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For any questions please send e-mail to: NDSU.Policy.Manual@ndsu.edu

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SECTION 809: ALLOWABLE COST POLICIES - TRAVEL

SOURCE: NDSU President

1. Travel costs are the expenses for transportation, lodging, subsistence, and related items incurred by both employees and non-employees who are in travel status on official business of the institution. Such costs should be reimbursed according to the University travel regulations as set forth in Section 172.

2. The difference in cost between first-class air accommodations and less than first-class air accommodations is unallowable except when less than first-class air accommodations are not reasonably available to meet necessary mission requirements, such as where less than first-class accommodations would:

   A.

   require circuitous routing;

   B.

   require travel during unreasonable hours;

   C.

   greatly increase the duration of the flight;

   D.

   result in additional costs which would offset the transportation savings; or

   E.

   offer accommodations which are not reasonably adequate for the medical needs of a traveler.

   2.1

   If a plane is rented or a personal plane is used instead of a commercial flight and the cost is greater than the cost of a commercial flight, reimbursement will be limited to the cost of the commercial flight unless an acceptable justification as listed above is submitted with the request for reimbursement or travel voucher.

3. Under most federal programs, foreign travel costs are allowable only when the travel has received specific prior approval from the sponsoring agency. Each separate foreign trip must be specifically approved. Contact the Office of Grant and Contract Accounting for individual agreement requirements. For purposes of this provision, foreign travel is defined as any travel outside of Canada and the United States and its territories and possessions.

4. Because North Dakota State University is an educational institution with established travel policies, federal travel rates are not utilized for reimbursement. Agreements which require federal travel reimbursement rates will not normally be approved by the University.

5. In allocating travel costs to a sponsored agreement, only travel costs incurred by personnel exerting effort on a sponsored agreement should be charged to that sponsored agreement. The dates of the trip, not the payment dates, must correspond to the dates of the agreement. The prepayment of conference registration fees for events occurring outside the agreement period will not be allowed.

   5.1

   If a trip crosses the dates of a sponsored agreement, the costs incurred for the days which are within the effective dates of the agreement will be allowed. One half of the airline ticket would be reimbursable under the agreement. A portion of the registration fee, if any, would be allowable under the agreement. The portion allowed would be equal to the cost of the registration multiplied by the number of days within the effective dates of the agreement divided by the total number of days of the conference.

HISTORY: July 1990; Amended April 1992; June 1996, August 2007.