SPS Policy Guidelines for Travel and Expense Reimbursements
Applicable to the Full-Time Faculty Professional Development Fund and Dean's Research Grants
These rules are specific to SPS and supersede the general NYU Travel and Expense Policy.
Business Expenses: Travel
In order to take advantage of NYU’s scale and procure the best possible rates flights, rails and hotels should be booked using the NYU Travel and Expense solution, Concur, that can be accessed through the Travel & Expense tile of the NYU Home Dashboard. Travel booked outside of the NYU travel booking tool is discouraged.
- Frequent flier miles or reward points used to cover university expenses will not be reimbursed.
- Expenses made through third party payment sites such as Venmo, Zelle, PayPal (Personal Payment), Auction Sites will not be reimbursed.
Travel Advances
NYU no longer issues travel advances. If a faculty member uses a personal credit card for air travel, conference registration, hotels, etc. they cannot submit for reimbursement until after the event/travel has taken place. (Note this is an NYU Policy, implemented with switch to Concur).
Individual T&E Cards
NYU now issues Individual NYU T&E Payment Cards. These cards are paid directly by NYU avoiding any out-of-pocket expenses to card holders. Full-time faculty members that do a significant amount of travel can request a card. The card can then be used for approved travel and/or conference registration. Note that it takes 10-14 business days to issue a card, so they should request a card well in advance of any planned travel/purchases. (The Budget Office can provide detailed instructions for requesting a card through the Concur system.)
Per Diem
NYU SPS will not reimburse on a per diem basis. Actual daily expenses claimed should be reasonable and appropriate and typically should not be more than $75 USD/day for domestic travel and $125/day USD for international travel. When submitting for meals and incidentals, only actual costs supported by vendor receipts will be reimbursed.
Home Sharing / Rental Platforms (AirBnb, VRBO, etc)
Compared to hotels, fractional rentals such as AirBnB, VRBO, etc. present a greater risk to NYU affiliates from a life safety perspective.
- Home sharing/rental platform usage is permitted for NYU funded business travel, but its use is generally discouraged.
- The accommodations cost of a fractional rental are eligible for reimbursement. NYU will not reimburse or be responsible for costs or liabilities related to theft, damages or injury occurring at the fractional rental property.
- The use of a fractional rental is at the user’s own risk, and the user accepts personal responsibility for any incident that may occur during the stay.
- If booking fractional rentals, the cost must be equal to or less than a comparable hotel.
SPS will only reimburse for charges related to the actual cost of the rental and associated taxes, and will not reimburse any charges not included in the rental price related to insurance, added cleaning fees, security deposits, booking fees, etc.
General
The Faculty member has the option of preparing their own expense report for Professional Development and Dean’s Research Grants. However, prior to submitting it, they must contact the SPS Budget Office, for a compliance review. Alternately, they can continue to use the SPS Budget Office as a resource in preparing the expense report (sps.budget@nyu.edu).
The expenses that are being submitted for reimbursement must be consistent with the expenses included in their approved Professional Development Fund or Deans’ Research Grant application. Any expense items that were not in the approved request must be reviewed by the Office of Faculty Affairs and approved as an amendment to the original request. (Note that even if an NYU Individual T&E Payment Card is used they are still required to submit proper documentation of all transactions.)
All rules around the use of proper procurement channels are still in effect. All goods/services that are available through iBuy, need to be submitted via an iBuy requisition. Any technology or equipment purchases must be coordinated through the Desktop Support Team. Any furniture or fixtures purchases must be coordinated though the Facilities team. All travel arrangements should be made through the Concur travel system (hotel stays associated with a conference can still be booked via the conference registration site). The issuance of an NYU Individual T&E Payment Card does not permit the user to circumvent any of these procurement channels.
