Travel Principles

Owned by Chad
Last updated: Mar 14, 2023

Corresponding Policy: See ‘Travel’ policy. 
Corresponding Forms: Travel Authorization, Travel Advance
Process- Finding out More Information on Travel

Basic Principles of Travel

The university has several fundamental travel guidelines:

  1. University travel shall be allowed only when the travel is essential to the normal discharge of official duties.
  2. Travel is to be conducted in the most efficient and cost-effective manner, resulting in the best value to the university.
  3. Each department is charged with the responsibility for determining the necessity and justification for travel, including the selected method of travel. The justification of travel or business purpose must be explained when completing a Travel Authorization. See below section on Business Purpose.
  4. Departments shall make every effort possible to minimize personnel time spent on out-of-state travel.
  5. Departments and university personnel must comply with all provisions of the travel policy. Traveler will only be reimbursed according to policy. If policy is not followed, any additional charges the traveler incurred that fall outside of the travel policy will not be reimbursed.

Business Purpose

All Travel Authorizations and Reimbursements submitted must include a business purpose. The business purpose serves as justification for travel. The nature of the business needs to be described in detail for each destination. IRS defines business purpose as “the expense or the business benefit gained or expected to be gained.” Descriptions should give enough information to determine the benefit.

Individuals who travel where no formal agenda is provided (i.e. conference and or workshop) must attach a daily itinerary to document a business purpose for all days. The itinerary should include dates, name of the organization involved (no acronyms please), names and positions of individuals, places monuments or institutions visited; or other descriptions as appropriate and a description of the activity itself. The description of the activity should be specific and mention, for example, research topic, paper title etc.

Inadequate descriptions:

  • I need to attend a conference
  • I need to research some stuff for my grant
  • I need to recruit students
  • I need to go visit another college
  • I need to be a speaker at a function

Adequate description:

  • I need to attend the Oregon Women in Higher Education conference in order to learn new coaching techniques for my department
  • I need to map the Redwood Forest for my xxx grant focused on this area
  • I need to go to Portland Community College and Mt. Hood Community College to recruit potential students for PSU
  • I need to visit Oregon State University’s travel department in order to gain insight on how they conduct web travel.
  • I need to attend the Environmental Sciences conference to give a presentation on the Willamette River project in order to have PSU recognized as one of the leaders in the industry.

Receipts/Documentation

Expenditures requiring receipts must be original and itemized. Receipts should show the vendor name, the dollar amount, the date, an itemization of what was purchased, and ship to addresses (for online purchases). When an itemized receipt cannot be provided, proof of payment is required. Proof of payment can include credit card statement, copy of front and back of canceled check etc. These receipts must be attached to Travel Reimbursement.

Unacceptable receipts:

  • Invoice (this does not show payment was made)
  • Quote
  • Purchase order
  • Confirmation of purchase not reflecting amount paid
  • Registration form
  • Credit card receipts that are not itemized

Receipts are to be attached to Travel Reimbursements for the following expenses:

  • Miscellaneous expenses over $25
  • Out of state transportation over $75
  • Conference registration
  • Car rental
  • Gas receipts for rental cars
  • Visa and passport expenses over $25
  • Airline baggage fees over $30
  • Hotel folios for conferences if over per diem
  • Hosting
  • Airfare, if purchased on own

Receipts are not required to be attached for the following expenses:

  • Any miscellaneous expenses under $25
  • Any out of state transportation under $75
  • Meals claimed at or under per diem
  • Lodging claimed at or under per diem

Air Travel when Travel is on a Grant

Fly America Act:
When federal funds are used, provisions of the Fly America Act are applicable and foreign travel is restricted to a U.S. air carrier unless extenuating circumstances apply and are approved in advance by Research and Strategic Partnerships (RSP Office). Additional information on the Fly America Act is available at http://www.tvlon.com/resources/FlyAct.html. If there are any questions relating to air travel when travel is on a grant, please contact RSP directly.

Methods of Payment for Travel Services

Authorized travel expenses may be paid in several ways:

  • Directly reimbursed to the authorized claimant via Travel Reimbursement, approved by authorized department approver, and check or ACH generated through Banner.
  • Directly reimbursed to the authorized claimant prior to the trip via travel/operating advance by completing an Advance Request.
  • Directly paid in advance or after-the-fact to the travel vendor through FIS via PSU contract;
  • Direct payment to the travel vendor through any of PSU's contracted travel agencies.
  • PSU Group Travel Cards (e.g. Athletic Team Travel, Geology Field Trips, Student Activities and Leadership Programs) may be used to charge travel services. The Cards for these areas are associated with team and group travel, therefore, authorized to charge travel-related costs.
  • Other departmental Procurement Cards may be used for conference registrations. Except as explained in the P-Card policy regarding hotel reservations, departments are not to use their Procurement Cards for other travel-related services.

Personal Funds
An employee can pay for travel through the use of their personal funds. In this instance the traveler would pay for various travel expenses using their personal funds i.e. checking, savings, credit card. Once the travel is completed, the employee would complete a Travel Reimbursement and attach all needed receipts/documentation and/or claim per diem. Once the Travel Reimbursement has been approved, a check or direct deposit will be generated for the Claimant.

