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[paprof]

Just curious.... does your university have set travel policies in place? For example, do you have to use a specific travel agent, or can you book your own tickets? Do you have to submit expense reports, or do you just identify a budget and submit for a cash advance? Are you required to travel in a group with other people (on flights, or book to the same hotel) or can you do want you want? Just wondering what hoops others have to jump through.

[southerntransplant]

We can't use Expedia, Orbitz or any third party service for hotels or plane tickets. It is strongly encouraged that we use the local travel agency, since they bill the department directly. If you want to save on their fee, though, you can use the department procurement card and buy the ticket directly from the airline.

I register for conferences online using the department pro-card if possible. If it is not possible, I cannot ask for a travel advance for registration, but can get an authorization letter for the pro-card to be charged in absentia (if the organizers allow this) - I'm doing this for this next conference. I submit a travel voucher at the end of the travel, in which I usually ask for per diem for meals and get reimbursed for hotels, taxis, car rental, etc. The degree to which I double up with other travelers depends solely on my own travel funds, and is not mandated by the administration.

If we are doing foreign travel and submit our travel requests too late (within 10 days prior to travel) we have to submit an "I'm Sorry!" letter to the Dean, promising that we will never ever do this again. (In our college, the Dean is also the head of our research business office). Travel advances are given begrudgingly, and there is talk of them doing away with them altogether.

My own personal rule of travel is "As little out of pocket as humanly possible." It takes for-freaking-ever to get reimbursed. One year I was un-reimbursed for 9 months after the travel. The fact that the trip was two weeks overseas amplified my annoyance.

[janewales]

We do have a travel policy. There are two university travel agencies, but we're not required to use them, so we can use Expedia or whatever if we like. The university agencies, though, often have a line on things like preferential pricing for hotels, so sometimes it's worth letting them do the work.

We have to fly economy, but there's no particular requirement otherwise with respect to proving you got the lowest airfare, etc. There is no limit that I know of on the price you can pay for hotels, but everyone I know always tries to keep costs down, because ultimately the money is coming from our own grants, research allowances, etc.

There are posted rates for things like fuel and other car costs. There are per diem maximums for food. You can exceed the maximums, but then you need receipts. You can also do a mix of per diems and receipts, but Finance HATES that.

If you lose a receipt, you have to fill out a form and grovel.

[sugaree]

We have a set amount per year to spend on travel - usually enough to just about cover travel to one conference (I live in a very isolated area and plane tickets from here to anywhere are min. $500 and usually over $600). I never bother to submit food receipts as I opt for the per diem rate, which doesn't always cover what I spend on food in a day but that's only when I am being decadent and want to go for a nice dinner or something. There is a university travel agent, but we are not required to use it and I typically find my own route more cheaply than any travel agent could.

But we have the best business-managers who do not hassle us about accessing the money before travel and I usually have a check within a few days (yes, days) of submitting my travel budget. Upon return, I submit travel/hotel receipts for their records, but I already have gotten the money. Did I mention how much I love this system? So so civilized!

[not_a_gradstudent1]

The most annoying policy here: no more than $50 can be reimbursed for conference registration.

[johnr]

The most annoying policy here: no more than $50 can be reimbursed for conference registration.

Even if you have external grant money? 

[concordancia]

We have to submit for permission to travel. At that point, if we do not want to pay for our own tickets, we have two or three options for direct billing. If we purchase our own tickets or drive more than 100 miles, we have to demonstrate that our way is cheaper.

No one has mastered the process (there was literally a time when I called in and was told "that rule just came through this morning"), so it often takes three or four tries to get the paperwork through the system. Just one of the frequently changing rules is whether you can claim the full per diem or that is a maximum amount, you can only be reimbursed for those expenses for which you have receipts, up to the per diem.

Reimbursement takes a couple of weeks after the paperwork is done.

[not_a_gradstudent1]

The most annoying policy here: no more than $50 can be reimbursed for conference registration.

Even if you have external grant money? 

Good question.  I don't know.

[anon99]

We don't have any policies. We do get discounts for certain car rental companies, but I've found the same discounts online by searching with google and entering the discount codes.  We submit our receipts (and boarding passes if it was a flight) and magically the money appears in our bank account.

[paprof]

Thanks for the information- interesting! I was curious because our accountants just started a new system. You propose a budget, and if it is approved they will immediately (within a week) reimburse for expenses that you have already paid. Then, they will front the rest at the point where you would have the other expenses. Junior faculty can usually expect about $1,000/ yr to be covered. Senior faculty get what's left. Economy travel is assumed- even if it is a flight from the U.S. to Asia. No strict policy, but no presumption of shared rooms (i have heard of other schools that expect it).

[seniorscholar]

The university has no set policy, but in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Dean sets an annual amount for each department (based on what, I don't know). In my department, the faculty decided that junior (pre-tenure) people would get more than senior, though the total per trip is ridiculously small in recent years: $300 for senior, $500 for junior. A yellow form stamped "approved" comes down from the Dean's office, and only that amount will be reimbursed. We can make our own arrangements, but generally get a better deal from the U's travel agency (which handles the big expensive travel for athletic teams, etc., and therefore has some discounts and air/hotel "miles" to apply to other people's trips too.)

Everyone has to apply for the year's trips by December 30th. If the whole amount budgeted for the department is not used up, either the department's executive committee hangs on to it for late requests (conference paper for summer approved in April, etc) or ups the amount reimbursed for people with overseas trips. All very iffy, though, and when there's a "mid-year budget adjustment" from the state (which happens about every third year) the travel budget is the first thing to go.

[idspike]

We have to submit a travel authorization form justifying the trip, giving estimated costs for everything, and identifying the source of funds (it all has to come out of our own funding).  Theoretically this has to be approved (by chair and dean) before we can spend anything, though they don't usually enforce that.  Then we make our own arrangements however we like, although I think there might be a university travel agent one can use.  There's a university account with a specific rental car agency. 

Most of us have our own departmental purchasing cards that we can bring on the trip and use to pay for hotel, rental car, and so forth, but not food.  Then after the trip, we file a travel report with all receipts.  Then it takes anywhere from two weeks to several months to be reimbursed for per diem and mileage.  Once I traveled with a group of three and we all submitted our reports at the same time.  One person was reimbursed in two weeks and one in four, but mine took six.  So having that card is really nice, since I'm not out of pocket for much.

[secundem_artem]

My uni has travel policies out the whazoo.  One of which (and I kid you not) is that we are not allowed to charter a hot air balloon without permission.

[polly_mer]

My uni has travel policies out the whazoo.  One of which (and I kid you not) is that we are not allowed to charter a hot air balloon without permission.

I believe you.  I once took a how-to-fill-out-the-travel-request-form workshop for one of my jobs and was given the procedures to:

1) get a burro ride approved if that was the most reasonable form of travel
2) get local bribes approved and reimbursed if such was needed for access to work sites
3) get a boat rental approved, again if that was the most reasonable way to travel

I don't remember any examples of getting a hot air balloon charter approved, but I bet that company had an explicit policy on it.  I also took safety training that both included how to pick up a paperclip from under the desk and how to secure the circuit breaker box in the lab in case I needed to do my own electrical work.  I think tickets should have been sold to some of these trainings.

[ucprof]

Mainly traveling on federal research grants so we are following the fed guidelines rather carefully.  They include things such as flying a US carrier for international travel and maximum M&I rates both in the US and abroad.  Also we can use fed per diem rates abroad without receipts but for CONUS travel we have to keep track of expenses and get reimbursed only for what we spend.  No specific limits on domestic hotels we can not get fed rates so we have to pay commercial rates although we have some chains for which the UC system has contract rates.  I make heavy use of contract rates especially for the rental car rates - they include insurance inside the US.  UC will not reimburse insurance on cars if that is covered under our contract.  One picky detail where I hit a snag recently was the use of a "gift" in lieu of hotel in case you want to save money by staying with friends/family.  I understood the gift had to be under X dollars but I went ahead and purchased two things that totaled X dollars.  Apparently I was only allowed the one thing totaling X dollars, not two things together.  But it turned out I was below budget on my M&I so I moved it to that.  Lots of picky bean counting on fed grants and ditto for the state of CA funding as well.  I assume this is to avoid abusing the system.