The following guidelines apply to receipts for any expense reimbursement processed through Romance Studies for any graduate student.

  1. For RS Travel/Research Grants:  The grant is for the recipient only. You cannot use the grant money to pay for expenses for anyone but yourself. The receipt does not need to name you (i.e., it’s fine if it doesn’t have anyone’s name on it), but it cannot list somebody else’s name (e.g., you can’t submit a hotel bill for a room in someone else’s name). Meal receipts must be for the recipient only – if dining with others, you need to ask the server to split the bill and provide to the RS Department a receipt for your meal only. Note:  Given that a standard hotel room in the U.S. has two beds, it is fine for you to pay for a room with two beds and have someone else, such as a collegue, stay in the room also.  
  2. Make sure the receipts are legible.
  3. Receipts MUST include:
    • Date of purchase.
    • Total cost of purchase, including the currency (i.e., $, Euros, etc.).
    • For meals, you must provide an itemized receipt – i.e., it needs to show each food/drink item purchased.
    • Vender
    • The thing purchased. This doesn’t need to be very specific, it just has to say something. (Exception:  Taxicab receipts often don’t list the item purchased, but that’s actually ok, since presumably any receipt from a taxi company is for a taxi ride).
  4. The following are NOT acceptable as documentation of expenses:
    • Screenshots of your bank account or credit card showing charges
    • Receipts showing the conversion of one form of currency into another. Receipts must show actual expenditures.
  5. The receipt cannot say ‘estimated total’ or anything of that sort. If the receipt uses the word ‘estimated’(or a synonym), BU’s finance people will insist that it is a price quote for a future expense, not a receipt for an expense that has been paid.
  6. Airfare:  Unless you have a documented disability, BU will not reimburse first class airfare, only coach/economy class. Documentation of this with BU must be done prior to taking the trip. I strongly recommend making sure that you have been approved for reimbursement for first class airfare before purchasing the airfare.
  7. BU will not reimburse expenses paid for via non-currency means (e.g., frequent flyer miles, hotel rewards points, etc.)
  8. In cases in which the original expense was not in US dollars, reimbursement will be made in US dollars at a rate determined by BU.
  9. For expenses reimbursed to you directly (e.g., for Travel/Research Grants):  BU will reimburse expenses via a physical cheque, not via direct deposit. Unless you request otherwise, the cheque will be sent to whatever you list as your local address in MyBU.
  10. Please submit receipts either in hardcopy or electronically in PDF, JPG, or PNG format, with a single receipt per file. Each receipt must be individually uploaded to BU’s system for reimbursement, so please do not send multiple receipts in the same file.
  11. In special cases in which it is difficult or impossible to obtain a proper receipt (e.g., the Cornell SCT and the Bryn Mawr Avignon program), talk with the Romance Studies Administrative Assistant and we will work through these on a case by case basis.
  12. Expenses will be reimbursed only after the trip/event has been completed and all required documentation has been submitted. BU policy prohibits pre-paying expense reimbursements.