Community Exchange

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

We have used Red Card for the last couple of years and it has worked well. Prior to that we worked with two banks on a similar program, but the banks really are not set up for this market. 

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Can I ask how you are recording this on your general ledger?  We talked with a vendor (it wasn't Red Card, but I don't remember who it was) about this many years ago and the process was going to be that we needed to fund the cards by issuing a voucher/check through our AP System and that when the unused funds came back, we would have to do journal entries for each individual one.  It sounded like it would be a bank reconciliation nightmare because we would have check disbursements on the ledger that did not match the actual amount debited from our bank account.  

Thanks!

We have used Red Card for the last couple of years and it has worked well. Prior to that we worked with two banks on a similar program, but the banks really are not set up for this market. 

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Can I ask how you are recording this on your general ledger?  We talked with a vendor (it wasn't Red Card, but I don't remember who it was) about this many years ago and the process was going to be that we needed to fund the cards by issuing a voucher/check through our AP System and that when the unused funds came back, we would have to do journal entries for each individual one.  It sounded like it would be a bank reconciliation nightmare because we would have check disbursements on the ledger that did not match the actual amount debited from our bank account.  

Thanks!

We have used Red Card for the last couple of years and it has worked well. Prior to that we worked with two banks on a similar program, but the banks really are not set up for this market. 

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Brian - We currently operate as you mentioned - cutting checks and the coaches distribute cash to the athletes. We are in discussions with our bank to use Visa Commercial Pay to issue virtual cards directly to the athletes which sounds like what your sister does and what others are using with Red Card.

I'm curious for those using a virtual card/red card service - have you run into any issues with cards being declined and how do you handle it? When we mentioned this option to our Athletics department they had concerns with how we were going to handle if an athlete's card isn't working. I don't really want our finance staff to be "on-call" 24/7 fixing issues with virtual cards. We plan on piloting this with a few of our smaller teams this spring. During the pilot phase we'd probably also send the coaches with cash in the event issues arise.

Steve Babbles

Controller

Le Moyne College

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Brian - We currently operate as you mentioned - cutting checks and the coaches distribute cash to the athletes. We are in discussions with our bank to use Visa Commercial Pay to issue virtual cards directly to the athletes which sounds like what your sister does and what others are using with Red Card.

I'm curious for those using a virtual card/red card service - have you run into any issues with cards being declined and how do you handle it? When we mentioned this option to our Athletics department they had concerns with how we were going to handle if an athlete's card isn't working. I don't really want our finance staff to be "on-call" 24/7 fixing issues with virtual cards. We plan on piloting this with a few of our smaller teams this spring. During the pilot phase we'd probably also send the coaches with cash in the event issues arise.

Steve Babbles

Controller

Le Moyne College

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

------------------------------
Brian Garland
Financial Analyst
Aurora University
------------------------------

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!

Hi Everyone,

I work for a mid-size private university, and our Finance team is reviewing how institutions are managing athlete meal advances and per diems. Currently, our coaches submit check requests, cash the checks, and then distribute cash to the athletes. At times, this results in an uncomfortable amount of cash being handled and distributed.

My sister, who works as a swim coach at a large public university, shared that their athletes are issued cards that the Business Office loads with funds for travel or other needs. Any unused funds are pulled back after the trip. I spoke with the individual who manages that process last week, and they indicated it was a program set up through their bank. We have checked with the banks we currently work with, but none of them offer a similar solution.

With that in mind, I wanted to poll the community to see how other institutions are handling athlete meal advances and per diems. Additionally, we use Ellucian Colleague, so I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of functionality within the system that supports tracking or managing this type of activity.

Thank you in advance for your time and insights!