Student group spending may soon be easier and more efficient.
Starting in the summer of 2010, some student groups under the Student Governing Board and Activities Board at Columbia—two boards which oversee club funding—may have the option of using purchase cards, or ‘P-cards’, under a new pilot program. Students involved say this should help cut through some of the red tape in the purchasing process.
“You can use the card anywhere you can use a credit card,” said Beezly Kiernan, CC ’11, former secretary of SGB and newly elected ABC president. He explained that they work like debit cards with a declining balance, cannot be used for travel or contracts, and can be used without pre-approval.
Currently, SGB groups need purchasing approval from the Office of Student Group Advising group advisor, and ABC groups need approval from the ABC and Student Development and Activities advisor, though the new program would eliminate that step.
The Student Affairs office hopes to pilot the program in one to two dozen student groups, said ABC policy chair Anum Akram, CC ’11, adding she was initially not sure if the program would logistically work.
Kiernan said the P-card program will start over the summer with New Student Orientation Program, Columbia Outdoor Orientation Program, and Columbia Urban Experience.
“Columbia is finally getting rid of the bureaucracy, and is allowing the students to do more things independently,” Akram said.
A number of University administrative offices already use P-cards, which are currently overseen by the Purchasing Office. One goal of launching P-cards as a pilot program among student groups is to see whether the system is viable long-term.
The P-card has advantages over standard online forms currently used, supporters say. Kiernan said that while student groups will have to save receipts for the Student Affairs Central Business Office, there would be less paperwork.
The new system will also decrease the time groups spend getting approval for spending. “For SGB, you typically have to coordinate time for when you don’t have class and when the advisor is there to request approval. It could take as short as 15 minutes, or as long as a day,” Kiernan said, adding that ABC group approval can take from a day to week.
Groups also hope the P-card will allow them greater access to vendors, especially those that are online-only and those that do not accept vouchers or online forms. They say it will also reduce problems of personal expenses.
According to Charles Roberts, CC ’12 and former treasurer of the Columbia International Relations Council & Association, out-of-pocket expenses have been a hurdle. “Our biggest problem has been with reimbursements to students who spend their personal funds on behalf of the club and then need to be reimbursed.”
The system is also not intended to be a replacement for the current purchasing system—instead, it’s a second option for student groups.
But though P-cards allow for more independent spending, Akram and Kiernan both agreed that regulations need to be put into place.
“We need to be more careful, because it gives us a lot more freedom,” Akram said. “The P-card gives the cardholder more freedom to lay out regulations because there are not many regulations put in place.”
Roberts said, “Giving clubs more direct control over their finance ...will make things much easier and more accurate.”
Amber Tunnell contributed reporting.
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