Cashier's Office

The Cashier's Office supports Northwestern student organizations with financial services, including processing payments, managing student organization debit cards, and providing training and resources to help officers manage their organization's funds.

Debit Cards

Appropriate Debit Card Use

• Debit cards may not be used to make donations. All donations require prior university approval from the Office of Financial Operations and must be processed through university accounts. There are NO exceptions. As such, donations made by individuals cannot be reimbursed. Donations made by way of the group's debit card will result in the cancellation of the card and the SOFO account being placed in frozen status until the group's account is reimbursed for the amount withdrawn from the debit card.
• Debit cards may not be used to purchase gift cards. When working on prizes and incentives, the university recommends offering low-cost merchandise. It highly recommends NOT using gift cards because these are essentially anonymous cash transfers, require significant recordkeeping by the group, and may require reporting to the IRS. There may also be issues of equity as students employed by the university cannot receive payments outside of the university payroll system.
• Debit cards must be reconciled at least every 30 days.  Failure to do so can still affect the status of the group's SOFO account.

Please have conversations with your organizations to plan what the best option is for your group and communicate to the Cashier's Office the option selected. As always, we will be more than happy to answer any debit card and deposit questions.

Debit cards may be suspended or canceled if their use does not comply with requirements, their handling reflects a lack of necessary controls by the group to ensure the funds are secure; their use may jeopardize the University's tax exempt status and/or reputation.

Best Practices for Card Use

Because of the "spend first, reconcile afterward" nature of the debit card program, it is even more important to remember the restrictions and requirements with using your group's card(s) in these times when building community and wanting to help are foremost in our minds.

When meeting with your executive boards and advisors, please consider the following:

1. If your organization will not be using the debit card for the rest of the academic year, we can return the remaining funds to your SOFO account. Doing so will prevent automatic deductions from debit card for inactivity ($3.00/month). We will return the funds to your debit card whenever on-campus classes resume.
2. If your organization has recurring obligations on the group's debit card (e.g., monthly storage fees), you can continue to reconcile and reload the cards remotely. The reconciliation and reload process stays the same - all receipts, paperwork, and vouchers must be submitted and approved through the Cashier's Office email Norris-Cashier@northwestern.edu.
3. If your group's debit card is still needed for purchases but has expired, please contact the Cashier's Office. We will work on assigning your organization a new debit card.
4. If your organization would prefer to keep the funds on the debit card, please be mindful that after three consecutive months of no use, the debit card vendor will charge a $3.00 inactivity fee. This $3.00 inactivity fee will then be charged to the card each month until the debit card is used again.