FAQ ON SUMMER LIVING STIPENDS

What’s the purpose of the summer living stipend? Why is it separate from the summer earnings?

The purpose of the stipend is to support travel and living expenses related to summer service. It is separate from the earnings because, although each student is entitled to $2,500 in summer living stipend funds over the course of his/her Bonner years, the amount the student receives in a particular summer can vary with his/her needs. Thus the stipend gives students the flexibility to undertake service that might otherwise be impossible. [For example, a student might perform service in his home community one summer and take little or no living stipend. With the stipend money he/she does not use that summer, the student may travel and perform service abroad the following summer.]

How much summer living stipend are students entitled to each summer?

Beginning in Summer 2002 with the Class of 05, students are eligible for a $1,000 summer living stipend in each of two summers of service (regardless of which summers they are). An additional $500 is available during the summer after the junior year, contingent on the student’s presentation of an acceptable proposal. Note that this “rising senior summer living supplement” is available regardless of whether or not the service done that summer is the second or third summer of service.

If a student doesn’t use the full amount to which he/she is entitled each summer, can he/she carry the balance forward to the next summer?

For a student’s first summer of service, he/she is eligible to receive $1,000 in living stipend. If the student does service but receives less than $1,000, the balance is carried over to the following summer of service and added to the $1,000 the student is entitled to for the second summer. [For example, if a student receives $200 during the summer following his freshman year, he will have $1800 available during the summer following his sophomore year ($800 remaining from the first summer plus an additional $1,000 for the second summer). Any balance remaining after the second summer of service carries over to the next summer. If the student does service after his junior year (i.e., a third summer of service), he can receive that balance and, if he submits a proposal acceptable to the Foundation, an additional $500.]

What if a student doesn’t do service during a particular summer? Does he/she still get a $1,000 credit for that summer applied to the following summer?

No. Students only receive the $1,000 credit in the summers they do service. If a student does not do service in the summer after freshman year but waits until the end of sophomore year to do his/her first year of service, he/she would have $1,000 in living stipend available for that summer.

How much summer living stipend is a replacement Bonner entitled to receive?

The rules are the same for replacement Bonners. They must do service to receive the $1,000 credit; therefore, a Bonner who only started in fall of junior year would have $1,000 living stipend available the following summer. As a rising senior, he/she would also be eligible to apply for $500 summer living supplement if he/she presented an acceptable proposal. (Note that the $500 extra is contingent upon status as a rising senior, not the number of summers of service. An exception would be the case of a rising senior who had failed to meet his two-summer requirement for reasons other than the fact that he was a replacement. In this case, the Bonner would be entitled to the basic $1,000, but not the extra $500.)

If a Bonner replaces someone who has already used some or all of his/her summer living stipend allotment, does that fact reduce the replacement’s entitlement?

No. A replacement starts with a clean slate. The money received by the previous Bonner does not affect his/her entitlement.

What sorts of expenses can the summer living stipend cover?

The stipend can cover travel, including daily transportation costs to the site; lodging; food; incidental expenses related to the student’s service (for example, passport and immunizations related to travel abroad, supplies).

What is the procedure that students must follow to receive the stipend? Is it necessary for the students to submit a budget for the amount they need?

Students must submit a budget to the coordinator or director of the BSP at his/her school. Coordinators/directors should set a reasonable deadline for these submissions so that these figures can be submitted to the Foundation with the summer lists in a timely manner. The Foundation will include the approved amount in the summer allocation.

Must the students present receipts?

The Foundation does not require schools to obtain receipts from students before paying the stipend, although some schools may choose to require them.

What happens if a student underestimates his/her expenses during a particular summer?

Students should be advised to overestimate rather than underestimate expenses (unexpended money will simply be returned to the foundation or the school’s Bonner endowment, where it will be credited to a student’s account and be available for future spending). If students underestimate their expenses, adjustments can be made at the end of the summer when the reimbursement report is done; however, these adjustments will only be made in compelling cases, for example, when a change in travel arrangements or summer service plans has been necessary.

Can the students receive the summer living stipend if they are living at home?

Students living at home are eligible to receive the stipend. Reasonable expenses would include daily transportation to the service site, meals while performing the service, and other expenses directly related to the service.

What happens to unexpended summer living stipend funds at the end of the summer? Do they remain in the pool for other students’ use?

Under the new system there will be no “pooled” summer living fund. The summer living stipend money is now earmarked for each student. If a student does not use the money that has been allocated for him/her, it is returned (along with other unexpended funds) to the Foundation or the school’s Bonner endowment at the end of the summer when the summer reimbursement report is done. It will not be made available to other students.

How will we know how much a particular student has left in his summer living stipend “account?”

The Foundation will have a record of exactly how much each student has spent of his/her $2,500 allotment. Schools should keep a record for each student in order to facilitate students’ planning and budgeting. If there is any doubt concerning how much a student has left in his summer living stipend “account,” schools can check with the Foundation.

How and when do we report to the Foundation the unexpended amount of summer living stipend that needs to be reimbursed to our endowment or the Foundation?

When summer allocations are made, the Foundation will allocate for each student only as much summer living stipend money as the student has requested and the director/coordinator has approved. At the end of the summer, the BSP director or coordinator will use a copy of the summer allocation report to report how much each student actually spent of his/her allocated summer living funds. If, for some reason (e.g., change in summer service plans), a student doesn’t use the full amount of this allocation, the remaining balance will be reimbursed to the Foundation or the school’s Bonner endowment. (The unexpended funds will, of course, be available to the student the following summer.)

How do we treat the students in the Class of 2004 next summer?

Students in the Class of 2004 will continue to come under the old guidelines. For each Class of 2004 student who does service in summer 2003, the Foundation will allocate $500 in summer living stipend funds. These funds will be pooled, and each Class of 04 student will receive an amount from the pool based on his/her budgeted needs, as in the past. Please note that, as rising seniors, the Class of 2004 students can also still apply for the $500 supplement for which rising seniors were eligible last year. The Foundation has supplied an application form for this purpose (see the Bonner website: www.bonner.org/resources/guidelines.htm).

Since the summer living stipend money, beginning with the Class of 2005, is no longer “pooled,” what happens to the surplus in our summer living stipend pool after the Class of 2004 graduates?

The balance currently in the summer living stipend pool varies from school to school. The Foundation will contact schools individually about these funds once the old system is completely phased out at the end of summer 2003.