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X. Forms & Finance

Graduate Division Forms

Residency Reclassification

Every entering student is classified as a resident or nonresident of California for tuition purposes. U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have come to UCSC from outside the state of California should be reminded to take steps to establish California residency as soon as possible through the Residence Deputy in the Office of the Registrar. Domestic nonresident students must establish California residency by the beginning of their second year. Information on requirements and procedures for establishing legal residency can be found in the Residency section of the Office of the Registrar web page, or contact the Campus Residency Deputy, Office of the Registrar.

Residency Reclassification Resources

 

Astro Financial Guide

 

HOW TO RECEIVE PAYMENTS  

Before you request any type of reimbursement you need to fill out the form linked below  

Fill out a university Payee Set-Up 204 form  

  1. If you’re having trouble filling out the form, the university has provided extra instructions here
  2. If you could not resolve your issue by following the instructions, please reach out to finaff-tech@ucsc.edu


FIRST: UCO OR ASTRO DEPT.?

Note: if you are using a UCO FOAPAL, you will need to reach out to their staff for processing. We cannot process reimbursements, fellowships, and more on behalf of UCO. The faculty/Principal Investigator (PI) will know if their account is housed in UCO or Astro.


REIMBURSEMENTS 

Please always try to communicate beforehand with department staff that you may be seeking reimbursement for future expenses. This way we can brief you on any restrictions or necessary procedures required to complete your reimbursement. Communicating with us beforehand allows us time to process your reimbursement in a timely manner.

You can be reimbursed for numerous types of purchases but they must be for educational or department related events or activities. Some examples of qualifying purchases include, but are not limited to: 

  1. Food items purchased for a graduate co-working session 
  2. Car mileage for an educational trip  
  3. Conference registration 
  4. Publication invoices

There are numerous types of reimbursement forms that all require different information from the department in order to approve. You may be asked to provide the last 4 digits of your security number for certain forms, or a guest list, but it will always include your itemized receipts so always save and ask for itemized receipts! 

 

Common types of payments and corresponding forms


Increase in Meal Rates for Business Travel and Entertainment As of September 8, 2022, maximum allowable meal rates have increased.
  1. For travel meals, the maximum Meal and Incidental Expenses (M&IE) has increased to $79.00 per day.
  2. For non-travel entertainment, the maximum meal rates have been increased as follows:
    • Breakfast $31
    • Lunch $54
    • Dinner $94
    • Light Refreshments $22
You can find more information regarding entertainment at the Entertainment, Business Meeting, and Other Events Expense Guide.

 

TRAVEL

  1. Before you travel, we encourage you to read the UCSC Travel Guide which contains policies and guidance on a number of travel reimbursement issues. You can also receive guidance on policies for travel by emailing travelhelp@ucsc.edu.

Important: Key Tips for UCSC Travelers: https://financial.ucsc.edu/Pages/Travel_Keys.aspx

 

Pre-Travel Notices & Campus Guidelines

  • Flights: If you intend to combine your visit with personal travel or other non-UCSC business travel, you must seek a cost-comparison flight on the day you book your actual flight and save a screenshot of it. You can find examples of cost comparisons and helpful information here. Please contact us before purchasing your flight to discuss reimbursement restrictions. Campus may decline to reimburse your flight if you do not secure a flight cost comparison and save a copy of it to include in your final reimbursement. UCSC covers economy flights only and cannot cover any seat upgrades or additional baggage.
  • Car rentals: Many guests to UCSC and UCSC travelers find it convenient to rent a car for travel from the airport to UCSC or to their business accommodations elsewhere. If you have permission from the PI of the fund you are using for your travels, or are giving your guest permission to rent a car while visiting UCSC, the campus can reimburse the cost of the rental car and gas. Travelers must reserve an economy or compact class car and note that UCSC cannot reimburse for insurance. Please save all itemized receipts, always. If you intend to combine personal travel or other non-UCSC business travel with your trip, please contact us before making your rental car reservation, as there are certain reimbursement restrictions. 
  • Personal car use: If you plan to drive yourself to/from another city in California, please save a screenshot of your driving route in miles (Google Maps is a great option). You will be reimbursed for your mileage, not for gas.
  • Lodging: UCSC has a limit of $275/night including taxes and fees for lodging expense reimbursements. You will need to show proof that you found the lowest cost available if you are forced to book a hotel with a nightly rate that is over $275/night including taxes and fees. When you book, please save screenshots of comparisons as proof of this. If you do not seek a comparison and go over the allowable nightly rate, UCSC cannot reimburse anything over the $275 without an Exception to Policy (ETP) request. 
  • Meals: You can find the link to information on allowable meal reimbursements while traveling here. Common policy issues we often see are as follows:
    1. Please stay under the $79/per day limit on meal expenses while traveling
    2. Make sure to save an itemized receipt for all meals
    3. We cannot reimburse for alcohol. If you purchase alcohol you must purchase it on a separate receipt
    4. Do not pay for another person if you plan on being reimbursed and avoid splitting meals; please save your own itemized receipt
  • International travel currency conversion: You must use the Oanda currency converter for expenses purchased in a non-USD currency. The Oanda site allows you to select the date of purchase and the according exchange rate. You have the option to “Print” the conversion and save as a PDF instead. You must include all PDFs of the Oanda currency conversion for each expense and include it as an attachment with your Post Travel form. 


