M&S Fee/Equipment Fee approvals and purchasing (include the process for getting your course fees approved – especially how for courses taught only every other year!)
SPENDING M&S FEES (LAB FEES) and/or EQUIPMENT FEES
1) All M&S and/or equipment fee purchases must be approved by the Business Office BEFORE making a purchase. A requisition form must be fully completed and submitted to the Business Office. Make sure to indicate what course you are purchasing the items for and if it is an equipment fee related purchase, what piece of equipment you are repairing or replacing.
*Important notice: Any requisitions using lab fees will only be approved once lab fee money is available.
- You may not spend lab money before you have been notified that you have it available. You will receive notification from this office regarding your available balance as well as when you must have it spent several times throughout the semester.
- You may not spend any equipment fee money to purchase equipment without the director’s approval and then it is only to be spent on replacing already approved equipment. The only other money that may be spent is on repairs of approved equipment.
3) Once the requisition has been approved, you will receive back an approval via email stating you can make the purchase through the myUF Market Place, on your P-Card, or that the purchase will be made for you. This will depend on the price of the item you want to purchase or the total amount of the order.
4) The charge must be made within 1 week after the requisition is approved. THE REASON: Lab fees expire at the end of each term (the Provost’s office DEMANDS that the money collected in that term is spent out by the end of that same term). By “spent out” that doesn’t just mean we have plans to spend it, i.e., you all have completed requisition forms, it means you have already ordered the items and the vendor has already charged your card. So we need to make sure anything we’ve approved to be spent is actually spent ASAP. Even if you are buying stuff at the beginning of the term, this rule applies. We don’t want approved requisitions just hanging out there. So don’t sit on them when you get them. Order the items that you’ve requested and that we have worked hard to get approved quickly and back to you.
5) After you make the purchase, sign the receipt and make a copy for yourself. Place the itemized original* receipt in one of the provided envelopes with a copy of the approved form from the business office and complete the front of the envelope with as much information as possible. Please only group LAB fee receipts together if the information on the envelope applies to ALL the receipts within. Immediately place the envelope in the box labeled CFA Business Office. Someone from the business office will pick up items in this box three times per week. DO NOT SEND RECEIPTS THROUGH CAMPUS MAIL! UF Policy states that the Pcard will be revoked if it takes longer than 3 days to get the receipt turned in, so it is recommended that you make it simple and turn in the receipts immediately upon purchase.
*IF you feel you may need to return items in the near future, please send us a high quality copy of the receipt. Once you know you will not need the original (end of the semester for example) please send it to us and mark on the envelope that we have a copy on file.
6) When you receive the items—You do not have to keep or turn in the packing slips but you must verify that your order is complete and if not, let us know.
7) Sometimes the costs of items may change from what is listed on the requisition. If the amount of the change is greater than $50 you must submit an updated requisition with the new pricing. If the change is less than $50 or a decrease in price you may proceed with the purchase.
COLLECTING M&S FEES (LAB FEES) and/or EQUIPMENT FEES
If you want to collect fees, M&S or equipment, but are unsure if the course has fees already approved, please contact Jessica Ward at jward@arts.ufl.edu. She will let you know if there are fees in place already. To request new fees, please provide the course number, the amount you would like to collect and the items you want to purchase. It is important to do this as soon as you are aware you will be teaching a course. Fees can only be added twice a year. We are allowed to request fees in fall that will be effective for spring courses and in spring we can request fees for summer and fall courses. If a course has fees and you no longer want to collect fees, contact Jessica Ward at jward@arts.ufl.edu with the course number and reason for the deletion and she will submit a request to delete the fees.
Lab fees are to be used on items for students only and they must be disposable or consumable within the semester.
The following items are the only allowed purchases on lab fees:
Natural Gas
Lab Supplies—This can be specific to what you use in your class—any questions, please ask.
Animals for Research
Office supplies-General
Building and Maintenance Supplies
Computer Supplies-General
Computer Software-Semester license only
Medical Supplies
Motor Fuels and Lubricants—For Field Trips only
Printing and Reproduction
Freight—any questions, please ask.