) to the University Controller/VP of Finance stating approval and endorsement of the fee

Course Fee IFR Account - Ongoing Review:

SUNY’s Fee Policy Number 7804 states that Course Fee IFR accounts will be reviewed regularly to justify continued need for the fee and assurance that the revenue generated by the approved fees is used in a manner that is consistent with the intent of the fee. Only approved course fee expenses are allowed to be charged to the associated IFR account to offset the fee revenue. Such expenses should be directly charged to the associated IFR account.