Revision Date
Version
1
Key Change or Comment
New Policy
Approved by
Travel for Course/Unit and Non-Course Related Travel (non-student)
A. Purpose
This policy and associated procedure is established to provide guidance to College of Health and Human
Services faculty, staff and administrators with regard to processing course and non-course related travel.
This policy governs travel for all employees (including student employees) within the College of Health
and Human Services.
B. Guiding University Policies and Procedures
UNCW Policy 5.177: Travel Authorization for State Employees
UNCW Policy 5.178: Travel Advances
UNCW Policy 5.179: Travel, Transportation Modes and Transportation-Related Expenses
UNCW Policy 5.180: Travel, Lodging and Meals
UNCW Policy 5.181: Travel – Registration Fees and Other Travel Expenses
UNCW Policy 5.182: Travel Reimbursements
UNCW Policy 5.183: Travel – Charge Cards
UNCW Policy 5.190: Travel Card Program
UNCW Appendix A Rate Table – Transportation, Lodging, and Meals
http://www.uncw.edu/travel/
C. General Roles and Responsibilities
1. Employee (Traveler):
Course/Unit Related Travel: The employee/traveler will be responsible for ensuring that they sign
an electronic travel authorization through E-Travel prior to their first course related travel.
Additionally, the employee will be responsible for tracking monthly travel on the “CHHS Mileage Log”
document, and submitting this form by the schedule outlined on the CHHS Resource Management
Sharepoint website.
Non-Course Related Travel: The employee/traveler will be responsible for:
(a) making an initial request to their School Director/Dean by completing the “CHHS Travel
Authorization Form”;
(b) upon approval from their respective Dean/Director, the Employee should complete the travel
process by making appropriate reservations;
(c) the employee should deliver the completed, approved travel request form to the CHHS Business
Core Service Team;
(d) during travel, the employee should maintain appropriate records in preparation for the travel
reimbursement;
(e) upon the completion of the travel experience, the employee should deliver all necessary original
receipts and documentation to the Business Core Service Team for travel reimbursement
processing; and,
(f) the employee should review the travel reimbursement request in E-Travel to ensure that all
expenditures are reimbursed prior to approval of the reimbursement request.
2. School Director/Dean: This administrator is responsible for approving the nature of the travel request
and the maximum expenditure amount. Approval at this level represents that the nature of the travel
supports the academic or strategic mission of the unit; the amount of the travel aligns with the fiscal year
spending plan for the identified unit; and, to the best knowledge of the approver, funds exist in the
identified budget (this will be confirmed by the Business Services Core Team prior to processing). In the
case of course related travel, this administrator is responsible for making the workload allocation that
requires course related travel.
3. CHHS Business Services Core Team: This team will assume primary responsibility for assessing the
travel request to determine if appropriate process was followed and documentation was provided to
process the request, and taking appropriate action steps to ensure that requested delivery dates are met.
Staff may/will review all requests, consult with the UNCW Travel Office when necessary, assign appropriate
FOPAL information based on the approved budget, enter travel authorizations, enter travel
reimbursements, record the expense against the appropriate budget for internal and external reporting, and
maintain records associated with all travel within the College.
4. Director of Resource Management: The Director of Resource Management will serve as fund approver
(Budget Authority) for all funds in the College. This person will be responsible for reviewing all travel
authorizations entered into the UNCW E-Travel system. Approval at this level represents that, to the best of
the ability of the CHHS, the travel was requested in accordance with UNCW policy, that fund and account
number are appropriate, and that the expense was properly recorded in each budget. In the absence of the
Director of Resource Management, the Senior Associate Dean will serve as Fund Approver.
5. CHHS Dean: Approval will be required by this administrator (or designee) if the travel requires
additional funds beyond those approved in the identified budget. Additional approval may be required if
the nature of a travel may require additional explanation with Academic Affairs or the University.
Notification will be provided to this administrator for any travel requiring expense to be recorded against
two fiscal years. This administrator reserves the right to review any request for travel and determine if the
travel should be processed.
D. Policy and Guiding Principles
General Information:
1. Visa Travel Card may be obtained by permanent employees for airfare, rental car, registration
and lodging (room rate & tax only) by requesting the card through the appropriate School Director
and will be issued at the discretion of the Dean. You must attend a training to obtain a travel card.
It is the employee’s responsibility to reconcile their own travel card. See travel card website below:
http://www.uncw.edu/travel/visatravelcard.html
2. All travel reimbursements (once approved by the employee in E Travel) should be considered a
“Final Reimbursement”, and the employee should not expect to receive any additional
reimbursement for their travel activity.
