UCSB Materials Department Travel Guide

This page has been established by the Materials Department to aid faculty, staff, students and other research personnel with the scheduling and reimbursement of University related travel. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive list, but rather a guide in helping employees understand Department requirements and expectations. A complete copy of the University's policy on travel can be found the UCSB Business & Financial Services' Travel Planning website. If you have specific questions, please direct them to your Travel Delegate.

Travel is an important part of your research efforts. It is also an area that is subject to many rules and regulations. Please help us to help you by reviewing the items below before making travel arrangements.

Before you travel

Prior approval is required for all travel to ensure proper agency, advisor, and funding authorization for the proposed trip. Travel preapproval must be obtained before making any travel arrangements. Preapproval may be obtained using the preapproval form or via email, but it must be in writing and include the FRU/project that will be charged. This approval information will then be included in the Concur expense report

Materials Travel Preapproval From                          
BFS Travel Quick Reference Guide
Bulletin G-28 - Policy and Regulations Governing Travel

Travel Advances

Travel advances are payments made to a traveler before a trip begins. If you need an advance, submit the request through Concur.  Only one advance can be processed for each trip, and it must be requested within 30 days of the start of the trip for expenses not yet incurred.

If you have expenses that were paid more than 30 days before the trip begins (for example, a conference registration or arifare) and need reimbursement before the trip is over, you can submit an expense report for those early costs seperately. Then, when the trip concludes, you will submit a second report with the remaining expenses.

Account Numbers

When filling out travel forms, you will need a FRU or Project.  Indicate any accounts that will be used (i.e. Doctoral Student Travel Grant).  If funding is split across departments, please follow guidelines for the majority department. 

Travel Insurance

When traveling on official business, UC faculty and staff are covered under the UC Business Travel Accident Insurance Program. UC students traveling to UC-sponsored activities are covered under the UC Student Off-Campus Travel Insurance Program. Travel outside of California requires travel registration through the UC Away travel registration system. Registration of travel is the responsibility of the traveler. Other insurance considerations can be found here.

During your travel 

As a traveler on University funding, it is your responsibility to ensure that your travel expenses are reasonable and well-documented. Please do not pay for travel expenses on behalf of other group members. Reimbursement requests should only be for your own expenses. 

Please keep receipts for all of your transportation expenses (airfare, rental car, taxi, metro, bus), lodging, parking, baggage fees, etc.  When requesting reimbursement for travel expenses such as airfare, rental cars, lodging and registration fees, we require an itemized receipt showing payment confirmation. We cannot accept quotes or estimates.  

After you Travel

Submit you travel expense report through Concur in a timely manner. All travel expense claims should be submitted to the UCSB Travel Accounting Office within a reasonable period of time not to exceed 45 days after the end of the trip. Travel reimbursement requests submitted after 45 days may be subject to employee tax reporting.

A final detail report should be downloaded and sent to Jennifer Thorndyke (thorndyke@ucsb.edu) once the report status is "sent for payment".  

Concur Details 

Students and postdoc will create and submit their own Concur reports.  Faculty and researchers may choose to have a staff delegate assist in the creation of reports, but they will be required to submit reports.  

How to Add a Delegate

Things to NOTE 

Travel Booking

All travelers—including faculty, students, postdocs, and researchers—are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. Staff do not booking travel arrangements. Travelers are expected to familiarize themselves with the guidelines provided here. If there is any uncertainty about whether their plans comply with the policy, they should ask questions before booking.

Personal Time

If your travel includes personal time, or if your trip originates or ends somewhere other than SB/LAX, you must save or print a quote showing what airfare would have cost for the business-only dates between SB/LAX and the business destination. Submit this quote with your actual airfare receipt. The quote should be generated on the same date you purchase your ticket. You will be reimbursed for the lower of the two amounts (actual ticket or quote).

