How to Travel (preliminary info page)
Basics
Graduate students traveling for research or to conferences generally should not be paying for their own travel. In most cases your adviser's research grant should cover the expenses. The university and the department also have some funds to help students travel to meetings, summer schools, etc.
Reimbursable travel is generally supposed to be approved in advance. While there are occasional exceptions, business related travel expenses are covered, such as costs of transportation, lodging, meals, or conference registration fees.
Plane tickets should be bought through the approved travel agent, and often train tickets as well. Generally Rutgers expects you to choose the minimal cost alternative, such as economy class plane fares. Lodging can be set up through the travel agent, but exceptions are possible. Rental cars if needed should be intermediate size or smaller. Keep receipts for any expenses you have during travel; you will need to turn them in along with screenshots of the charges showing up on your credit card bills.
Links
Related travel web pages include:
- The main Rutgers booking travel webpage, with information and links to other pages, is https://procurementservices.rutgers.edu/travel_and_expense/booking_travel.
- The department has a summary travel policy web page at https://my.physics.rutgers.edu/apps/travel/, which links to a template spreadsheet to fill out to claim per diem for meals.
- Travel reimbursements can be requested through the expense management app on https://my.rutgers.edu/portal/render.userLayoutRootNode.uP. You will need various documents to upload, as well as account (and task) numbers for the expenses to be charged to. Different expenses on the trip can be charged to different accounts.
