Travel Policies

Updated February 9, 2024

The travel team is responsible for approving and processing travel expense statements. Maintaining fiscal integrity and compliance is a priority; the travel team reviews statements to ensure compliance with University and Research Sponsor guidelines.

Please read the travel Rules & Procedures BEFORE planning ANY travel. It is extremely important that you review these procedures to avoid any issues when traveling or claiming travel expenses.

Important policy updates effective immediately:

  • Teaching Faculty must provide a statement in the comments section of CONCUR regarding teaching impacts of the travel request (see 1 below).
  • Airfare bookings through third party vendors are unallowable (see 3 below).

The full information, updates and reminders are below:

1) A travel request approved by the department is required ahead of all UMD business-related travel, including zero-cost trips, at least 5 days in advance. 

  • Employees and students on payroll must submit their requests through Concur.
  • UMD guests and students not on payroll may submit their requests through this link.
  • Faculty with instructional duties (including class delivery, student advising, and supervision of course staff) must provide one of the following statements in the Comments section of their Travel Requests:
    • This trip will not impact my instructional duties.
    • This trip will impact my instructional duties. The following plans have been made for these to be covered while I’m on travel. [Description of plans for covering class delivery, student advising, and/or supervision of course staff].

2) Travelers are responsible for providing their own reimbursement documentation. Valid receipts must be provided for both T-Card purchases and out-of-pocket expenses.

  • Valid receipts must show the last four digits of the credit card used for payment.
    • If a receipt does not show the four digits, travelers may additionally submit an official bank/card statement PDF to accompany it. We cannot accept screenshots of bank transactions.
    • We cannot accept standalone bank statements with no receipt except in the case of purchases less than $75.
  • Hotel receipts must be in the form of an official hotel folio generated at checkout. We cannot accept email confirmations of bookings as they do not provide a breakdown of costs nor indicate the last four digits of a credit card.
    • If you did not receive an official folio/itemized receipt at checkout, please contact the hotel directly for a copy.
  • Conference registration invoices must show the last four digits of the credit card used for payment. Invoices that do not display this information must be accompanied by an official bank statement.

3) Please note that airfare bookings made through 3rd party applications such as Expedia, Kayak, and Booking.com are prohibited by UMD Travel Services.

  • AirBnB bookings are allowed as long as it is demonstrated that the total cost is comparable to or cheaper than hotel prices in the area. You cannot use your TCard to pay for AirBnB reservations. You must use a personal credit card and request reimbursement afterward.

4) We cannot reimburse travel rewards points.

  • If airfare was purchased with a combination of personal funds and rewards points, we can only reimburse the former amount. The reward amount cannot be reimbursed.
  • Any receipts that include flight credit must be accompanied by documentation of the original flight from which credit was awarded.

5) Please submit expense reports within 15 days of trip end dates.

  • Employees and students on payroll may submit their Expense Report and receipts through Concur.
  • UMD guests and non-employee students may submit a list of expenses and accompanying receipts to MEtravel@umd.edu.
  • Late reports may be subject to taxation.

6) For travel assistance, please see the following list of resources:

7) For travel emergencies, please contact CTP, the travel agency officially partnered with UMD. They can be reached at umd@ctptravelservices.com or at 833-620-0714 (overseas: 225-224-3094).

  • Rates are charged at: $3.50-5.00 for Concur bookings, $25.00 for domestic assistance, $27.00 for international assistance.

Please see the following steps for a reminder of travel procedure:1) Submit a travel request at least 5 days before travel.

2) Retain all receipts during travel, except for meals that will be reimbursed at the federal per diem rate.3) Submit an expense report within 15 days of returning from travel. Late expense reports may be subject to taxation.

For a comprehensive look at UMD Travel policies and procedures, please visit https://purchase.umd.edu/travel.

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