Contract Courses

Policy Information
Policy TitleContract Courses
Responsible OfficeBusiness Affairs
Policy TypeBusiness Affairs
Policy Number219
Last Revision Date10/9/2023

Part I: Establishing a Contract Course

  1. The academic department identifies a new credit bearing contract course.
  2. The department completes a Contract Course Request Form that includes a budget detailing the total cost per student (including tuition, university fees, and program fees). "University fees" consist of the following: Academic Record, Academic Excellence & Success, College, ID Card, and Technology. Any change to university and/or program fees being charged must be approved in advance per a new Contract Course Request Form except for university fee increases approved by SUNY.
  3. The academic department chair/dean must review and approve the Contract Course Request Form and then forwards the signed form to the Associate Vice President for Accounting and Budget for review.
  4. The Associate Vice President for Accounting and Budget will obtain approval from the Chief Financial Officer.
  5. The academic department prepares a draft of the third party contract agreement in accordance with the State University of New York's "Income Fund Reimbursable Program Policy Revisions — Indirect Cost Assessments" issued March 1, 1999 (Appendix 2) This policy provides special guidelines governing the use of SUTRA accounts, including those established for contract course programs. Currently these guidelines state that SUTRA contract courses for credit may enroll as many students as is provided in the contract providing:
    1. The instructional activity must be contracted for and paid by a third party (a corporation, State agency, union, etc.)
    2. The enrollment in the designated course(s) or section(s) must be restricted to individuals specified in the contract through an affiliation with the third party.
    3. All costs of the program must be charged to the contracting third party and rates must be set to the greater of regular tuition or the total per student cost incurred by the program, including direct instructional costs, support costs, overhead charges and fringe benefits. An exception is made for programs designed for "in-service" teachers, in which student rates may be limited to total per student costs as defined above.
  6. Additionally, the department must consult with the Purchasing Office and University Counsel regarding the drafting of the agreement with the third party contractor, if necessary (See Appendix 1 for sample Memorandum of Understanding).  The academic department is responsible for forwarding a final draft of the agreement to the Associate Vice President for Accounting and Budget.
  7. The Associate Vice President for Accounting and Budget has the third party contract agreement reviewed and signed by the third party representative and the Chief Financial Officer.
  8. The Business Affairs Office submits the contract course request to the SUNY System Administration for their review and approval before any related activity commences.
  9. Upon approval by the SUNY System Administration Budget Office, the Business Affairs Office will notify the Vice President’s area and other administrative offices, such as Course Building, Student Accounts, Accounting, Budget and Financial Aid/Student Records. The Accounting Office will establish an account for the funds with the Student Accounts Office assisting in other related system setup. No work (admission, registration, billing, etc.) on the contract course should commence until this approval is communicated.

Part II: Administration of an Approved Contract Course

  1. The contract course section number must start with "CC" to facilitate proper reporting capability.
  2. The student is accepted into the program by the academic department and registers for the contact course.
  3. The academic department provides the Student Accounts Office contract details including:
    1. Program cost/amount,
    2. Number of credits,
    3. Semester(s) the program covers,
    4. Major code,
    5. CRN,
    6. Parts of term,
    7. Students enrolled (name, B number), and
    8. Any student status change (adds, drops, etc.).
  4. The Student Accounts Office updates fee assessment to ensure accurate charges are assessed.
  5. The academic department is responsible for maintaining the student roster by ensuring:
    1. Students have confirmed enrollment,
    2. Students are enrolled in the correct major code, and
    3. Late add/drops are processed timely during the current semester for which the student is enrolled.
  6. The academic department is responsible for establishing a contract program refund policy.
  7. The academic department is responsible for managing student withdrawals.
    1. The academic department notifies the Student Accounts Office, the third party contractor and the FInancial Aid and Student Records Office of withdrawal and financial liability.
    2. The Student Accounts Office removes the student from the contract program and makes any necessary billing adjustments.
  8. In the case that a student fails to satisfy his/her bill if issued by the Binghamton University Alumni Association (BU-AA) in full by the end of the semester, the following action will be taken to collect on the debt.
    1. The BU-AA will provide the Student Accounts Office and the academic department with a list of students who have not satisfied their bill.
    2. The academic department sends notice to the student regarding outstanding debt owed with an extended deadline to pay BU-AA by the end of the clean-up period as noted in Part IV Section 1 a-c. The academic department copies the Student Accounts Office and BU-AA on the notice sent and all subsequent communications regarding the debt repayment circumstances.
    3. The BU-AA continues to bill the student through the end of the clean-up period.
    4. BU-AA provides the Student Accounts Office and the academic department with a final list of students with outstanding debt at the end of the clean-up period.
    5. The BU-AA stops billing the student after the clean-up period and is no longer liable for collection of payment from students.
    6. The Student Accounts Office removes the student from the contract.
    7. The Student Accounts Office sends a Section 18 letter to student.
    8. The Student Accounts Office sends the student to collections if the outstanding debt is not paid in full within 30 days.

