Travel Reimbursement Policy - Graduate Students

Graduate students may travel to academic conferences with their advisor’s approval. Prior to travel, it is important to familiarize yourself with University and departmental policies. Learn more here.

CONCUR

• Princeton uses Concur to reimburse eligible travel and business expenses.
• Review Princeton’s travel policy.
• Before traveling, you’ll need to obtain written approval from your advisor with the funding source. Upload it to your Concur expense report.

GETTING STARTED

• Follow these instructions to get started in Concur.
• Learn how to create an expense report. Receipts are required for all expenses. Itemized receipts are required for meals.
• You are required to enroll all domestic and international travel with the University.
• Your assigned Concur expense delegate will review your reports.
• Submit expenses within 30 days, including those incurred in advance of a conference (e.g. airfare, conference registration, etc.).
• Don’t wait more than 60 days to submit expenses! They will require an explanation and be reported to the IRS as taxable income.
• Remember - Be reasonable with your costs … if you would not make a purchase with your own funds, you should not make that purchase with your advisor’s funds.

FLIGHT

• You must book economy class flights. For trips charged to federally funded sponsored projects, US air carriers must be used.
• Airline tickets must include itemized charges, credit card information and seat information. Trip insurance is not an allowable expense.
• If personal travel is combined with University travel, only the business portion of the trip is an allowable expense. Provide comparison flights - the lesser will be reimbursed.

HOTEL

• Only standard rooms may be booked. Airbnb is permissible. You must note all guests.
• The itemized hotel bill must always be included on the expense report. No-show charges are not reimbursable.

Maximum nightly rates

• United States:
  • $400 New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Menlo Park
  • $350 Washington D.C., Seattle, Palo Alto, Cambridge (MA)
  • $300 Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando
  • $250 All other U.S. locations, except Princeton
• International:
  • $400 London & Paris
  • $350 Amsterdam, Geneva, Hong Kong, Milan, Rome, Singapore, Tokyo, Zurich
  • $300 All other international locations

MEALS

• Group meals will not be reimbursed. You must pay for your portion of a shared meal and submit an itemized receipt for your meal cost.
• If the conference provides meals, you should be eating the meals provided.
• Transportation costs (such as Uber, Lyft) to/from meals are not reimbursable.
• Maximum reimbursement amounts for meals: $75/day (domestic) and $125/day (international). Alcohol is not reimbursable.

OTHER COSTS

• Expenses related to visas, passports and vaccinations for business travel are allowable.
• Taxi fare (Uber, Lyft) is allowable from home/airport and hotel/conference site.
• If you’re planning a business trip and have questions about expenses, please contact your Concur expense delegate!

CONTACT & RESOURCES

• CS Graduate Program Office: gradinfo (@cs.princeton.edu)
• University Travel Policy
• Questions for Princeton’s Finance office – finance (@princeton.edu)
• See here for the list of concur expense delegates