Sociology Graduate Student Professional Travel

Sources of support and procedures

December 7, 2001

Department Funds

Usually, the department allocates a fixed amount per year per enrolled graduate student to support travel to a professional meeting, budget permitting. In most years we are able to allocate $200 - $300. The priority for these funds goes to students presenting their research at a meeting. A second priority is students not presenting research but on the meeting program in another way, for example service on a committee that will gather at the meeting.

If you intend to request departmental funds, please send the Graduate Secretary email at least three months in advance. This will allow us to plan for the rest of the budgetary year.

To actually request funding, you need to complete a travel authorization form, which you can get from the Graduate Secretary or in the main office. It is due at least three weeks before you intend to travel. You sign it and submit it to the departmental financial officer along with documentation of your role at the meetings (e.g., xerox of paper acceptance letter). The form asks you to estimate costs, some of which, unfortunately, the allocation will probably not cover. You can include:

• meeting registration
• plane or train fare
• mileage if you drive your own car at current rates
• ground trasportation costs, such as bus from the airport to the hotel
• hotel
• meals, but the rules differ according to whether you stay overnight or not. On same day trips, you cannot claim breakfast or lunch; you can claim dinner, but only if you return after 8 pm. On overnight trips, you can claim meals for dinner. Note that on the days of departure and return, you can only claim meals for times you could not reasonably eat at home. To claim breakfast, you must depart by 6 am; for lunch, you must depart by 10 am and return after 2 pm; for dinner, you must depart by 4 pm and not return before 8 pm.

Be sure to get and save receipts for meeting registration, plane or train fare, expensive ground transportation, and hotel. You don't need receipts for meals. When you get back, complete the same form with your reimbursement request. At this point, you can report actual hotel expenses, even if they are higher than the rates given above. Before totalling your expenses, insert an amount, labelled "less amount disallowed" that will bring your total to precisely your allocation. The university requires your original receipts; tape them down on all four sides onto regular paper after making photocopies for your own use later on.

If you have a staff support person, s/he will to enter your travel reimbursement from a draft you provide. Copies of a sample travel authorization/reimbursement form are available in the plastic bin outside teh graduate office; it is filled in to illustrate the "how-tos."

The department usually uses its own funds to sponsor a van or two to regional meetings lots of graduate students are attending. This is a great way to save your allocation for other expenses.

Grant Funds

If a grant is paying for your travel, you may have a larger allocation than the department gives you, but the procedure for getting authorization to travel and requesting reimbursement afterwards is basically the same.

Graduate Student Association Funds

The University Graduate Student Association has travel funds to subsidize participation in professional meetings. A student may apply for these funds once during a degree program. This means someone getting, first, a master's and, then, a doctoral degree here can apply twice. The maximum each time is $150. The application procedure must be followed quite carefully. The travel grants program, including application procedure, is described on the internet at: http://www.ncsu.edu/stud_orgs/ugsa/ugsainfo.htm.

The Sociology Graduate Student Association also makes a small amount of support available to assist its members with with the costs of professional travel. Applicants for these funds must have already paid their SGSA dues for the year at the time of their application. Up to $50 per year (depending on the availability of funds) may be allocated to each student who is presenting a paper or taking part in a panel or roundtable discussion,. To apply this year, please complete a Travel Request Form, which can be obtained from , and turn it in to by March 12th. Late applications will only be considered if all on time applications have been funded.