Guidelines to Receive Reimbursement from a URCW Travel Grant
High Point University > Undergraduate Research and Creative Works > Guidelines to Receive Reimbursement from a URCW Travel Grant

Guidelines to Receive Reimbursement for Travel from your URCW Travel Grant
(updated 9/10/25)

Important things to know:

  • Applications should be complete to be reviewed.
  • Students who are supported by a URCW grant are required to present their work at High-PURCS, HPU’s on-campus symposium.
  • Students must be undergraduates at the time of the conference to receive support.  However, students who graduate in early May can receive funds to attend a conference before May 31.
  • All travel supported by URCW funds should ultimately help promote academics and undergraduate research and creativity on our campus.
  • Students who request funds just to attend a conference should expect to be presenting work in the future.
  • Students traveling to the same event are expected to share housing and mileage where appropriate. Students who have individual receipts when they could share expenses will be reimbursed at a shared rate.
  • When transportation is available, any separate arrangements will be self-funded.

While you are traveling:

  • You must collect itemized receipts. A credit card receipt is not enough.  Include the tip on the receipt when you have tipped for services connected to the receipt (e.g.  Uber)
  • Take pictures that can be included in our newsletter

Within two weeks of your return you must submit the following to the URCW Office:

Travel Expense Report form:
This form is required by the Business Office and reflects what items are reimbursed and to whom. It won’t reflect guidelines and requirements specific to the Office of Undergraduate research and Creative Works so most forms should be accompanied by the URCW Excel Worksheet that helps identify important information for URCW.

Regarding the Travel Expense Report form:

  • Faculty who receive pre-payment should submit a Travel Expense Report form that includes items pre-paid to the faculty, along with all the receipts.
  • There should be separate Travel Expense Reports for each individual requesting reimbursement for expenses they paid directly. The money is dispersed to the one name on the Travel Expense Report form. Faculty should not be collecting money to reimburse students.
  • Tips on the Travel Expense Form refer only to those in which there was no other fee (e.g. porters). Tips tied to services you paid for should be included on the service receipt (e.g. Ubers’)
  • Any repayment of unused advanced funds must be returned as a check made out to High Point University.
  • Reimbursements will not be processed until students who are presenting work have signed up on the mentee registry.

Receipts

  • The value of each receipt must match a value included in the Travel Expense Report form.
  • If items on the Travel Expense Report reflect summed totals you must submit the URCW Group Grant Excel worksheet that shows how the receipts/numbers are added together.
  • Receipts must be scanned and put together in one single document. Show if the receipts were summed. If the recipient’s cost was only part of a receipt, indicate that on the receipt.
  • Expenses that will not be reimbursed include:
    • Charges for in-room videos, mini-bar charges, telephone charges, damage, etc.
    • Airline extras such as early boarding fees and special seats
    • Hotel extras other than wi-fi
    • Baggage fees for trips shorter than 3 nights
    • Food and beverages
    • Tips over 20%
    • Uber or taxi travel not related to getting to the conference; thus, receipts should show points of travel, date, and time of day.
    • Unfortunately, you cannot be reimbursed without appropriate receipts
  • If traveling by car, in lieu of a receipt, please print route of travel map(s) from GPS and add up the mileage indicated. Car travel will be reimbursed using current HPU reimbursement rates (you can find the most updated copy of this form on Blackboard under Organizations/Business Office- Purchasing/Travel Policy). There is university insurance so we don’t cover extra insurance. We do not accept odometer readings for computing reimbursement for mileage. We do not reimburse gas unless driving a rental.

Excel Worksheet to accompany the Travel Expense Form
Any grant that covers more than one individual must include the Group Grant Excel Worksheet to show costs per person since each person has a personal limit. The Business Office just needs to reconcile all receipts but the URCW Office needs to document expenses per individual.

Documentation of student participation:
Document student participation. Evidence of meeting participation can be a copy of any formal notification that the student presentation was accepted for presentation or a copy of the conference program listing the student’s work.

A brief digital follow-up report that summarizes the event.
Include a brief summary of the event. It does not need to be more than a paragraph. Photos are encouraged. The summary will be included in our monthly newsletter.

All paperwork for reimbursement should be submitted here: https://airtable.com/appgglRrxRRlg3xyZ/shrrFKIjF9ho3h8Yl

All university policies regarding travel, expenditures, reimbursement, and behavior must be followed. Please be aware that the HPU Code of Conduct and Honor Code are in full effect during travel sponsored by the university. If students are found to be in violation of these codes, any URCW-approved funds can be revoked.