Direct Bill
The preferred method of payment is to utilize Direct Billing as much as possible. Direct Bill is done through one of PSU’s contracted agencies. Airfare contracted agencies include Azumano, Uniglobe and Journeys; Car rental contracted agencies include Hertz, Enterprise, Motorpool and Zipcar. In this case, the employee would provide the agency with their index number. The agency would then bill PSU for the expenses. Campus Accounting Services would generate a payment to the agency and input a Journal Voucher in the system to redistribute the expenses to the appropriate indexes. In this case the employee does not need to come up with the funds for airfare or car rental up front and seek reimbursement later, but instead, the charges would come directly out of their department funds.

Corporate Card
US Bank Corporate VISA Card - Employees are expected to apply through the Campus Accounting Services office for a US Bank Corporate VISA Card which is used to charge travel or business related expenses. This card is available to any .5FTE or greater employee who may have reimbursable expenses. The card is issued in the name of the employee who is solely liable for charges made to the card. The full amount on the US Bank monthly statement is due upon receipt. A travel reimbursement must be completed and submitted for approval.  Once reimbursement is given to claimant, it is their responsibility to make full payment to US Bank. US Bank assesses late charges in accordance with the charge card agreement. US Bank cards are valid only while cardholders are employees; a card becomes invalid on termination or retirement (unless the retired faculty member anticipates further business travel).  Corporate Cards cannot be used for any personal charges.  P-Card department will check and monitor all non-business expenses and the cardholder will be subject to audit for non compliance. 

  1. Revoking PSU Issued Credit Cards- PSU encourages the use of P-Cards and Corporate cards to facilitate purchasing and employee travel.  As a reminder, use of P-Cards and Corporate cards is strictly limited to payments for University business. Personal charges of any kind are not allowed.  Each designated employee is responsible for the proper use and management of PSU issued credit cards as described in the policy and procedures guide. PSU reserves the right to revoke card privileges for repeat offenses or abuse of the card guidelines.
  2. Cash Advances Using Corporate VISA Card - Employees' Corporate VISA Cards may be used to obtain cash advances before or during the trip through a world-wide network of ATMs or by going to any bank and making a cash withdrawal. 
    1. Corporate VISA cash advance service charge fees are equal to 2% of the cash advanced.  This is an allowable travel expense to be itemized on the travel reimbursement
    2. Cash advance limits are presently up to 20% of your monthly limit. For example: if your card limit is $3,500 per month, you would be allowed to withdraw up to $700 in cash per month.  Please contact the P-Card Coordinator at 5-3734 or email pcard@pdx.edu if you have individual questions or concerns regarding the cash advance limits.

Group Travel Card
A PSU department that conducts group or team travel could be eligible for a Group Travel Card; Group Travel Cards are issued to a department that regularly has group or team travel. The Group Travel card can be used to cover travel expenses for the group such as lodging and meals. These expenses flow through the p-card module and the Card Custodian would distribute the charges to appropriate account codes. In this case, none of the expenses placed on the card would need to be claimed on a Travel Reimbursement form. For questions regarding the Group Travel Card, please email pcard@pdx.edu.

Travel Advances

  1. Travel Advances can be requested. To request an advance, the employee will need to complete the Travel Advance Request form.
  2. Travel Advance Processing – Travel advances are to be requested at least 2 weeks prior to the trip and done as a part of the Travel Authorization request. In most cases, only one advance can be outstanding at a time. A new advance request cannot be submitted until the outstanding advance has been cleared. Travel advance requests will be paid to employees no longer than 2 weeks prior to the trip. If the trip is funded by Athletics, the Athletics Compliance Officer will need to approve the request prior to it routing to University Financial Services. If the trip is grant funded, the DRA/RSP will need to approve the request prior to it routing to University Financial Services for approval.
  3. Clearing Travel Advances – To clear a Travel Advance, claimant must submit a Travel Reimbursement along with attaching all relevant documentation. Reimbursements must be completed within 60 days from last date of travel.   If travel costs are less than the advance, the difference must be paid back to PSU by completing a Miscellaneous Deposit Form and bringing it, along with cash or check, to the Cashier’s Office. If travel costs are more than the advance, the difference will be paid to the traveler once the Travel Reimbursement is entered and approved.

Travel Paid by Outside Source

Outside Entities may reimburse a campus department, pay a service provider directly, or reimburse an employee for travel expenses related to PSU business. If the service provider is paid directly, or if reimbursement is made to an employee, PSU rules require that documentation of the arrangement should be maintained in campus travel records. To do this, the traveler submits a Travel Authorization that outlines the trip, its purpose, and shows no cost to the university. If the outside party reimburses the department, it should be accounted for as a reduction of expense (not revenue) using the same account code(s) as the original charge. This should be done by completing a Miscellaneous Deposit Form and given to the Cashiers Office to record. All travel being paid by an outside source, must still follow PSU travel policy and procedures.

Travel paid for by another Employee
If an employee is paying for travel on behalf of another employee, a memo must be submitted from the employee not claiming travel stating who paid for their travel, how much was paid, and that they will not be seeking reimbursement. This memo must be attached to the claimant’s Travel Reimbursement. In addition, when employees travel together, it may be expedient for one employee to pay and claim reimbursement for certain expenses of other employees. Reimbursement for multiple employees is only allowed when actual expenses are being reimbursed and are supported by receipts.

How to Seek Reimbursement

The PSU Travel Reimbursement is completed by either the traveler or delegate and submitted.  The assigned Approver will approve and the traveler will be paid via check or ACH through Banner. If an individual is not a PSU employee and or student and they do not have a vendor number, a W9 must be completed and submitted to Campus Accounting Services before reimbursement can be processed. 

Questions

Questions about travel policy, rules, rates, and interpretation call ext. 5-3733, or email travel@pdx.edu.