Graduate Student Travel Awards

Award categories

Selection Process

Please note, applications are reviewed after the deadline closes and in the order they are received, and it will take 5-10 business days from the deadline date to receive your decision.

The Research and Presentation Travel Award (RAP) is designed to supplement graduate and professional students who need additional financial support to secure FULL travel funding for professional development travel opportunities. The RAP Travel Award reimburses travel expenses AFTER other funding sources have been applied.

The Child Care Travel Award (CC) is designed to support graduate and professional students who need additional financial support to provide care for their child/children (beyond normal day-to-day care) in order to engage in professional development travel opportunities.

Limited budget for the Research and Presentation Travel Award and Child Care Travel Award programs require a selective application process. The Grad School will base award selection on the quality of the application as determined by the Review Committee. Priority goes to students presenting at conferences, traveling for research, or traveling to attend a conference, in that order. The Grad School will consider other types of travel award applications (e.g. unpaid internship, training courses) that do NOT represent a required part of the student’s academic degree program. The review committee, at their discretion, may make adjustments to ensure an appropriate distribution of awards among students from the various Schools/Colleges of the University.

Reimbursement

The Graduate Student Travel Awards reimburse eligible expenses ONLY, up to the award amount and AFTER other funding sources have been applied. The Grad School will not reimburse for travel outside the travel window or if the travel does not occur. Please note that the RAP Travel Award reimbursement is processed through the Emburse System and the Child Care Travel Award reimbursement is processed through the GrabHub system and either Workday, AggieBuy or your Student account (depending on employment status with TAMU). Students awarded a Child Care Travel Award should review the Tax & Compliance information below.

The Graduate & Professional School will review Reimbursement requests (through Emburse for RAP Travel Award and GradHub for Child Care Travel Award) in the order they are received and within 5-10 business days.

Eligible Expenses

RAP Travel Award

• lodging,
• airfare, 
• car rentals, 
• shuttles, 
• gas, 
• conference registration fees, 
• meals, etc. 

Child Care Travel Award

• Transportation and lodging choices that incur additional costs beyond the costs for the applicant’s travel

  • Child’s airfare
  • Car seat rental
  • Crib rental
  • Ground transportation charges for child/children(if applicable)
  • Additional charges for child’s lodging (if beyond the cost of the applicant’s lodging if traveling alone) 
  • Additional charges incurred when checking a stroller on a flight (if applicable) 
• Travel expenses for a care provider accompanying on trip (airfare, ground transportation, hotel)
• Daycare charges (not a spouse or relative; must be a licensed childcare provider; must be different from normal childcare)

Ineligible Expenses

Both Travel Awards

• meal receipts that include alcohol, 
• materials (e.g. poster printing), 
• supplies, 
• books, 
• equipment, 
• membership fees, 
• extra-curricular activities during your trip

Child Care Travel Award

• Food for your child/care provider
• Transportation and lodging choices that do not incur an additional cost for your child (e.g. can’t pay for the room they would normal use, but if there’s an additional charge for the child that could be reimbursed)
• Purchase of car seats, portable cribs, or other equipment.

Approved RAP Travel Awards for virtual conferences or conferences held in the Bryan/College Station area will only cover the conference registration fee. Annual membership fees will not be covered. The Grad School will not reimburse for travel outside of your travel window or if the travel does not occur. Students must follow Texas A&M Travel Receipt Requirements.

Reimbursement Eligibility & Guidelines

1. Awardees must be registered as a full-time graduate student at TAMU – College Station at the time of receiving reimbursement. NOTE: If the awardee is traveling over the summer but does not wish to register full-time for the Summer Term, they may: 1) register for 1 or more credit hours during the summer to receive the reimbursement during the summer, or 2) register full-time for the Fall Term to receive the reimbursement when the Fall Term begins.

2. If awarded, students must submit the Reimbursement within 30 days of the travel return date. 

   1. RAP Travel Award Reimbursement Submission

      1. Emburse Expense Reports must comply with TAMU Travel Guidelines as found here. To receive your RAP Travel Award, you need to allocate expenses within Emburse up to your awarded amount. Please follow the instructions in your award letter to receive the account number that should be referenced in your Emburse Expense Report.
      2. Instructions on how to perform common Emburse actions (create an expense report, allocate expenses, etc.) are found here.
      3. Receipts/documentation for registration with Education Abroad and CISI coverage (only applicable for international travel up to $50) 
      4. Your reimbursement will be issued through the method you select in Emburse. The Graduate and Professional School will not issue a check, nor will the student’s academic department receive reimbursement.
      5. A two-page reflection of the student’s trip (i.e., research accomplished, conference sessions attended, etc.) summarizing the trip and its impact on professional development and academic pursuits should be attached to the Emburse Expense Report. The reflection must include the following statement followed by the student’s signature: “I verify that this is an accurate representation of my accomplishments using these Travel Award funds.
      6. If you do not have access to Emburse as a Graduate Student Employee, work with your academic department’s Business Coordinator to submit the Emburse Expense Report on your behalf. 
   2. Child Care Travel Award Reimbursement Submission

      1. Child Care Travel Award reimbursement must be submitted using the GradHub reimbursement form (and should not be uploaded in Emburse). This reimbursement form should include:

         1. Receipts for eligible expenses to be reimbursement through Workday or AggieBuy depending on employment status (See Tax & Compliance below)

         2. Receipts/documentation for registration with Education Abroad and CISI coverage (only applicable for international travel up to $50)

         3. A two-page reflection of the student’s trip (i.e., research accomplished, conference sessions attended, etc.) summarizing the trip and its impact on professional development and academic pursuits should be attached to the Emburse Expense Report. The reflection must include the following statement followed by the student’s signature: “I verify that this is an accurate representation of my accomplishments using these Travel Award funds.

      2. Tax & Compliance

         1. If the Child Care Travel Award Recipient is also an employee, payment must be processed through Workday as supplemental income that is reported on their W-2 and with a supplemental tax rate of 22%, in addition to the combined FICA rate of 7.65%.

         2. If the Child Care Travel Award Recipient is not an employee, payment can be posted to the student account or through AggieBuy. FMO reports payments made to students through AggieBuy to SFAID. Payments can impact eligibility for other financial aid the student has been offered/paid. Should funding cause a student to exceed financial need or their cost of attendance, Scholarships & Financial Aid will eliminate the overaward/overpayment by reducing other aid, following our policy that reduces loans and work-study before adjusting any grant aid. Scholarships and fellowships are not reduced to resolve overawards/overpayments. Adjustments may result in the student owing a balance to the University. Tax and Compliance referenced the same SFAID document that we reference for RAP travel awards which determines which payments are reported through SFAID.

3. Awarded applicants who will graduate in the semester in which their travel occurs must submit the reimbursement form BEFORE graduation, as students CANNOT receive reimbursement after graduation.

REIMBURSEMENT FOR EDUCATION ABROAD REGISTRATION FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: Per university foreign travel rules (Standard Administrative Procedures 21.01.03.M0.02), all graduate and professional students pursuing an independent international experience MUST register with Education Abroad. If awarded a Graduate Student Travel Award, any cost associated with registering with Education Abroad (e.g. registration, Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI)) will be covered by the Graduate and Professional School up to $50 (i.e. students do not need to use part of the $1,000 Travel Award to cover these costs) and should be added to the Emburse Travel Expense Report.

Application Requirements

The Graduate and Professional School will only consider complete applications for the Graduate Student Travel Awards. In order to complete your application, ensure that you’ve included all the required information. Please review the application requirements before beginning your application.

A complete application, submitted through the GrabHub Graduate Student Travel Awards Application includes:

We will NOT consider incomplete and/or late applications.

FAQs - Frequently asked questions

Check out some of our FAQs regarding the Award application process.

Other Travel Support Options

Securing Other Funding: Check with your college, department and/or the conference you are attending for other travel funding opportunities. Some conferences provide travel awards or waive registration fees for spending some time volunteering during the event.