If you are seeking reimbursement for travel related expenses such as airfare, lodging, meals, or car rentals after your travel is completed, you will need to fill out a Post Travel Form (PDF version or DocuSign PT Form)

The PDF paper based form is a bit finicky. If you’re having trouble sending it as a PDF, there’s a couple of solutions: 

  1. Save form to your desktop and open with Adobe Acrobat
  2. Print out the form, fill it out and and scan it to jesdelac@ucsc.edu  
  3. Once filled out, convert the form to a word document, save it as a PDF and then send it to jesdelac@ucsc.edu 
  4. Once completed, take a screenshot of the form and then email to jesdelac@ucsc.edu 
  5. If you opt to complete the DocuSign version of the form, please know that staff are limited in how they can edit / correct the form if Accounts Payable (AP) returns it with questions or requests
  6. If you have questions about completing the travel forms, please refer to this guide and email travelhelp@ucsc.edu

 

FUNDING/FOAPAL & APPROVER INFORMATION

FOAPAL/Account information 

  • Funds: This is the chart code associated with an account. It tells accounting which account to move money from. (5 digits)
  • Organization: number associated with the organization (6 digits)
  • Account: For post travel forms, CG always needs to be entered in the account field (this alerts AP to use a CG travel account rather than a travel account starting with 00)
  • Activity: not every FOAPAL requires an activity code, but the faculty/Principal Investigator (PI) will have a Research Accountant (RA) who can tell you if an activity code is required
  • Amount: Amount charged to the FOAPAL to cover the entire expense

 

Approver signatures

The following signatures are needed, but can be assigned in Docusign 

  1. Requester: your signature
  2. Tier 1: The faculty/PI signature
  3. Tier 2: The faculty/PI’s Research Accountant signature
    1. You can find the appropriate Research Accountant here or you can simply ask the faculty/PI whose FOAPAL you’re using for the reimbursement 

 

SUBMISSION IN DOCUSIGN

  1. Before you submit, email your form to the relevant department staff so they can review them before submitting to DocuSign for you
  2. Log in to DocuSign at https://account.docusign.com/ using your UCSC email address. There is more information about this site here.
  3. Click “Start Envelope”. Drag and drop your reimbursement form and receipts where indicated. The file must be a PDF or screenshot of your file. If DocuSign is giving you an error message for your file type, take a screenshot of your form and upload that. For some reason, it won't accept certain versions of PDFs.
  4. Under "Add recipients to the envelope" add the following
    1. You/person seeking reimbursement - Must sign (or the traveler if you're sending the form for someone other than yourself)
    2. Tier 1/PI (faculty) or Dept. Manager if using Dept. account - Must sign
    3. Tier 2: the relevant research accountant - Must sign
    4. Accounts Payable - fadsfast@ucsc.edu - Receives a copy (see https://financial.ucsc.edu/Pages/Financial_Affairs_DocuSign_Process.aspx for more info)
  5. Click next
  6. Select the drop-down name in the top left top corner
  7. Directly below the name drag and drop signature to where that person's signature should be
  8. Drag and drop date signed to where the date is required for the signature
  9. Repeat the above steps for each person who needs to sign
  10. Drag and drop the text field into the Fund, Organization, Account area of the post travel form if these fields have not been entered already. 
  11. Click send
  12. The Docusign document will be emailed to you to sign first and then it will go onto each person listed for approval. The form will not be forwarded to the next approver until you sign it in Docusign. Make sure you do not skip this step.

 

Which financial office receives which reimbursement form?

  • If the Post Travel is submitted through Docusign: fadsfast@ucsc.edu for Accounts Payable
  • If the Post Travel is being submitted as an attachment with email approvals: apdocs-group@ucsc.edu
  • Travel Advance Requests (TARs) should be submitted to tars@ucsc.edu as an attachment (not through Docusign - you can sign them in DocuSign then download the document suite and email tars@ucsc.edu with the completed and signed paperwork).

Here is a link to some guidance: https://financial.ucsc.edu/Pages/Financial_Affairs_DocuSign_Process.aspx

 

FOLLOW UP / REIMBURSEMENT TRACKING

If it has been more than ten business days after your reimbursement has been processed by FAST/Accounts Payable and you haven’t yet received your payment, please follow up with them directly by emailing aphelp@ucsc.edu. You can also copy department staff so they can help track the payment with their staff contacts.