Student Individual Travel Funding

Before you begin 

YOU CAN FIND BOTH APPLICATIONS AT THE END OF THIS PAGE. BEFORE YOU BEGIN FILLING OUT THE APPROPRIATE FORM, READ THE GUIDELINES BELOW.

ELIGIBILITY FOR MURACE FUNDING

If you are a currently enrolled undergraduate student that has conducted research under the supervision of GC faculty or teaching staff for the purpose of presentation or performance at a scholarly event/conference then, you qualify for funding from MURACE.  You may apply for SGA funding for your travel if $500 from MURACE does not cover all of your costs.

STIPULATIONS ON USAGE OF FUNDING 

The Office of Mentored Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors provides up to $500 in an academic year in travel support.  Travel support is available only for those presenting their original mentored research at a research conference or creative scholarly event.  

The following expenses are eligible for reimbursement with MURACE funds in the context of student conference travel: 

  • Conference Registration Fee: receipt required for reimbursement 
  • Hotel Room: check-out receipt with student name required for reimbursement (no private lodging, Airbnb, VRBO, Home Away, etc.). Parking at the hotel is also reimbursable with receipt. If you are splitting a room with another presenter, you will need to ask the front desk to split your bill at check-in.  It is not always possible to do this at check-out.  Only the student listed on the bill can be reimbursed.
  • Flights: email confirmation from airline required for reimbursement. Baggage fees can also be reimbursed (but not seat upgrades or travel insurance). 
  • Mileage: screenshot of Google Maps with start and end points driven to attend conference required for reimbursement at the rate of $0.67/mile 
  • Car Rental: receipt required for reimbursement 
  • Meals: The per diem meal limit for MURACE student travel support is $36/day ($27/day for non-conference travel days).  In-state and out-of-state limits are the same. Students DO NOT need to submit meal receipts.  Meals provided by the conference or those provided by the hotel (e.g. continental breakfast) are not covered by this travel support and should be deducted from the meal per diem amount.  When an overnight stay is not required, a per diem cannot be distributed.
  • Taxis/Uber/Lyft: receipt required for reimbursement 

PER DIEM DEFINED

Per diem is the maximum allowance for meals that be reimbursed per day. The General Services Administration (GSA) establishes per diem rates for destinations within the lower 48 Continental United States (CONUS). 

WHAT TO DO BEFORE APPLYING

There are a number of things that you should do before applying for funding:

In consultation with your research mentor, apply to present your research at an appropriate conference. 

If the research you want to present requires INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) approval, please have a copy of the approval notification to submit with your application.

Upon receipt of confirmation that your proposal has been accepted, save your confirmation and create a PDF copy. You will need to submit a copy of the confirmation with your travel support application.

Download to create a pdf, sign it in your own handwriting, have your witness sign and date a GCSU Travel Waiver in his or her handwriting; then, include it with the other required documents that accompany the application.WAIVER

PREFERRED TIME TO APPLY

You must complete and submit your application at least two weeks prior to the conference date. 

ADDITIONAL FUNDING OPTIONS

You will need to disclose this information during the application process. MURACE can only provide up to $500 per student in one academic year. Your college or department may have additional funding to supplement the travel support you receive from MURACE. Once you have received approval for your proposal from MURACE and you need additional funding support, please contact the Honor’s program if you are an Honor’s student; your Dean’s Office if you are in the College of Business, the College of Education, or the College of Health Sciences; your Department Chairperson if your major is in the College of Arts and Sciences.

BEFORE YOUR CONFERENCE OR EVENT

In order to receive MURACE funding, you must attend a Pre-Conference Writing Center Consultation and a Post-Conference Writing Center Consultation. 

THINGS TO REMEMBER AT THE CONFERENCE OR EVENT

It is important to save originals of all of your travel-related receipts, a copy of the conference program, a copy of the conference schedule, and a copy of the page listing your presentation that includes your name and title of your presentation. Please ensure the copy of the conference program also shows what meals (if any) were provided by the conference. All bills such as the hotel must be in the person paying's name. Only the person with his or her name on the bill will receive the reimbursement regardless of who pays the bill.

TO ENSURE YOU RECEIVE REIMBURSEMENT

All documentation and requirements need to be completed and submitted to MURACE within ten days from your presentation date from the conference or competition. 

Travel reimbursement requirements

Follow these steps BEFORE completing and submitting your Post-Travel request for reimbursement:

BEFORE YOUR CONFERENCE: 

  1.  Before attending your conference, you will need to attend a Pre-Conference Writing Center consultation to practice your presentation.

DURING YOUR CONFERENCE:

  1. Save originals of all of your travel-related receipts, including your conference registration receipt, air and ground travel (taxis, airport shuttles) receipts, hotel receipt, etc. You do not need to submit receipts for meals or for gas mileage.  For gas mileage, you will need to submit a Google map with start point and end point.
  2. Save a copy of the conference program. You will need to provide a copy of the conference schedule, usually listed near the front of the program, and a copy of the page listing your presentation that includes your name and title of your presentation.

WITHIN TEN DAYS AFTER YOUR PRESENTATION DATE:

  1. Fill out the reimbursement form NON-GC EMPLOYEE TRAVEL EXPENSE FORM. Meet with your faculty mentor for assistance with completing the form. You should include the travel dates and the costs for the registration fee, meals not covered by conference or hotel at Georgia per diem rates, and fuel costs. 
  2. Photocopy or print all of your receipts (registration fee, hotel receipt, airfare receipt, ground transportation (if approved)) and a copy of the travel fund approval letter.
  3. Photocopy or print the conference agenda page and the conference program page that indicates your name as a presenter and the time and date of your presentation.
  4. Complete and sign a W-9 FORM: When you complete the W-9 form, check the "individual/sole proprietor or single-member LLC" box in section 3 of the form. You will need to either email this form to murace@gcsu.edu or hand deliver it to the Center for Teaching and Learning (Library 375)
  5. Sign the completed travel reimbursement form. 
  6. Visit the Writing Center for the requried post-conference meeting (this is IN ADDITION to the required pre-conference meeting). NOTE: Given that the Writing Center has limited availability, we will accept visits after ten days post-conference, as long as the visit occurs within the semester you receieved funding. 

If you have any questions about the travel grant application or reimbursement process, please contact us at murace@gcsu.edu

Travel Funding Applications 

The Office of Mentored Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors provides up to $500 per academic year in travel support for current GCSU students presenting or performing at a conference.  

Please Note: SGA, your college, department, or other entities may provide funding to supplement the travel support. You will need to include other sources of funding (amounts and sources) on your MURACE budget/signature page.

Acceptance of applications for undergraduate student research travel funding happens on a rolling basis until funding is exhausted.  To assure the review of an application in time to go through the approval process, the application must be received a minimum of 14 days prior to the beginning conference travel date.  NO application will be approved after travel has been completed.

Student Travel Funding Application

Student Post-Travel Reimbursement Form