The card is for official University business expenditures only, and not for personal expenses. The lists below provide guidance on when you should consider using your card to make a specific purchase:
Acceptable Purchases
- Conference registration fees
- Subscriptions
- Membership dues (buying club dues are excluded)
- Emergencies (products or services)
- Internet orders (when item needed cannot be found from any other source)
- Local purchases when there is no time to wait for next day delivery
- Small dollar purchases when a purchase order (PO) is not necessary
- Local food and entertainment department expenses when in compliance with policy
- Travel related expenses, such as meals, taxi/ride-share, parking, etc., if enabled on the card
Unauthorized Purchases Include
- Personal purchases
- Cash advances
- Membership costs associated with clubs such as Sam's, Costco, Insta-cart and Amazon
- Sales Tax
- Excluded, high risk merchant categories codes (MCC)
- Any item exceeding the card's pre-established transaction limit
- Under no circumstances should a purchase be split into multiple transactions to bypass the single transaction dollar limit
- Alcoholic beverages may only be purchased for functions hosted by Northwestern and should be charged to account code 76727
- Travel related expenses, such as hotel accommodations, airfare, public transportation, entertainment (sporting events or recreational activities), etc., if T&E is NOT enabled on the card
Purchases Must Comply with the Following Policies
Prior to using the card, cardholders should confirm whether or not the given product or service is available through a Northwestern Preferred Vendor or in iBuyNU. More information is available on the PPS Preferred Vendor page.
Cardholders should also obtain a receipt at the time of purchase. If the purchase is made via phone, mail, or internet, make sure the vendor sends a receipt via email or includes the receipt with the goods when the product is shipped to you. This receipt is the only original documentation that a purchase was made using the card.