Date Created:    April 15, 2024    Last Updated: May 24, 2024

Overview: 

Greek organizations and Cooperative Living Units generate revenue from students for housing, and in some cases meal plans. All student billing is processed through local systems and fed to the Bursar System. Finance staff reconcile StarRez, and the Bill table to the Bursar and the general ledger to ensure revenue is recorded accurately in the financial statements for the month/semester that the income is earned.

Criticality:  High

Frequency:  Other

Turnaround:  Other

Key Parties / Contacts: 

Student:  The student electronically signs contracts for Housing once they accept enrollment to Cornell University. These initiate billing transactions fed to the bursar that the student is responsible for paying.

Unit Staff:  The unit staff are responsible for processing transactions in their local systems and ensuring transactions feed over to the bursar system without error/failure. 

SSIT Staff:  Manage the file extract process from StarRez and submit to the bursar system for processing. Follow up on billing issues due to file errors as needed.

Financial Transaction Center (FTC):  Reconciles revenue in 4241 to StarRez and bursar. Issues identified must be brought to the attention of the unit so they can be addressed appropriately and corrected.

Accounting Firms (Sciarabba Walker) – Provide oversight of financial transactions and manages accounting, receipts and payments for specific organizations (Greeks).

Key Documents / Sources of Information:

  • StarRez contracts and billing for housing
  • Kuali Financial System GL transactions
  • Bill Table activity

System Access Needed:

  • StarRez
  • Bill Table
  • Kuali Financial System (KFS)

OAS Reporting Dashboard (KDW)

Common Problems or Issues Encountered: 

  • Student status, if student becomes unregistered or goes on leave, bursar may reject the transaction.
  • Transactions failing to feed to the Bursar
  • Delayed notification of student status

Step by Step Procedures:

Student Housing

  1. Students sign up for housing contracts online once they accept enrollment to Cornell University
  2. Contract is submitted using an electronic signature: once the electronic signature is submitted, the student is automatically billed through StarRez and charges are fed to the Bursar system weekly to bill the student accounts.
  3. Once fed to the Student accounts, a receivable is created in the GL, along with the Housing revenue. (See Billing Process below for fees charged to Housing by Bursar)
  4. Housing revenue is recognized once transactions are posted to the Bursar through a file feed.
  5. No refunds are made unless the student does not attend the University.
  6. Exceptions: Medical reason, never checked in, required academic leave, University emergency, pandemic (or similar disaster)
  7. All billing is initiated through the StarRez system and fed to the bursar via unique codes; undergrad and graduate housing charges are coded separately.**
  8. Undergrad: Billing done in July for first semester and January for the second semester.
  9. Billing issues can occur if the student enrolls without being registered or becomes unregistered during the semesters.
  10. This occurs if there is a delay in an accepted student's financial aid payment, if a student takes a leave of absence or withdraws.
  11. Report of suspended transactions comes from Bursar to unit finance.
  12. Unit finance staff monitor's suspense accounts to ensure that transaction clears.
  13. All cooperative living unit meal plan billing is recorded to deferred revenue and the funds are sent to the Co-op to deposit into their individual checking accounts. This fund transfer is so they can purchase food for the house.

**Exception:

  1. Sigma Phi doesn’t use the Bursar’s office for billing room rates.

Key Risks

Key Controls

Revenue not recorded through to the GL for Housing

  1. Reconciliations are done monthly to verify all billed transactions in StarRez, reconcile to the bursar transactions and the KFS GL total for the month.
  2. Variances are researched and credits or corrections made as needed.
  3. Finance manager meets with Cooperative officers quarterly to review budget variances.  This would identify issues with revenue.

Regulatory Compliance: Failure to comply with regulatory requirements related to health regulations can result in fines, penalties, or legal liabilities and/or closure of facilities.

  1. In person trainings, and written materials for student officers that cover common violations of NYS Health Law (Title 10).
  2. SCL-FM is familiar with Title 10, and in day-to-day completion of their duties they keep an eye out for potential violations.
  3. Though the kitchens are residential not commercial, SCL-FM uses trainings, postings, and frequent reminders to keep them maintained close to the same standards as subsection 14-1, CL Facilities highly recommends to students that they take a NYS Food Safety Course as a minimum primer on food handling.
  4. SCL-FM advises when ideas are presented, on their code implications. Ex: Students ask frequently for hot tubs, and SCL-FM cites all the infrastructure and testing requirements for a commercial spa pool under subsection 6-1, and how much that will cost from their budget.
  5. Cooperatives and Greeks have OFPC and City Housing inspections annually, and the Greeks have an annual IFD inspection for their Assembly Permits.  These are typically focused on code, but it is also an opportunity for SCL-FM to get detailed eyes on all facilities to ensure compliance with the health laws.
  6. Greeks have weekly professional cleaning and sanitizing of their restrooms, and other parts of the house.  Coops are offered access to this service for annual deep cleaning, but we train them on cleaning and sanitizing procedures.
  7. University owned houses follow all EPA, DEC, OSHA, and County Health Department regulations regarding mold remediation and prevention, and asbestos encapsulation, and abatement protocols.  For each type of abatement, we hire appropriately licensed third-party companies. 

Data Security and Privacy: Handling sensitive student information, such as payment details and personal data, exposes the university to risks of data breaches, and potential FERPA violations.

1.       Access to protected data is limited to only information needed by individual position.

Metrics:

  • Budget vs Actual
  • Occupancy Rates
  • Average Room Rate

Glossary of Key Terms/Acronyms:

  • KFS – Kuali Financial System
  • OAS – Oracle Analytics Server, financial reporting tool (formerly known as OBIEE)
  • GL – General Ledger
  • FTC – Student and Campus Life Financial Transaction Center that processes financial transactions for Cornell Catering

Greeks & Coops Revenue Process Flow Chart