By Craig Leroux, Senior Communications Officer

A proposed university policy on internal loans has been posted to the website of the University Secretariat for review and comment by the Queen’s community. The proposed policy would create a consistent process for the application, approval and administration of loans that the university provides to academic and shared service units to finance capital projects.

“Internal loans are a source of financing for capital projects and are part of the university’s overall debt management strategy,” says Caroline Davis, Vice-Principal (Finance). “The proposed policy creates a clear and transparent process for internal loans across the university.”

The internal loans policy applies to units within the university that wish to undertake capital projects in excess of $1 million that require financing. Internal loans will have terms of five to 40 years and interest rates will be based on the university’s indicative cost of financing.

“The university has a limited capacity to grant internal loans, and so they will only be approved for strategic priorities where there is a clear benefit to the university,” adds Vice-Principal Davis.

Approval of internal loans is the responsibility of the Capital Assets and Finance Committee and the Board of Trustees.

The policy on internal loans and its associated procedure are now posted for review. Comment is invited from the Queen’s community by March 31 and may be sent by email.