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[hikingprof]

Last spring I was a starving grad student. My only campus interview at the time took three full months to reimburse airfare and car rental. Being broke, I couldn't pay it all off my credit card at once, so I hate to eat the interest into the summer. The biggest surprise was the dinner, which was divided into individual checks and not reimbursed. I ate a salad and drank a Sprite, and a member of the search committee teased me loudly about my choice (hu had a steak and whiskey).
 
 Oh yes, and all three of us interviewees were together for the whole experience- each other's presentations, visits, the group dinner. I'm not even sure that's ethical. The whole thing was very tense and awkward, and one of the interviewees got snippy with the other candidate and I toward the end. I felt the whole experience was needlessly disrespectful and unprofessional.

That is dreadful sounding. While I've read similar experiences of group interviews here on the fora, I still have a hard time imagining that an institution would engage in such practices. This may be field specific? I know of no one in my field in the humanities who has ever experienced such group interviews. To top it all off, it sounds like the SC member was rather unprofessional. Sorry to hear about your experience.

[this_is_my_username]

Last spring I was a starving grad student. My only campus interview at the time took three full months to reimburse airfare and car rental. Being broke, I couldn't pay it all off my credit card at once, so I hate to eat the interest into the summer. The biggest surprise was the dinner, which was divided into individual checks and not reimbursed. I ate a salad and drank a Sprite, and a member of the search committee teased me loudly about my choice (hu had a steak and whiskey).
 
 Oh yes, and all three of us interviewees were together for the whole experience- each other's presentations, visits, the group dinner. I'm not even sure that's ethical. The whole thing was very tense and awkward, and one of the interviewees got snippy with the other candidate and I toward the end. I felt the whole experience was needlessly disrespectful and unprofessional.
 

Yikes, I hope you weren't the victor who got the spoils of this position!

 Nope, didn't get the job. I want to say I would have chosen unemployment over them anyway, but the pay was supposedly good and the location very desirable. Luckily a CC swooped in at the last second and saved the day.

 Sometime four months later I got the generic rejection letter in the mail, addressed to 'Dear Candidate'.

 Hiking- I've talked to other people in my field about this, and my experience seems to have been the only one they've ever heard of. Part of the problem is that members of the SC were scattered around different parts of the state.

[timurid]

Last spring I was a starving grad student. My only campus interview at the time took three full months to reimburse airfare and car rental. Being broke, I couldn't pay it all off my credit card at once, so I hate to eat the interest into the summer. The biggest surprise was the dinner, which was divided into individual checks and not reimbursed. I ate a salad and drank a Sprite, and a member of the search committee teased me loudly about my choice (hu had a steak and whiskey).
 
 Oh yes, and all three of us interviewees were together for the whole experience- each other's presentations, visits, the group dinner. I'm not even sure that's ethical. The whole thing was very tense and awkward, and one of the interviewees got snippy with the other candidate and I toward the end. I felt the whole experience was needlessly disrespectful and unprofessional.
 

Yikes, I hope you weren't the victor who got the spoils of this position!

That reminds me of the ending of the movie "Spartacus"... where the prisoners were forced to fight a duel, with the "winner" being crucified...

[glowdart]

We always reimburse for minor expenses (meals while traveling, gas, parking at the home airport), and we pay for everything else (hotel, airfare, meals) up front.  And we're a slac that saw the already tiny endowment plummet.  

We have enough recruitment issues (teaching load, research support, salary vs. cost of living); we're not going to make it worse by not paying for the interview.


A school that will not reimburse for interview expenses sends the message that they have much larger budget issues.    

[shrek]

We can get reimbused for alcohol provided it is approved before the dinner or event. In times past where we had little money to run searches we have cut back by selecting less expensive (but nice) restaurants; limiting the number of people who went to a given dinner or lunch (which makes sense you can visit with fewer people much more effectively than with everyone). For these we take turns (so that everyone signs up for one meal with a candidate-- sometimes limiting it to two or three faculty with the candidate). And, we've had small receptions at faculty homes (which people seem to really like best anyway, more casual and you get a sense of the place). We have do phone interviews and then bring in our top 2 candidates. If that doesn't work out, we'll bring a 3rd or even 4th. This strategy does save money (and time). Right now we don't have any searches going on in my dept. so I can't speak to whether the search budget has been reduced-- so far our travel budget hasn't been. And some of us did get raises.

[arizona]

In answer to the original question: of the many people I know interviewing this year, every single one is being reimbursed for travel, hotel, etc.

[onion]

My current and former universities, both massive state universities in the midst of budget crunches, reimburse all expenses.  Two of my dear friends work at public R2s in states with even worse budget crunches (including furloughs and layoffs) are reimbursing all candidate expenses.

Early this past summer, one friend was invited to a very late season interview.  The school suggested she take Greyhound, which would have taken about 2 days but put her in their town early in the am, do the interview, and get back on the bus. There were no meals in the schedule, and when she asked the admin if they would be buying the bus ticket, she was informed that she'd have to foot the bill for the interview, and she'd only be reimbursed if she were offered and accepted the job.  She politely declined that interview.  (Can you even imagine how hideous their overall budget must be?! Yikes!)

[kedves]

The OP has previously stated that OP is at a "massively massive" public university, so if the SC takes this route, we probably will hear about it.

