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Student Experience

A House Endowment is an account that generates enough interest to support the house financially. Each house has a different balance in its account. The house treasurer should work with the Office of Residential Experience (ORE) to learn more about their available balance and the endowment process.

Houses are encouraged to use these funds to support appropriate house activities.

House endowments may be used for:

  • Educational Training
  • Professional or Leadership Development
  • Field Trips
  • Fun that is appropriate and centered around the entire House membership
  • Pre-approved capital improvements to houses

Examples of past approved activities: Capital improvements to the houses; Executive Committee dinners off-campus, at the Athenaeum, or similar types of meetings; all-house events; Ditch Day; leadership and transition retreats; and house programs (especially those using buses to go off-campus).

All equipment, furnishings, changes, or additions to house layouts must be discussed with the Housing Office before approval to ensure that expected purchases align with current Housing policies, standards, and future plans.

  • Transfer of Endowment funds into other Institute accounts is prohibited.
  • All endowment accounts have a reporting obligation, which means that the account is subject to being audited and/or a written report.
    • Making sure that all the transactions come directly out of the PTA and are not transferred is essential to this reporting structure.
  • Need to be pre-approved before purchase!
    • Other offices may need to provide secondary approval depending on the request (i.e. Housing).

The following items may NOT be purchased using endowment accounts:

  • Alcohol
  • Security or Bartenders for Parties
  • Animals
  • Caltech Smartcash
  • Capital Equipment
  • Computers/Servers
  • Controlled Substances
  • Donations
  • Gift Cards
  • Leases or Long-term rentals
  • Personal use
  • Radioactive materials
  • Weapons or ammunition
  • Venmo

Complete process sheet: House Endowment Information and Request Process

The following outline describes the process for using endowment funds and the process for getting the house reimbursed.

Houses that do not follow this process cannot be guaranteed reimbursement.

To use Endowment Funds:

  • The requestor must be a current house officer.
  • Must have pre-approval from ORE before spending any funds. This includes Housing's approval for any capital improvements.
  • You may use a P-card to make purchases of $3,500 or less, but you must go through the approval process beforehand.
    • You will use your House PTA on the P-card report and ORE will reconcile and route the funding accordingly on the back end.

Fund Request Process:

  1. Complete the Endowment Funding Request Form. See Box for the form.
  2. Submit the form to StudentFinHelp@Caltech.edu with any appropriate attachments or hyperlinks. Please use the following formula in the email's subject line:
    1. Endowment-HouseName-YourName
    2. Example: Endowment-Avery-Miranda Huseth
  3. ORE will review. Please allow 5 business days for approval.
  4. ORE will respond via email with approval, questions, or concerns.
  5. A formal meeting may need to be arranged to discuss further details—especially if the Housing Office will need to be looped in the discussion.

Endowment Funding Request Form

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