Student travel funding

Policy on General Student Travel Funding for Conferences

Conference Handbook - Student Travel Funding

The following comprise a set of guidelines for awarding travel grants from funds designated for general student travel. It does not pertain to funds that are specifically earmarked for a particular purpose, such as an NSF grant awarded to the student research workshop.

The student workshop chairs make recommendations to the treasurer and the general conference chair about who should receive travel grants and the amount of each grant. The final decisions are made by the treasurer and the general conference chair. Students receiving travel grants are expected to serve as student volunteers so that their registration fee is waived.

The student workshop chairs are responsible for doing the following:

• Check with the ACL treasurer to determine the amount of funding that is available. This is generally obtained from external grants as well as a small amount available from the Walker fund.
• Publicize the existance of student funding and collect requests for funding. The request form should collect the following information:
  • Is the student presenting a paper? If so, 1) where is the paper being presented: main conference session, student research workshop, other workshop (which one?), and 2) are you the sole author on the paper and, if not, what is the order in which the authors are listed on the paper?
  • If the student is not presenting a paper, is he or she a co-author on a paper being presented by someone else? If so, who are the other authors and what is the order in which the authors are listed on the paper?
  • What are the student's estimated travel costs, itemized by categories such as airfare, registration, lodging, meals?
  • What funds does the student expect to obtain from other sources?
  • A statement from the student's advisor about the importance of the student attending the conference and the need for a travel award.
• In proposing travel grant recipients, student applications should be ranked according to the priorities listed below. However, these priorities are guidelines, and other factors such as extreme demonstrated need and geographic balance should also be taken into account. It is recommended that students in the same priority category be given the same proportion of their requested funds, assuming that their estimated travel expenses are as economical as is reasonable. In addition, if funding is limited, it is recommended that partial awards be given to several students as opposed to covering the full travel costs for only 1-2 students.

Guideline Priorities:

• Students presenting in the main session or the student research workshop.
• Students who are non-presenting co-authors of a paper in the main session or the student research workshop.
• Students presenting in a conference workshop.
• Students who are non-presenting co-authors of a paper in a conference workshop.
• Students who submitted a paper to the main session or the student research workshop.
• Students who submitted a paper to a conference workshop.
• Other students.

• The recommendations regarding travel grant recipients and the justification for each should be submitted to the treasurer and the general conference chair who make the final decision.
• The student research workshop chairs should coordinate with the office manager, Priscilla Rasmussen, regarding the budget and the billing procedure. She can help with processing students receipts, significantly simplifying the reimbursement process.

Students will be reimbursed by the office manager, Priscilla Rasmussen, after the conference and upon providing original receipts and an accounting of the requested funding (that is, a business expense report). In cases of urgent need, funds may be provided in advance with proof of purchase of airline tickets; in such situations, original receipts must be provided after completion of the conference travel. Here are the instructions for submitting expenses for reimbursement that were used for the ACL-05 student research workshop.