Part III: Binghamton University Alumni Association as the Third Party Sponsor

  1. The academic department sends the BU-AA all contract details as provided to the Student Accounts Office in Part II, Item #3 above.
  2. The Student Accounts Office calculates total cost (tuition, university fees, and program fees) for each student in the contract course. As advance billings are not permitted per SUNY policy (as tuition and fees are not known in advance) any school that does advance bill at an amount less than total cost will make up from their own funds any amount short.  BU_AAwillfollow SUNY policy and willnot advance bill.
  3. The Student Accounts Office places a financial hold on the student records to prevent payment to the Student Accounts Office and to prevent automatic refunding of financial aid.
  4. The BU-AA invoices the student with information as to contract course cost and methods of payments. (The student may issue a check to BU-AA or pay via credit card or wire transfer. Students that choose to pay via credit card [MasterCard, Visa, or Discover only, no AMEX or Debit Cards] will be assessed a 2.5% transaction fee.)
  5. The student is responsible for obtaining financial aid.
  6. The Student Accounts Office is notified of financial aid, processes the drawdown of aid for the student, and sends any refunds from aid to BU-AA to be applied against the student's current balance due.
  7. The BU-AA issues a receipt to the student acknowledging payment received.
  8. The BU-AA provides the Student Accounts Office and the academic department a monthly roster of paid and unpaid students.
  9. The BU-AA will invoice each department for an administrative fee, equal to ½ of the ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ Overhead fee, based on the gross charges. (The fee to be charged starting with the Fall 2017 semester will be 6.5% but will be automatically adjusted as the ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ Overhead fee changes.)
  10. BU-AA reconciles and remits payment monthly to the Student Accounts Office for tuition and fees and to the academic department for orientation fee.
  11. The Student Accounts Office reconciles the monthly remittance from the BU-AA to the student roster. Students not paid in full after the first billing due date of their last term of their program will have an Accounts Receivable hold placed on their account. 

Part IV: Tuition Transfer Process

  1. 1. In order for the department to receive the semester tuition revenue in a timely and accurate manner, the tuition transfer amount will be calculated and recorded prior to the end of the semester for which the contract course has enrollment as noted in the examples below.
    1. For a contract course with enrollment in Fall
      1. the initial tuition transfer will take place by the end of the Fall term, or by December 31; and if necessary
      2. a second "clean up" transfer will take place during the Spring term but no later than March 1st.
    2. For a contract course with enrollment in Spring
      1. the initial tuition transfer will take place by the end of the Spring term, or by May 31; and if necessary
      2. a second "clean up" transfer will take place by the end of the Summer term, or by   August 31.
    3. For a contract course with enrollment in Summer
      1. the initial tuition transfer will take place by the end of the Summer term, or by August 31; and if necessary
      2. a second "clean up" transfer will take place by the end of the Fall term, or by December 31.
        Failure to meet these deadlines will result in the forfeiture of that semesters residual contract course revenue. As a result, that revenue will not be transferred to the academic department and will instead be maintained at the University Administrative level.
  2. The Student Accounts Office calculates the tuition transfer amount and notifies the Accounting Office and the academic department of the amount that needs to be transferred into the departments SUTRA account.
  3. It is the academic department's responsibility to review and reconcile their SUTRA account on a monthly basis to insure that the tuition transfer revenue is accurate and is recorded in a timely manner.

These procedures should establish a uniform method for handling the various processing and collection activities related to contract courses. This will ensure funds are transferred into the appropriate account in a timely manner and that the appropriate program has the ability to match revenues with expenses in accordance with GAAP and Best Practices.

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