Collection Site Guidelines For Deposits Made Through Student Accounts Policy

If your department is a collection site, you and your staff are required to follow these collection site guidelines. If you have questions about your deposit, please contact Student Financial Services at extension 2072 or [email protected]. If you have questions about your IFR account, please contact Budget and Financial Reporting Services at extension 5414.

Collect payments on only SUNY-approved fees. You must receive campus and/or SUNY approval for any new or revised fee before you can either charge the fee or collect on the fee. To request approval, complete an Campus Fee Request Form to Establish or Revise a Fee which you can obtain from the Administration and Finance Directory of Forms and submit to the Director of Budget and Financial Reporting. Issue a receipt for every payment you collect. Post a sign advising your customers to request a receipt for all cash transactions.

Deposits should include the following information:

• Date
• Payers name
• Payers ID
• Description of the payment
• Detail code to apply the payment to
• Term (fall, winter, spring or summer)
• Type of payment (cash, check, MasterCard, Visa, or Discover)
• Name of the individual preparing the receipt

Keep an updated inventory log of all your blank receipts and store your blank receipt stock in a secure place. If you need to void a receipt, send the white and yellow copies to Student Financial Services with your deposit. If you accept credit card payments, you should send a fax transmittal form summarizing your deposit to Student Financial Services prior to 4 p.m. that day. Student Financial Services will then record your credit card proceeds. Immediately stamp all check payments with your SUNY Plattsburgh deposit stamp. If you need another stamp, contact Student Financial Services. Keep all cash and checks in a secure area such as a locked file drawer or safe until you send your deposit to Student Financial Services. Encourage your customers to pay with check or credit card rather than with cash. Make at least a weekly deposit, although we encourage you to make daily deposits. Student Financial Services will give you a receipt for each deposit you make. You must process refunds and small cash purchases according to established procedures, meaning you can't process refunds and small cash purchases from your cash deposits. You also can’t cash personal checks from cash you receive from customers. Use only approved IFR accounts, not off-campus or Credit Union accounts. Student Financial Services can’t issue a refund from money that hasn’t yet been deposited. If a refund is required, request one by sending Student Financial Services a check requisition. Student Financial Services will then issue a refund check to you within two weeks for mailing.

Keep a copy of your deposit records and receipts in the event that your account is audited. If the bank returns one of your checks for insufficient funds (NG checks), uncollected funds or stop payments, Student Financial Services will debit your account and then send you the NG check and an explanation. You are responsible for collecting these funds from your customer. You can charge an NG fee of up to $30 for each NG check. If you have any errors in your deposit, Student Financial Services will return your deposit to you for correction.

If you are handling cash, you can’t also be the person maintaining accounting records. The individual reconciling cash receipts to the deposit account must use account balance reports from the SUNY Network (SMRT), and can’t be the person who is handling cash.