Travel
The objective of the Travel Policy is to ensure efficiency and fiscal accountability for university business travel. The University will pay for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for authorized business travel.
Relevant Guidelines and Policies
What's a Spend Authorization?
A "Travel Request" called "Spend Authorization" in Workday.
When is the Spend Authorization required? A Spend Authorization is required when the destination is 45 miles or more from the traveler’s headquarters or work location (as defined by the traveler’s flexible work agreement or HR documentation) and/or if travel expenses extend beyond mileage or parking. This applies even when there are no anticipated travel expenses or when a third party is paying for the travel expenses for duty of care purposes.
A Spend Authorization (SA) must be approved in Workday prior to the trip in order to process any payment using university procurement methods (e.g. PCard or PO).
University’s General
Please visit the Ohio State Travel webpage for resources like current travel guidelines, travel agency contact information, the university travel policy and other resources.
Rental Cars
- Please see Rental Car Information
- You are required to purchase LDW, CDW, DW, and Liability insurance.
- Rental cars expenses that do not include the required insurance cannot be paid with university funds.
Faculty and Staff Travel
(Including Graduate students and Post-Docs employed by the Physics Department)
All travel expenses paid with university funds must comply with the University’s Expenditures, PCard, Internal Controls, Purchasing, and Human Resources policies. Additional sponsor requirements and/or federal regulations may apply to expenditure charged to sponsored projects. Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for clarifications. Travelers need to familiarize themselves with the travel policy prior to making travel arrangements.
Spend Authorization/Travel Request
A Spend Authorization should be submitted as soon as you intend to take an OSU-funded trip. It is important to get the Spend Authorization with as much lead time before the trip as possible to leave time for review and approval of the travel.
- Domestic travel: 2 weeks
- International travel: 4 weeks
Submit your travel request using Workday. Please see the "Create a Spend Authorization" job aid for step-by-step directions on submitting a travel request.
Travel requests will be processed within a couple business days of submission. Upon approval, you will receive an email notification including your travel number so that you may proceed with making your travel arrangements.
- All travel requests require extended business purpose (Justification) supporting documentation upload documentation (PDF/Screenshot) at the time of submission:
Justification (aka extended Business Purpose of trip) A statement that explains the reason behind the business travel, this should include the reason of the trip(who, what, when, where, and why), and how/why this is necessary to fulfill the goals of the university or the research dates and research titles.- No acronyms should be used, please spell out all abbreviations.
- Examples satisfactory JUSTIFICATION: Attend the March American Physical Society Meeting, March 14-18, 2022, in Chicago Illinois to learn about advances in the field and meet potential collaborators.
- Travel dates, as a business standard, it is generally advisable to allow 1 travel day for domestic and 2 travel days for international on the front end of business travel, while allowing 1 travel day on the back end for both domestic and international travel.
- Email approval from your advisor/PI approving the trip and the funding source information for the trip i.e., worktags, grant number, etc.
- Conference schedule or meeting invitation to backup dates and location, PDF/screenshot, website links are not acceptable since they can become obsolete by the time of audit.
- Agenda and itinerary details that justify meals calculation (if not available, note it on the request).
- Expense line estimate documentation when the cost exceeds an average costs.
- Travel Comparison Form and quotes to demonstrate cost comparison when personal travel is added to business (see details "Prepayments and Reimbursement/Expense Reports" section below).
Third-Party Payments
- Prepayments are not allowed if there will be payment of expenses or reimbursement to the traveler by a third party. If any expenses are expected to be reimbursed by another institution, please specify in the justification what expenses or amounts that you expect to receive, you will need to pay out of pocket and request reimbursement from the third party.
- If third party is paying for the full trip and no OSU reimbursement is expected, a spend authorization is still required to be submitted and approved pre-trip for duty of care purposes.
Other Helpful Job Aids:
Ohio State requires you to use university travel partners to reserve flights and car rentals. We also have options to prepay other travel expenses; however, you no longer need to wait until you return from a trip to submit a reimbursement request ("Expense Report" in Workday). Please see the following instructions on how these expenses can be prepaid.
Airfare
To book a flight with our designated travel agency, Anthony Travel, go to the OSU Travel Website, and from the "Book Online" dropdown menu, click on "Login to Concur." You can also contact them via email or phone if your itinerary is complex and need additional assistance.
- You have a lower fare outside of the Concur Booking Tool? Please contact Anthony Travel to request an Airfare Price Match and will review your request and respond within one business day.
- Anthony Travel also has the ability to split your transaction if you have business travel included with personal travel.
Please see the Concur Job Aids section on the Training, Reports, and Job Aids OSU Travel Website for Booking Airfare for Yourself resource guide for a walkthrough of the Concur booking tool.
