The permanent copy of all university records belongs to the office of origin. All other copies should be retained/destroyed according to the following guidelines.

Accounting and Fiscal:

• MASTER COPY: Accounting Services
• Copies of: invoices, receipts, checks, vouchers, contribution letters, projections, estimates, membership dues records.
• Retention: 7 years
• Copies of: audit work papers, bank deposits and statements, budgets, earnings registers, gratuities, expense reports, labor cost records, ledgers, logs, petty cash records, travel expense vouchers and requests for authorization to travel.
• Retention: 3 years unless combined with any of the above. When combined with any of the above the longer retention applies.

Administrative:

• Correspondence: ALL correspondence at the Dean/Director levels and ABOVE is a permanent record. If you direct a program, etc. that is unique, your correspondence may also be permanent. Please check with University Archives. All other correspondence has a retention of 5 years.
• All of the following are permanent records of the offices of origin: master forms, policies, procedures, directives, meeting minutes. Copies of these may be destroyed after 3 years of after they are superseded.
• Architectural plan are permanent records.

Contract Administration:

• MASTER COPY: Usually in Grants and Contracts
• Contracts and agreements not pertaining to employment or purchasing.
• Retention: 20 years after termination of contract.

Supplies and Services:

• Inventories: 1 year
• Inspection records: 2 years
• Work orders: 3 years

Personnel:

• MASTER COPY: Human Resource Management
• Faculty/Staff personnel records: Retention: 2 years after termination or until final disposition of charge or civil action.
• Student worker personnel records and graduate assistant personnel records: Retention: 3 years after termination or until final disposition of charge or civil action.
• Accident reports, injury claims, settlements: Retention: 30 years after settlement.
• Attendance records: Retention: 7 years.
• Equal Opportunity reports, timesheets, W-2s: Retention: 3 years.
• Job descriptions, leave slips, W-4s: Retention: 2 years

Purchasing:

• MASTER COPY: Purchasing
• Bids, contracts, purchase orders, requests for services, requisitions, internal transactions: Retention: 3 years,
• Acknowledgments, quotations: Retention: 1 year.

Student:

• MASTER COPY: Student Records and Registration
• Grade books, course examinations, recommendations, rejected student applications midterm and final grade reports, permissions, grade cards, Dean cards, drop/add slips, advisor cards, schedules: Retention: 1 year after term submitted. If any of these are kept in the student files, the longer retention period applies.
• Class lists, doctorate award files, graduate student admission files: 3 years.
• Student files, GRE reports, correspondence: 5 years after graduation or term of last attendance.
• Student loans and grants: 5 years after award year has ended.