Budget

The Office of Residential Life provides each RA a financial allocation for each term. The amounts are as follows:

  • Child Basement: $115
  • Child, Richards and Conant RAs: $225
  • Perkins RAs: $400

Additional funding is provided for tips, delivery fees and transportation fees.

Charge Accounts

RAs can charge purchases at The Half-Shell, Domino’s, Zoe’s Chinese, University Wine Shop and Star Market (Porter Square and Beacon Street locations). The procedures for charging at these various locations are listed below.

To order from the restaurants or University Wine Shop:

The procedure is to call the restaurant or University Wine Shop and say that you are a Resident Advisor at GSAS. Please note that each restaurant and University Wine Shop will have been given a letter that has the names of each RA and their room phone numbers. The letter also has Harvard’s Tax Identification number. Please be sure you are not charged tax. The tip and delivery fee (if there is one) should be added to the receipt and will be paid by Residential Life Special Funding. The RA who makes the purchase will be given the order receipt, which will serve as the invoice. The receipt should include the name of the RA (please sign your name legibly), date of purchase, items purchased, and the total cost.

To order from Star Market:

Each RA is given a Star Market charge card for use at the Star Market either on Beacon Street in Somerville or in Porter Square. All Star Market purchases are tax exempt. Please print out and bring the tax exempt form (available on the RA website), and present it to the cashier for every purchase. Please be sure you are not charged tax.

Expense Form

RAs should complete the online Expense Form within three days of purchase. We encourage RAs to take a picture of each of their receipts for record keeping purposes. In addition to submitting the Expenditure Form, RAs must bring their receipts to the Residential Life office and leave them in the designated mail tray.

GRHC Funding

RAs receive additional funding from the GRHC each year. For 2018-2019, the GRHC has allocated the following for the entire academic year:

  • Child Basement RA: $100
  • Child, Richards and Conant RAs: $200
  • Perkins RAs: $375

The GRHC also allocated an extra $100 for each floor under two conditions: 1) The floor must apply for it from the GRHC, and 2) This must be a 6th or beyond event of the year. RAs should submit their receipts for reimbursement to the GRHC Treasurer, and keep records of how much of their allowance has been spent.

RAs can also seek funding for residence hall-wide events (not floor events) at the monthly GRHC meetings, where the GRHC monthly budget ($400-600) is allocated to various proposed events by vote of the residents in attendance at the meeting. If an RA is unable to secure funding through this process, he or she may also try speaking to the GRHC officers through the RA liaison (especially toward the end of the academic year) to secure emergency funding from any unspent discretionary funds in the GRHC annual budget.

Receipts

Be sure to keep receipts for all purchases related to expenses you have for events and submit them to Lindsay within three days of purchase. Please submit one receipt for each Expense Form. On each receipt, please write your name, hall, floor, event name and date of event.

Please note that additional funding for tips and delivery will be provided by Residential Life as part of the amount that is charged and will not be deducted from your RA budget. Cash should NEVER be given for tips and/or delivery. Residential Life will include payment for the tip and delivery when payment is made for the amount charged.