Car Rental
University requires to use university’s contracted suppliers (National, Enterprise and Hertz are the preferred vendors) for rental car, which will include required insurances, Loss /Collision Damage Waiver (also known as DW, CDW and LDW), and any other protection for other unexpected incidents. Rental Car reservation can be done online at Rental Car Discounts or add a rental car reservation to your airfare quote as needed through Concur Booking Tool, this is not prepaid like the flight but it will secure the reservation with OSU regulations.
*See below ‘International Travel Requirements and Guidelines’ section for more information about Car Rental internationally.
Registration
This could be prepaid but you must request it from your admin person well in advance of the registration deadline. If you decide to pay with your personal funds, keep the receipt, and submit an expense report for reimbursement within 60 days of the expense being paid, do not have to wait for the trip to end, this can be submitted as soon spend authorization is fully approved.
Lodging
The university will permit lodging expense payment at reasonable single (room rate and taxes only) or conference rate. Payment should not exceed either the conference rate at the conference/convention site or twice the federal lodging rate (use location zip code) for the business travel location (not including taxes and additional surcharges). If lodging expense is 1.5 to 2 times the federal lodging rate and it’s not conference rate, additional information is required.
You can book your hotel through the conference website (if applicable), or book through Concur Booking Tool (only reservation) when booking your airfare, or any other booking tool. Hotel payment will be at the time of checking out with your personal credit card.
It is strongly recommended that all travelers have separate room accommodations, see the OSU Travel FAQs Lodging section for more information, and receipt must be itemized and for one person unless otherwise noted.
Cash Advance
Cash Advances may be the last option upon approval, discuss this with your group admin or department business office.
Accommodation Requests
If you need a travel accommodation, requests should be made through Ohio State's ADA Coordinator's Office.
Personal Travel in Conjunction with Business Travel
- Ohio State will only pay/reimburse expenses incurred at locations/times specific to the business purpose.
- Ohio State will not prepay any personal expenses unless documentation verifies there is no increase in cost.
- Cost variances in expenses such as airfare, car rental and lodging must be clearly documented.
All travel requests (spend authorization) submitted that include personal time in conjunction with business travel and/or mileage in place of flying require the Travel Comparison Form and all supporting documentation (flight comparisons, mileage maps, etc.). In addition, the ‘business time’ airfare quote will need to be run again the same day the actual airfare is purchased, keep this in your files for when expense gets reviewed, you will be asked for it.
Driving instead of Flying
The comparison is required when travelers prefer to drive instead of flying for trips outside of Ohio whether it is personal or car rental. This will determine if full cost of driving can be covered or reimbursement will only be up to the cost of the flying amount.
Comparison Form:
- ASC Travel Comparison Form (instructions on the form)
Important guidelines to follow when traveling internationally
Is your flight being paid by a grant?
Fly America Act applies to flights funded by federal grant or federal contract.
- Regarding the Fly America Act (49 U.S.C. 40118), a person traveling on funds provided by the U.S. Federal Government must use a U.S. flag carrier (an airline owned by an American company), regardless of cost or convenience.
- Common situation is airline ‘Code Share’ flights, so below is an example of allowable and unallowable on these type flights:
- For reference when traveling on grant funded trip, make sure to book a flight ticketed by an US carrier, flight can be operated by any airline, however flights must be ticketed by an American airline carrier.
- Code Share flights on US Carriers, operated by Foreign Carriers are allowable under the Fly America Act. The traveler is considered to be on a Code Share flight if they purchase a ticket from one carrier but flies on the aircraft carrier of another airline.
- Allowable: AA 1234 operated by AC 4321 (AA = American Airlines, AC = Air Canada)
- Unallowable: AC 4321 operated by AA 1234
- Please to reach out to us at or-travel@osu.edu before purchasing airfare for assistance about special conditions on a grant.
Global Health and Safety
University is committed to promoting the health, safety and security of students, faculty and staff traveling internationally with university support. The Office of International Affairs’ Global Health and Safety team collaborates with other university units to provide health and safety information and support to university travelers.
Students traveling to international locations for academic or co-curricular purposes are required to enroll in the university’s supplemental travel insurance.
- Faculty and Staff cost, all faculty and staff are automatically covered by this blanket insurance and assistance program. You do not need to enroll to be covered, but you do need to follow the steps outlined below to set up your Crisis24 account. The cost of the insurance and assistance program is covered by the Ohio State Office of Enterprise Risk Management.
- Graduate student cost should be covered as part of the business trip cost, the cost depends on the duration of travel, grad students or support admin will need to enter a requisition (supplier: SPL-0000220 Global Education Traveler Insurance), then the Travel Registration. On this registration form, they will have to provide the RQ# and some other information.
*Contact your group admin for any additional questions.
Does your trip require car rental internationally?
