With funds from the Graduate College, The Graduate Student Senate administers travel funding assistance to pay a portion of both domestic and international travel expenses for graduate students who must travel for the completion of a graduate project. The project can be research, scholarship or a creative activity required by your degree program. This includes research (archive usage, equipment usage off site), interviews (research related), investigation (for a book writing), on location filming or performance, etc. The funds are allocated by the GSS Travel Funds Committee to deserving applications at four deadlines throughout each fiscal year.

Some activities that DO NOT qualify for this funding are paper/poster presentations (see GSS/Graduate College Presentation Travel Funds instead), internship travels, job interviews, doing a study abroad class, etc. If you are attending a workshop or a summer study program, you need to demonstrate that it is necessary to require the specific skills or knowledge for your thesis/dissertation.

If your travel qualifies for the GSS/Graduate College Presentation Travel Funds Award, it will not qualify for this award. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. You must be a current student in order to be reimbursed. Graduating students must submit their applications at least one month before the last day of classes in the semester they are graduating and should reach out to the committee chairs after submitting. 

Application Requirements

  1. A letter from your academic advisor or DGS confirming that your travel is necessary for your research. In order to qualify for this award you must provide evidence that your travel is necessary to your research, which can be in the form of a letter or email from your adviser (must be submitted in .pdf form and attached to the application).

  2. Description of proposed travel, financial need, and why travel is academically necessary

  3. Itemized Travel Expenses form converted to a PDF format

Otherwise, general instructions and guidelines are the same as for the GSS/Graduate College Presentation Travel Funds. Please look over the directions carefully before you apply for the GSS/Graduate College Degree Related Travel Award.

Award Amounts

  • Regional travel - Up to $300

  • Travel in North America - Up to $500

  • Travel Outside of North America - Up to $600

If you have further questions, please contact the committee chair(s).

Please be aware that a graduate student may receive this award once throughout a given graduate program course.