Traveling for field work and conferences can be fun, rewarding, and full of unforeseen
complications. We can't do much to prevent weather delays, but we can try to make
the process of applying for and receiving reimbursement from the university as painless
as possible.
Here's the deal: we here at PSS don't make most of the rules. Travel money approval
comes through the PSS department, TTU Travel Services, and sometimes even the Office
of International Affairs or the Graduate School. This is a bureaucracy. There are
levels and levels of rules, and this absolutely applies to deadlines.
If you are applying for funding from the Graduate School, their deadlines are earlier
than our department's.
Pay attention to the deadlines on the forms you are using. Submit them as soon as you know your travel plans so there is plenty of time to fix things if you fill them out incorrectly.
The "Dates of Travel" are the days you are leaving from your home and returning to your home.
Describe what you're doing and how your travel will benefit the university. Not just
"I'm going to a conference"; tell us if you will be networking or representing the
university with a research presentation. There is no such thing as 'too much detail' on these travel forms. The good people at TTU Travel Services really, genuinely want
to know why we're spending money.
All registration fees must be paid on the advising faculty's P-Card.
When you list your conference on the travel request, please don't just put the organization's
acronym. There are so many acronyms. Every American Society of Plant Stuff has its
own version of ACASAPPSSA. Spell it out for us, please.
If you will need to receive your reimbursement prior to travel instead of afterward,
check the "advance reimbursement needed" box, and then let us know for which expense
you will need the reimbursement. This is helpful if there is a major expense and you
can't wait to return from the trip and for the full length of the reimbursement process
to pay it off.
The university will not reimburse alcohol purchases. Because of this, ALL food receipts MUST be fully itemized. If the university cannot look at a meal receipt and absolutely know they aren't
paying for an accompanying glass of wine, they can't fund it.
The Graduate School at Texas Tech University has available funding for grad student
travel, which is limited to one trip per student per fiscal year (Sept. 1 - Aug. 31).
If you intend to request travel funding from the TTU Graduate School, please know
that:
- They have their own set of rules and deadlines.
- There are way too many graduate students at this university for them to bend their rules just for
you.
- When the Grad School says that all funding requests must be received at least 30 days prior to travel, they mean it.
Here's a breakdown of the application process:
- The grad student must complete a PSS Travel Request Form and submit to Donna Cantu.
- Once Donna has received the completed form, she will provide the student with the
amount - if any - of department support. You will need this information for the next step.
- It is then the student's responsibility to fill out and submit the Grad School's Travel Funds Application that can be found on their Student Travel site. They have a handy application guide.
- Once the student has submitted the Grad School application, the department will provide
the necessary approvals, signatures, and Departmental Letter of Support digitally.
If there are discrepancies between information here and on the Graduate School website,
PLEASE LET US KNOW, and when in doubt, obey the Graduate School:
Grad School Student Travel site
International travel is a situation which requires you to be fully aware of deadlines.
It goes through the Office of International Affairs, so its rules are not our own.
For instance, when they say forms must be turned in 30 days prior to travel, that is not a deadline over which the department has any control.
Check out the International Travel page for more.
There's a field on the travel form for "Additional Information", but what actually
needs to be included? Here are some common issues that crop up and should be mentioned:
- extra days of travel
- room or cost sharing
- cost-saving measures
- any oddities or decisions you made which we might need to know
Did I mention that there is no such thing as 'too much detail'?
Want to stay for a few days after your conference is over for some vacation time?
That's perfectly fine! We just need to know about it beforehand. The university will not cover expenses during the non-educational vacation time (extra
hotel nights, extra meals, extra taxi rides, etc.), so they need to be marked properly
when everything is submitted.
Include this in the "Additional Information" section.
If you are traveling with multiple people and sharing a hotel room (or any other expenses),
each person needs to pay their portion and submit their own request forms. Do not have one person pay the full price and split it up on your own afterward. That might seem like a simple solution to
a rational person, but the university needs to have the forms completed in a certain
way. Each traveler needs to have their own receipts to turn in. The bureaucracy needs
its paper trail.
If you are sharing a room or if cost-splitting is unavoidable, include this in the
"Additional Information" section.
Ask Donna Cantu (PSS Business Coordinator extraordinaire) for advice. It is much easier to talk with Donna beforehand than it is to apologize
to Donna and TTU Travel Services after submitting your forms incorrectly.
Phone: (806) 834-5073
Email: donna.cantu@ttu.edu
Office: Bayer Plant Science, Room 122E