The university requires to use university’s contracted suppliers (National, Enterprise and Hertz are the preferred vendors) for rental car, however International rental car rates and insurance requirements will vary by oversees destination and may not match domestic rates and other provisions provided by the Agreement Summary for Business Rentals. Additional fees and insurance requirements may be applicable to the country/region laws and in most countries the required insurances (LDW and CDW) are not included and must be purchased in addition to the rental rate to meet OSU Travel Policy(link is external) requirements, therefore when reserving internationally (including Canada and Mexico), contact the applicable rental agency or travel@osu.edu to determine whether insurance coverage is included in the rate.
Rental Car reservation can be done online at Rental Car Discounts or add a rental car reservation to your airfare quote as needed through Concur Booking Tool, this is not prepaid like the flight but it will secure the reservation with OSU regulations.
Be aware:
- Renting a car because it’s more convenient than any other method of transportation is consider “personal” choice and any additional cost may need to be covered out of pocket or Faculty university funds, if allowed.
- Economy size must be chosen unless a reason for larger size is provided. If would like a larger car without just because personal preference, a cost comparison can be done to reimburse the cheaper option, economy vs larger size.
- Keep all records (rental car cost, insurance provided, gas/diesel receipts, vehicle status checking out/in documentation, and any other useful documentation) in case car rental company used may bring any additional issues or extra charges after car is returned.
- Personal Credit Card (with renter's name embossed on card) will be needed for payment. OSU Department or Service Center PCards will not be accepted.
If a third party is reimbursing for the car rental, we recommend using the university vendors and make to include required insurance, LDW and CDW, and any other protection for other unexpected incidents.
According to the latest travel policy update, you no longer need to wait to request reimbursement; however, "The traveler must submit an expense report with itemized receipts and other applicable supporting documentation within 60 days of the expense being paid or incurred." Please see the "Create an Expense Report" job aid in the Administrative Resource Center for step-by-step directions to request a reimbursement.
Meals/Per Diem
- Full Per Diem: look up the federal rate for the city/cities you will be traveling to on the GSA for Domestic locations and Federal site for International locations. For this option the amount is set amount and cannot be modified.
- Reduced/Partial Per Diem: specify the flat rate amount you'd like to receive each day in place of full per diem. (This is submitted in the Workday Spend Authorization under "actual meal” expense item and with the memo indicating “reduced/partial per diem will be claimed” as there is not a selection for "partial per diem", and then use the spreadsheet template for calculating meal costs for reimbursement.)
- Decline all per diem for entire trip (add note on the spend authorization).
- Reimbursement of actual meal expenses by submitting itemized receipts, we do not recommend this option.
Car Rental
Include this expense in the expense report for reimbursement along with the details receipt form the car rental agency.
Lodging
- Receipt must be itemized and for one person unless otherwise noted.
- The university will permit payment of lodging expenses at reasonable single (room rate and taxes only) or conference rate.
- It is strongly recommended that all travelers have separate room accommodations.
Ground Transportation
- This includes expenses for taxis, Uber, Lyft, etc. Receipts are required for Uber/Lyft.
Note: Worktags from the Spend Authorization may not carry over to the expense report automatically, please check the SA and manually enter the same ones before submitting expense report.
Spend Authorization Training, Videos and Travel FAQ:
The university's Administrative Resource Center has some training and videos about Travel Authorization and Expensing Overview.
- Introduction to Business Travel at OSU (10 minutes video)
- Business Travel Life Cycle (2 hrs. video)
- Travel FAQ
Guest Travel
All guest travel should be submitted to your admin person as soon as the guest has accepted our invitation to visit campus. Please email the following details to process the Spend Authorization for Non-Worker and secure the completed supplier form guest’s travel request. A fillable form is also linked below, with fields for all of the guest travel information listed here.
- Guest’s Name (as it appears on the government issued form of identification that will be shown at the airport).
- Guest’s email address.
- Guest's cell phone number.
- Guest's date of birth.
- Funding Source.
- Business Purpose: (Name of guest) will be traveling to The Ohio State University to (description of activity).
- Departure Date.
- Return Date.
Important: University policy allows for travel to begin and end one day before and after the business purpose. If it is necessary to travel beyond these dates, please explain why. If personal travel is involved, please provide with the dates related to business purpose + personal dates, since admin person will need to complete an ASC Travel Comparison Form and applicable quotes are required, details above on section “Prepayments and Reimbursement/Expense Reports”.
- Departure City: (If not departing/returning from Columbus please explain why not)
- Return City.
- Total Estimated Cost: $
- Airfare/Personal Auto Mileage/Rental: $
- Does airfare need prepay?
- Does lodging need prepay?
- Hotel: $
(Please give a preferred hotel and a second choice so that a reservation can be made)
- Mileage = total miles * $.70 : $
- Rental Car: $ Gas: $
- Shuttle, Taxi, etc.: $
- Parking: $
- Business Meal(s): $
- Honorarium: $
- Other: $
NOTE: If driving (rental car or mileage) admin person will need ASC Travel Comparison Form and applicable quotes are required, details above on section “Prepayments and Reimbursement/Expense Reports”.