How much do you get for conference travel?

[simpleSimon]

I apologize if this has already been asked and answered, but how much money will your department/college sponsor for conference travel?  1000? 2000? 3000? More?  Are the funds available to all your faculty on an annual basis or can you only access this support every couple years?  Is the financial support restricted to those who are presenting at a conference or can anyone attending get that support?  Can your faculty get support for attending more than one conference per year?

I routinely see registration fees in the $900-$1200 range.  If you add travel and hotel fees anything under $2000 doesn't seem like anywhere near enough.  That said there is no way my school can dole out unlimited support for conference travel for all faculty every single year.

In the past we have had faculty ask to "bank" or save their conference support for 1-3 years so they can get full support for a single future conference, but the university does not permit that.  If you do not use whatever amount they offer then it is simply gone.

[onthefringe]

R1, state flagship, life sciences. None. In the first four years after hiring you could pay these kinds of things from your startups if that counts? And all graduate students are guaranteed a one time payment of up to $500 towards a meeting...

[Puget]

Private R1 - If you have grants, start-up or IDC recovery funds, you are expected to use those. If you have none, you can apply for up to $3k/year for conferences, professional development and/or research expenses.

[jerseyjay]

My public regional comprehensive university is contractually obligated to proved $1000 per year for conference travel. In 2020 it stopped providing this (as part of a broader austerity program, including furlough days) and in 2022, when the administration imploded, it again stopped giving this (along with massive layoffs and pay cuts). There is talk of bringing it back, but so far nothing. Now it is possible to get something, but it is on a case by case basis and not guaranteed.

The $1000 was like airline food--everybody complained about it till it disappeared. I presented at a major disciplinary conference in 2019 in the midwest, and it covered a good chunk, but not all of the cost (since this conference required $200 annual membership plus $100 registration plus airfare plus hotel). This year I presented at a similar conference within driving distance, and it still ended costing me at least $500 (between membership, registration, discount hotel, not to mention food) to present for 15 minutes to an audience of 4 people.

[Sun_Worshiper]

$3500

[Parasaurolophus]

$0

[dinomom]

SLAC $1800 for the year. You can use next year's budget too if you go over, but this administration really calls you on it after that.

[Kron3007]

We have no dedicated travel funds, but do have about $2000 for professional development that can be used for this or a number of other things. It can carry over, but has a cap.

Other than that, it would come out of research grants.

[sinenomine]

Mid-range private: $1500 for undergrad faculty and $2500 for grad faculty.

[simpleSimon]

We have no dedicated travel funds, but do have about $2000 for professional development that can be used for this or a number of other things. It can carry over, but has a cap.

Other than that, it would come out of research grants.

If you know it, what is the cap?

All of your comments have been very helpful.  Thank you.

[Kron3007]

We have no dedicated travel funds, but do have about $2000 for professional development that can be used for this or a number of other things. It can carry over, but has a cap.

Other than that, it would come out of research grants.

If you know it, what is the cap?

All of your comments have been very helpful.  Thank you.

We can carry over 2 years, so that there could be a maximum of three years available at one time. It is actually just over $2000 CAD, so actually closer to $1500 USD per year.

[Liquidambar]

Officially, none.  However, in a typical year you can get about $1K with department chair approval if not everyone asks for it.  If that's not enough, you can apply to the dean for more.  The dean usually expects to split the costs with another entity, so I don't know how well it goes if the department says no and you also have no grants.

[Ruralguy]

We only get about 1000 more or less automatically, though the Dean will kick in about 1000 more if you are presenting at the conference. Also, we can apply for up to 3K in summer funds which can be all salary, all travel,  or some combination of both.

[Hibush]

R1--mostly none. There is probably some support if you ask around enough.

The expectation is to get funds from research grants.

We have travel rules that keep the expenditures from being extravagant, but I expect those limits resulted from staff who use university funds unwisely. For Federal grants, we have to follow Federal limits.

My cost for travel, registration and food and lodging has been between $2500 and $3500 per conference (~4 days) the last few years. I'm pretty frugal, but am getting a single room, which raises the cost considerably.

[bio-nonymous]

It's funny, I am always complaining about my current situation because it is not as good as where I moved from. After reading comments from others in this thread I need to reevaluate and get some gratitude in my attitude. We get funds for 1 conference per year as part of professional development funds (which also pays for professional licenses for the clinicians, etc.), beyond that it is grant funding. Here, start-up cannot be used for travel.