Department Travel Policy for Trainees

If you plan to travel to a conference or off-site training program, the following steps must be taken prior to travel planning or incurring travel-related costs.

FUNDING FOR TRAVEL

  • Check with the Project Manager of the grant that supports your salary or stipend (e.g. Linda Everett for the T32 training grant and other departmental/grant funds) on the availability and amount of funds to support travel. If you do not know who manages the project that pays you, Linda can help you find out.
  • If funds from your supporting grant do not cover any or all travel costs, check with your PI/Mentor on the availability of other funds to support travel.

TRAVEL AWARDS

  • You are encouraged to apply for travel award(s). Such applications are normally due around the time of abstract submission. In most cases, it will be too late to apply when you start booking travel.
  • If you worked in the summer as a THED instructor, you may be eligible for up to $500 to cover approved travel costs.
    • Please fill out THIS FORM to request such funds. Any requests for THED funds for SOT need to be submitted by March 1. We will not consider requests for SOT funds after the conference.

BOOKING TRAVEL

  • Air, rental car, hotel and Amtrak reservations must be booked through the Rutgers Travel Online Booking Tool or by calling Direct Travel at 888-818-1067. You will need to know what grant or non-grant account is being charged for your flight/rail/hotel/car rental before you book (usually Project Number and Task Number is all that’s needed).
  • Hotel can be booked on your own if the conference has a block of discounted rooms to offer or if you are opting for an AirBnB; otherwise use the Rutgers Travel Online Booking Tool for hotel reservations as well.
  • If you are sharing a hotel room with colleagues, you must each get your own receipt to get reimbursed – the hotel can split the cost over multiple credit/debit cards.

REIMBURSEMENT PROCEDURE

Eva Link can provide guidance on booking travel and on requesting reimbursements. Some guidelines:

  • Before any travel reimbursement is processed, you will need to be on-boarded to the reimbursement system.
  • While most reimbursements cannot be requested until after travel is completed, abstract submission fees are eligible for reimbursement at the time of submission.
  • If you received any external travel funds/awards please let Eva know, as those funds need to be subtracted from the reimbursable totals.
  • All receipts MUST be submitted within 60 days of travel/charge. Each receipt submitted must contain proof of charge, type of card, and the last four digits of the credit card number. If there is no charge information on your receipt, please include a copy of the card statement showing the charge.
  • Proof of attendance is required (e.g. copy of your name badge and conference itinerary).
  • If requesting reimbursement for mileage, a pdf of the MapQuest or Google Maps trip showing the starting location and ending location with total miles is required.
  • If requesting per diem reimbursement for meals, please indicate if the conference served any meals; those should be subtracted from the daily per diem allowance. Travel days can be reimbursed at 75% of the per diem daily allowance.
  • Including a spreadsheet of all items to be reimbursed is helpful and appreciated.

Any questions, please get in touch with Linda, Eva, or Liz.