Best Practices for Expenses and Reimbursements for Graduate Students working with the Graduate School

Purchasing Via Ignite Marketplace
  • The preferred method is that you use an Ignite Marketplace vendor. Your status as a Graduate Assistant should allow you access.  
  • Before you purchase, please confirm the budget you are working with.
  • Plan ahead.  The Ignite Marketplace process requires a minimum 24 hours' advance notice.
  • Log into https://www.baylor.edu/ignite/ where you will create a Marketplace Requisition – here is a video walking through the steps. 
  • Note:  Firefox is the recommended browser for Marketplace.  It will not work with Safari. 
  • For Graduate School-sponsored expenses, contact Anna_Henderson@baylor.edu for the account string.
  • Anna Henderson is the Graduate School approver in Ignite for all purchases/reimbursements for all groups, including GSA and Grad Housing.
  • After submission, the requisition will then go to Anna for approval.  You will get a notification when the requisition is approved, rejected, or additional information requested.  If approved, the system will automatically go to Procurement, become a Purchase Order, and be ordered from the supplier.   The invoice and final payment are handled by the Procure-to-Pay team unless you go over $10,000.   You can see an overview of the process here.
  • If there are problems with the order, you should follow up directly with the supplier.  If it’s not resolved, let the Procure to Pay team know not to pay the invoice.

 

Purchasing Outside of Ignite Marketplace
  • The preferred method is that you use a Marketplace vendor, listed here.  However, if you can’t get the product you need from the choices on Marketplace, you should get a quote and then approval (Anna Henderson will do this for Graduate School-sponsored business). 
  • Before you purchase, please confirm the budget you are working with.
  • For students and organizations working with Dr. Sara Dolan, contact Laura_Sepanski@baylor.edu (cc: Sara_Dolan@baylor.edu), requesting that the order be placed using a P-card.  The Department Approver is always Anna Henderson.
  • For other areas, graduate students should ask a staff member to use a P-card to make the purchase for them. This can be a staff member in the home department (in which case the department member should contact Anna Henderson for the account string to use when filing the expense report for that charge) or a Graduate School staff member.
  • Anna Henderson is the Graduate School approver for all purchases/reimbursements for all groups, including GSA and Grad Housing.

 

Reimbursement for Out-of-Pocket Expenses
  • The preferred method is to use Ignite Marketplace, and if that's not possible, have a staff member use a university P-card to pay for the purchase.  Please do not pay out-of-pocket unless absolutely necessary.
  • If you do purchase out of pocket, please remember you must request the purchase to be tax exempt. Otherwise, you will not be reimbursed for the tax and will probably have to edit your expense report.  Contact Laura Sepanski for a copy of the tax-exempt certificate.
  • Students who do purchase out-of-pocket (or faculty purchasing for the Graduate School) can find instructions on how to file an expense report here (Click on Creating Expense Reports). The only way to be reimbursed if you spend out-of-pocket is to file the expense report yourself through Ignite.
  • The student should contact Anna Henderson for the correct account number to charge the expenses to.  
  • There is no need for the student to send us their receipts or wait on us to file the report for them.  The only way to be reimbursed if you spend out-of-pocket is to file the expense report yourself through Ignite.

 

Baylor Graduate School

Baylor Graduate School
Morrison Hall, Suite 200
One Bear Place #97264
Waco, TX 76798-7264

(254) 710-3588

(254) 710-3870