3. Failure to comply with any portion of this policy will require a memorandum of non-compliance
to be written by the Traveler, submitted through the employee’s (traveler’s) supervisor, to the
CHHS Director of Resource Management. The memorandum should contain: (1) an explanation of
the policy infraction, (2) any “special” circumstances that substantiates the request being
processed, and (3) actions or steps that will be taken to avoid the infraction in the future. The
following factors will be utilized to evaluate if Non-Compliant Travel Requests will be processed:
(1) the circumstances that lead to the non-compliance, (2) the frequency of non-compliant requests
by the individual, (3) the support of the School Director in the non-compliant request, (4) the
severity of compliance violation, (4) the ability of staff to process the request given other workload,
and (5) the potential risk to the College or School(s) associated with processing the non-compliant
request.
(a) The Director of Resource Management will evaluate non-compliant request in
consultation with the appropriate School Director, and will communicate with the
employee.
(b) The Employee will have the opportunity to appeal the initial decision regarding noncompliant requests to the Senior Associate Dean of the College. The decision of the Senior
Associate Dean will be considered a final decision.
Course/Unit Travel: This is routine, instate travel for the purpose of clinical/internship supervision,
administrative travel associated with distance education or the general mission of the unit. Any nonroutine travel would be categorized as “Other Travel” (see below).
1. Travel authorizations for course/program related travel will be submitted at the beginning of
the fiscal year based on the request of the Director/Dean. The traveling employee does not need to
initiate this process.
2. For monthly mileage, clinical/internship travel please use the attached mileage log below and
refer to the policy below:
http://www.uncw.edu/travel/employees/personal.html.
3. For monthly, routine clinical travel, original mileage logs are required for reimbursement. A
Travel Request Form is NOT required for course related travel.
4. Mileage logs are due to the BSCT by the 2nd Business Day of the Month following the travel (i.e.
for travel between Sept 1st and Sept 30th, mileage logs are due by the 2nd Business Day of October).
Professional Development/Other Travel: This is instate/outstate travel necessary for dissemination of
scholarly work, the professional development of the employee or the general mission of the unit.
1. The Travel Request Form should be completed by employee and submitted to the appropriate
Director/Dean for approval prior to travel. Cost estimates can be used for calculation for
submission to the Director/Dean, however if actual prices exceed the amount approved, additional
approval may be necessary prior to reimbursement and may result in the employee not being
reimbursed for the portion of the travel not preapproved.
2. No reservations, registration or airfare should be purchased or reserved without the Travel
Request Form approved by the Director/Dean and submitted to the BSCT.
3. Approved Travel Request Forms are due to the BSCT 10 business days prior to travel date for
any travel that will not require the University to prepay expenses. Failure to have approved travel
request form submitted within 10 business days will require a non-compliance memorandum, and
could result in your travel request not being processed.
4. Approved Travel Request Forms are due to the BSCT 20 business days prior to the registration
date for any travel that will require Prepaid Expenses. Failure to have approved travel request
form submitted within 20 business days will result in the University not being able to issue any
prepaid expenses, and therefore, all prepaid requirements (registration, airfare, etc.) will be the
responsibly of the traveler. At this point, number 3 of this section will apply.
5. If airfare is required for your travel requests, you may obtain airfare in two ways:
Method 1: You may obtain on your own airfare through any method you choose (Expedia,
Travelocity, Airline website, etc.), and you will be reimbursed for your airfare expense at the
conclusion of your travel. Please note that UNCW will ONLY reimburse a coach airfare and any
associated “agency service fee”; insurance or any other fee not designated as an “agency service
fee” will NOT be reimbursed. Questions about if an expense can be reimbursed should be
posed to the BSCT prior to airfare being purchased.
Method 2: You may contact one of the University approved agency vendors to obtain airfare
ticketing. When airfare is agreed upon, the agency must send the confirmation email to BCST
for submission into the UNCW travel system. Be aware there is an agency service fee to obtain
airline tickets. Approved Travel Agencies can be found here:
http://www.uncw.edu/travel/employees/airfare.html
6. If a vehicle (personal or state motor pool) is required for your travel request, refer to the policy
below:
http://www.uncw.edu/travel/employees/personal.html
7. For any expenditure that is not prepaid, the University will only issue one reimbursement to the
employee after the conclusion of the travel activity. In order to receive reimbursement, the
employee must submit all original receipts to BSCT for submission into the Travel Reimbursement
system within 5 business day of the conclusion of their travel. Failure to submit travel
reimbursement documents within 5 business days will require a non-compliance memorandum,
and could result in your travel reimbursement not being processed.
E. Procedure & Workflow
Course Related
Travel.pdf
Non-Course Related
Travel.pdf
F. Associated Form(s)
CHHS Mileage
Log.xlsx
Travel Request
Form.pdf