Council of Graduate Students
at The Ohio State University

Allowable Expense Guidelines

Allowable Expenses

NOTE: In order to obtain reimbursement, ORIGINAL RECEIPTS must be provided to CGS. If you are applying to multiple funding sources, each of which requires original receipts, please contact the CGS office after receiving funding. If the Ray Travel Award will be your only source of funding from the university, the Student Life Business Office will establish a spend authorization for your travel. If another university department is covering the cost of some of your travel, they will establish a spend authorization for your travel and you will be responsible for paying for the costs not covered by the department and will be reimbursed for awarded costs after travel is complete

  1. Travel to and from the site of the conference is reimbursable: airplane tickets, rental car fees (not including gas or mileage), train tickets, bus tickets, etc. If traveling by personal vehicle, mileage will be reimbursed. Transportation at or during the conference is reimbursable, to a maximum of $30/day. Airport parking fees are also reimburseable.  All flights must be purchased using the official travel agent service for OSU.  Students MUST use a personal credit card when booking the flight. Failure to purchase tickets through the official university travel will lead to fortieture of reimbursement for the flight.
  2. Registration fees are reimbursable. This may include food if a banquet or other meal is inseparable from the registration fee.
  3. Lodging is reimbursable.
  4. Some other costs are reimbursable. These costs include those directly associated with the presentation of research, such as rental of audiovisual equipment at the conference site, supplies for the presentation itself (such as copying, making slides, etc.). These items will be reimbursed at the discretion of the Ray Travel Award Committee.
  5. The maximum an individual may request is your total allowable expenses minus any outside funding. The maximum request per application is $1,000, even if the amount of total allowable expenses minus outside funding is greater than $1,000.
  6. An individual is limited to $1,000 total in Ray Travel Awards within an academic year (Autumn though Summer semesters). This means that, for instance, if you receive a $400 award in Autumn, you could apply for a $600 award in the following Spring or Summer.
  7. There is no limit to the amount of Ray Awards an individual student may receive across his/her academic career at OSU. However, you must wait one fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) before you can receive the Ray Award again.

Non-Allowable Expenses

Food (except as noted in item 2, above) will not be reimbursed.

Alcohol, as per university policy, will not be reimbursed.

Entertainment expenses will not be reimbursed.

Other Funding

The Ray Award is to be considered supplemental to other sources of funding. Applicants are expected to seek travel funds from their departments, advisors, or other outside sources first. It is to your advantage to obtain other funding, since it will usually decrease your out-of-pocket expenses and will not necessarily reduce the amount of your travel grant. You must disclose funds received for any aspect of your trip, even expenses the Ray Award does not cover (food, for example).

NOTE: Applicants who falsify information or who fail to disclose other sources of funding for travel will be barred from participation in the Ray Award program for the remainder of their time as a student at Ohio State.