[spyzowin]

My current and former universities, both massive state universities in the midst of budget crunches, reimburse all expenses.  Two of my dear friends work at public R2s in states with even worse budget crunches (including furloughs and layoffs) are reimbursing all candidate expenses.

Early this past summer, one friend was invited to a very late season interview.  The school suggested she take Greyhound, which would have taken about 2 days but put her in their town early in the am, do the interview, and get back on the bus. There were no meals in the schedule, and when she asked the admin if they would be buying the bus ticket, she was informed that she'd have to foot the bill for the interview, and she'd only be reimbursed if she were offered and accepted the job.  She politely declined that interview.  (Can you even imagine how hideous their overall budget must be?! Yikes!)

I don't think people are getting that a TT line isn't paid through OTPS, but travel is.

Hands up, for example, if you institution will cover out of state travel to conferences anymore.

[larryc]

Onion, you have to reveal the identity of the Greyhound miscreants!

[msparticularity]

Hands up, for example, if you institution will cover out of state travel to conferences anymore.

Yes, we do still have some travel funding, inadequate though it may be. This is looking shakier for next year, and our state is among those experiencing very dire budget woes, but we are still paying all expenses for those searches that are still going forward. We will lose travel funding and the positions themselves before we would have candidates pay for their own travel.

[imawakenow]

I don't think people are getting that a TT line isn't paid through OTPS, but travel is.

I don't think that you get that as many people have noted, not paying for travel expenses related to a job interview--academic or otherwise--is out of the ordinary. There's no trend in that direction.

Hands up, for example, if you institution will cover out of state travel to conferences anymore.

Mine does. (And our department pays for wine at SC dinners.)

[glowdart]

My current and former universities, both massive state universities in the midst of budget crunches, reimburse all expenses.  Two of my dear friends work at public R2s in states with even worse budget crunches (including furloughs and layoffs) are reimbursing all candidate expenses.

Early this past summer, one friend was invited to a very late season interview.  The school suggested she take Greyhound, which would have taken about 2 days but put her in their town early in the am, do the interview, and get back on the bus. There were no meals in the schedule, and when she asked the admin if they would be buying the bus ticket, she was informed that she'd have to foot the bill for the interview, and she'd only be reimbursed if she were offered and accepted the job.  She politely declined that interview.  (Can you even imagine how hideous their overall budget must be?! Yikes!)

I don't think people are getting that a TT line isn't paid through OTPS, but travel is.

Hands up, for example, if you institution will cover out of state travel to conferences anymore.

I don't think that you're getting that every institution does things a little bit differently, and thus your experiences are not universal.

Three schools that I know well:
#1: The Provost controls all academic spending (recruitment, salary, travel, etc.); some of it is administered by the Deans & Chairs, but only after being released for specific purposes by the Provost.  All of it comes from the exact same place, however.  Indeed, our travel grants, hiring letters, raises, promotion bonuses, and recruitment permissions & funds all get signed by the exact same person.  The Provost controls all of it.  

#2: Depending on the expense, costs were covered either by the College Dean, the Provost or the Department Chair, all of whom had their own budgets and income sources because those departments were all self-supporting units, but certain activities were considered relevant to the to health of the College or the Institution -- and the appropriate parties showed up with money (and opinions) from time to time.    

#3: Chair controls travel; Provost controls hiring; Dean controls bonuses, raises, etc.  

But, in none of these schools do the travel funds for conferences and the recruitment travel funds for new lines come from the same global "travel" budget line.  Your school might do things this way.  Not all do.    


Oh, and my hand is up.  I will remind you that I'm at a tuition-driven slac.

[john_proctor]

My current and former universities, both massive state universities in the midst of budget crunches, reimburse all expenses.  Two of my dear friends work at public R2s in states with even worse budget crunches (including furloughs and layoffs) are reimbursing all candidate expenses.

Early this past summer, one friend was invited to a very late season interview.  The school suggested she take Greyhound, which would have taken about 2 days but put her in their town early in the am, do the interview, and get back on the bus. There were no meals in the schedule, and when she asked the admin if they would be buying the bus ticket, she was informed that she'd have to foot the bill for the interview, and she'd only be reimbursed if she were offered and accepted the job.  She politely declined that interview.  (Can you even imagine how hideous their overall budget must be?! Yikes!)

I don't think people are getting that a TT line isn't paid through OTPS, but travel is.

Hands up, for example, if you institution will cover out of state travel to conferences anymore.

Hand is up.

Out of state (November, December and one more scheduled for March) and out of country (scheduled for July).

[venerable_bede]

My current and former universities, both massive state universities in the midst of budget crunches, reimburse all expenses.  Two of my dear friends work at public R2s in states with even worse budget crunches (including furloughs and layoffs) are reimbursing all candidate expenses.

Early this past summer, one friend was invited to a very late season interview.  The school suggested she take Greyhound, which would have taken about 2 days but put her in their town early in the am, do the interview, and get back on the bus. There were no meals in the schedule, and when she asked the admin if they would be buying the bus ticket, she was informed that she'd have to foot the bill for the interview, and she'd only be reimbursed if she were offered and accepted the job.  She politely declined that interview.  (Can you even imagine how hideous their overall budget must be?! Yikes!)

I don't think people are getting that a TT line isn't paid through OTPS, but travel is.

Hands up, for example, if you institution will cover out of state travel to conferences anymore.

Hand is up. Heading to two different out-of-state conferences this semester.