Examples:

• Extending stay in the conference city for personal reasons: Submit a quote covering only the official conference dates.
• Traveling from or to a different city before or after the conference: Submit a quote for airfare between SB/LAX and the conference city on the official travel dates.

Airfare

Airline tickets can be purchased once travel approval is obtained. Traveler must use a U.S. carrier (economy class).  Please reach out with questions about airfare before booking. Original itinerary showing cost of ticket and method of payment required for reimbursement. 

Lodging

An original itemized hotel receipt must accompany requests for reimbursement. Room rate and tax must be itemized separately from other expenses charged to the room. The maximum room rate is $333 per night before taxes and fees (per room, not per traveler). Reimbursement for lodging is not allowed when the total trip is less than 21 hours.

If you share a hotel room, please request that the invoice is divided accordingly.  This is especially important if you and your roommate(s) are not funded on the same account.  Failure to do so may delay your reimbursement.  

Meal Allowances

Currently, we do not require receipts for meals during travel, but there is a $92/day maximum allowance. This is NOT to be treated as a per diem rate. You should report meal expenses based on the actual expenses you have incurred by including a meal log with your submitted receipts. You will be required to provide meal receipts if you appear to be treating the daily maximum allowance as a per diem (please keep receipts until the expense has been approved). Alcohol expenses are not a reimbursable travel expense and should be omitted from your request. There is no meal allowance for domestic trips under 24 hours.  

Mileage Allowances

Reimbursement of 70 cents a mile is allowed when personal vehicles are used for business travel. A vehicle license plate number must be provided when claiming mileage for a personal vehicle. Personal vehicles must have liability insurance in order to receive reimbursement.  Concur calculates mileage based on starting and ending addresses. 

Memberships
Memberships are reimbursable with travel if they allow you to receive discounted registration fees and savings on the total travel expense. Please provide documentation of the reduced registration expenses that the membership enables.

Rental Vehicles
Intermediate or smaller vehicles are allowed.  If a larger car is needed, please contact your travel delegate for preapproval. UC has corporate agreements with some vehicle rental agencies. Their UC contract price includes extra insurance for Loss Damage Waiver, Collision Damage Waiver, Supplemental Liability Insurance and Liability Insurance Supplement. Travelers will not be reimbursed for this personal accident insurance for rental vehicles (exception: foreign travel).  Booking through Concur guarantees the traveler has the corporate rates and extra insurance.  

Foreign Travel

Canada and Mexico are considered domestic travel. In some cases, prior approval by a funding source is required from agency for foreign travel. Always confirm approval in advance of any plans. Required agency approval varies from 60-90 days prior to trip.

It is the traveler's responsibility to ensure compliance with export control and cyber security measures when traveling abroad to ensure the security and integrity of federally funded research data (see https://www.research.ucsb.edu/export-control/about).

You must use a U.S. Flag carrier for air transportation to foreign countries, unless specific instances apply, such as, if there are no US carriers available you may request an exception through proper channels to use a foreign carrier. Foreign per diem rates (lodging, meals and miscellaneous) vary by date and city. Rates may be obtained from your travel preparer. Please visit the website below to view foreign per diem rates: https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp

Graduate Student Travel Grant

The Graduate Division awards travel funds to graduate students one time per academic career. The student must fill out an application and submit it to the Graduate Division. If approved, for reimbursement purposes, please submit a copy of the award letter to your travel coordinator.  For more information and applications, contact the Student Affairs Office at (805) 893-4601.

Cancellations

Travel Advances: Traveler is required to refund any advance immediately when a trip is canceled or indefinitely postponed. (Refund checks should be made payable to UC Regents.)

Tickets: Traveler is responsible for the cancellation or any changes made to reservations. If the trip itinerary is changed or canceled en route, do not throw away any unused portion of tickets. Unused tickets must be submitted for refund.

3rd Party Booking Sites

We discourage the use of 3rd party booking sites (i.e., expedia, hotels.com) as they do not always provide the needed information as required for reimbursement by BFS and this can delay reimbursements being processed.