Student Payment / Reimbursement Guidelines

Payments and reimbursements to students (undergraduate and graduate) can have tax and/or financial aid implications for the student. To ensure you are following the correct process please review the resource materials and links below. Questions can be directed to your business office or the Division of Financial Aid (DFA).*

Note, if the payment to the individual is clearly related to an appointment as a Purdue employee, the payment DOES NOT need to be reviewed with DFA. However, the Reimbursement Method Decision Tool must still be completed and the summary email attached to the reimbursement request.

The individual responsible for initiating this process may vary from unit to unit. The decision tool can be completed by anyone with firsthand knowledge about the reimbursement and/or is responsible for processing these types of payments for their unit. Ideally this would be a department staff member with firsthand knowledge or a business office person who has been provided the information. For segregation of duty purposes, this form should NOT be completed by a purchasing center employee or the individual (student) who will receive the funds.

Payments to Students

Payments directly to students should be reported to DFA BEFORE the payment is made. While a payment to a student may not be called a scholarship, award or prize, if it benefits the student it may be reportable.

Scholarships, Awards, and Prizes must be considered educational resources for the student per federal regulations. Therefore, any funds awarded to the student are reported to the DFA and considered a part of a student’s total aid package.

Please note: If a scholarship or award is intended to cover travel-related expenses, please refer to the Clarification on Covering Trips/Conferences/Expenses for Students or the Student Reimbursement Method Decision Tool below to determine the correct classification.

Reimbursements to Students

When reimbursing a student (undergraduate or graduate), the reimbursement mechanism can vary based on the type of expense and whether Purdue or the student benefited. For both tax and financial aid reasons, it is important that student reimbursements are processed correctly. If the expense is for a Purdue business reason (associated with employment), DFA does NOT need to be made aware of the payment. For all other reimbursements, IDEALLY, the reimbursement should be reviewed with DFA BEFORE the reimbursment payment is made.

With the help of a decision tool developed in Microsoft Forms (link below) and utilizing a SharePoint workflow, users can ensure the correct reimbursement mechanism is utilized.

Once the decision tool is submitted, the user will receive an email with a summary of the questions and answers as well as instructions for the next steps. Users should use the email as back up when proceeding with the recommended next steps. A detailed outline of the questions included in the survey can be found in the Student Payment Method Decision Tree document linked below.

Note, upon completion of the decision tool, the user will be given the option to save their response. If saved, the completed form can be found in the Microsoft Forms application through Teams or Office 365 and edited if needed.

The email address of the results is from “studentreimbursement@purdue.edu”. Users should not reply to that address with questions. Questions about the results or next steps should be sent to the appropriate business office. Business Offices with additional questions should contact their Director of Financial Affairs. Additional resource contacts, if needed, are shown below.

Resources:

Additional Assistance: