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Travel Support Request
The WVU Office of Undergraduate Research (UGR) offers limited travel support for WVU undergraduates to offset costs (registration fees travel-related expenses) associated with attendance and presentation (oral or poster) of undergraduate research results at discipline-specific regional and national conferences or workshops including NCUR (National Conference on Undergraduate Research). You can apply for travel support for any conference attended (or planned to attend) between July 1 and June 30 of the academic year. Funds will be distributed until they are exhausted.
- Undergraduates may receive travel support of no more than $500/year for one activity per year.
- Undergraduates who plan to attend the same conference to present the same research/creative work (as co-authors) should submit their travel support requests at the same time referencing each other as co-authors.
- Support requests should be submitted as one request according to the deadlines posted above. It is the undergraduate student’s responsibility to ensure all materials are submitted in time for consideration of travel support and in time for reimbursement upon return from travel.
- Undergraduates should apply individually; group applications are generally
not accepted. Call UGR with questions pertaining to this policy.
- Students should retain all original receipts associated with the activity for which they have been awarded funding. A funding string can be provided to faculty mentors who use university purchase cards for student travel arrangements.
- If the travel activity is co-funded by another department or unit, the total amount of travel support from all sources may not exceed the documented costs of the travel activity.
- Travel reimbursement may take upwards of two months from the date of submission of receipts.
- Expenses incurred without the student having attended and presented at the activity will not be reimbursed.
- Undergraduates must be presenting research at the conference. Requests that do
not involve presentation of research by the undergraduate will be denied.
Undergraduate students seeking to apply for UGR travel support will be asked to submit
the following items contained within the application.
With help from your faculty research mentor, please gather and prepare
these items for upload prior to submitting your travel support request application.
- A short cover letter addressed to the Office of Undergraduate Research
- describing the conference or workshop (official name, location, conference url, dates, purpose)
- explaining why you believe presentation and attendance at this conference will enrich your undergraduate research experience; if you are applying for a competitive scholarship or fellowship, explain how this presentation will make your application more competitive;
- outlining the overall, projected tabular budget (scroll down this page for detailed instructions and example budget) and amount of support already obtained or requesting from other sources (if any);
- stating the amount of support requesting from UGR (maximum of $500) for this activity
- and uploaded to the application form as a word or .pdf file
- Copy of accepted abstract (including title, authors, author affiliations, and abstract) and documentation of abstract acceptance (i.e., copy of email or letter)
- UGR faculty research mentor recommendation letter recommending the student for the travel support and describing how the activity contributes to the student's research and overall undergraduate experience*
Creating a Tabular Budget
For full consideration, submit a tabular budget along with your cover letter. To get started, download a blank budget document here.
Detailed Instructions for Projected Total Cost/Budget for Activity/Need
Find prices and provide a reasonable, projected budget for your proposed activity in tabular form (see the example below). Justify the expenditures in your budget by providing some details. In your budget, you need to give specific costs for what you are requesting.
For attendance and presentation at a conference, you need to find and report valid, non-approximated costs for the conference registration fee, lodging, meals & incidental expenses (i.e., M&IE or per diem), and travel.
For lodging and M&IE, go to the U.S. General Services Administration(GSA) website ( http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104877) to find these rates for your conference city. For M&IE, you can request the full rate for each full day at the conference, but only 75% of the rate for days that you travel to and from the conference. For lodging, take the typical lodging cost from the GSA website and multiply it by the number of nights.
For transportation, look up the typical cost of round tri p airfare. If renting a car, find the daily rental rate, multiply by the number of rental days and factor in the cost of gas. If driving using a Privately-Owned Vehicle, find the roundtrip mileage (using Google Maps or similar) and multiply by the mileage rate found on the GSA website ($0.65/mile as of Jan. 1, 2023).
Example Projected Total Cost/Budget for Conference Travel
For attendance and oral presentation at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in San Diego, CA on August 25-29, 2019 ( https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/national-meeting.html).
|
Budget Item
|
Cost/unit x units
|
Extended Cost
|
| 1. Conference Registration (full conference, undergraduate student member
of ACS; cost from conference website at: [url redirecting to cost of conference])
|
$125
|
$125.00
|
| 2. 3-night stay at hotel: Max lodging (August 26, 27, & 28, 2019; from
GSA website:
https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates)
|
$160/night x 3 nights
|
$480.00
|
| 3. Roundtrip Flight: Pittsburgh, PA-San Diego, CA (searched on Expedia)
|
$421
|
$421.00
|
| 4. M&IE (Meals and Incidental Expenses or per diem) for San Diego: $71/full day and $53.25 (75%) on travel days (first and last day) from GAS website | $71/full day x 2 days | $142.00 |
| $53.25/travel day x 2 days | $106.50 |
| 5. PIT Airport Parking - Extended Lot | $8/day x 4 days | $32.00 |
| 6. Mileage to/from airport in personal card from WVU to PIT Airport: 79 miles one way (per Google Maps) and 158 miles roundtrip @ $0.58/mile (see GSA Website) | 158 miles x $0.65/mile | $102.70 |
| Projected Total Cost of Attendance |
|
$1,409.20 |
| Amount of Funding Obtained from Other Sources: Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Academic Enrichment Program | -$600.00 | |
| Amount of Funding Requested from UGR Travel Support | -$500.00 | |
| Amount of Funding Still Needed | $309.20 |
Award/Reimbursement Notes
What travel receipts should you keep? Original receipts for airfare, lodging, registration fees, rental vehicles, gasoline, parking, baggage fees, etc. Also, for use of personal vehicle write down beginning and ending mileage. For personal vehicle use, only mileage will be reimbursed.
Reimbursable Travel Expenses Include: airfare, lodging, rental vehicle, fuel for rental vehicle, baggage, meals (but in the form of per diem), mileage for use of personal vehicle, parking, tolls, & taxis.
Non-reimbursable Travel Expenses Include: personal phone calls, laundry fees, personal flight or baggage insurance, alcohol, & personal entertainment expenses (room service, movie, etc.)
Meals provided at the conference/meeting (i.e., as an inherent part of the registration fee) would reduce the per diem amount for the days meals are provided.
Travel support is provided by the West Virginia University Office of the President. Students who are awarded travel support should be willing, upon request, to share their experience (via short interview, letter, photo, etc.) and how support from this program contributed to their research and overall undergraduate experience. However, the award process is not dependent on the student’s willingness to share his/her experience.
