Student Travel and Professional Development Grant

The Student Travel and Professional Development Grant offers attendance and travel reimbursement for GSAS graduate students engaging in activities that support their development as scholars and allow them to enrich their department’s capacity for innovative research. Such activities include, but are not limited to, conference presentations and attendance, workshops, leadership development activities, field work, and MA thesis or dissertation related projects. The maximum amount awarded by the grant is $500 per applicant. Students may apply multiple times throughout their enrollment in a terminal Master's or PhD program for a cumulative total of $500. Students submitting an additional application must provide proof that they have not reached the $500 limit from previous grant reimbursements.

Incurred travel expenses have to follow University Travel Expense Policy.

HOW TO APPLY

Please complete the Student Travel and Professional Development Grant Application Form and send a proof of participation in the following activities to the ASGC Finance Chair at [email protected].

- Conference/ Workshop*: Expenses for both presenting and attending at a conference and/or workshop are now eligible for reimbursement. Please submit evidence of either role. To attend without presenting, applicants must provide departmental confirmation of the conference's relevance. Preference is given to applicants who have exhausted, been denied, or are ineligible for other means of fundings. 
- Field work*: Fieldwork activities must be related to a student’s research in their respective department to be eligible for reimbursement. Please submit evidence of engagement and an explanation of its connection to departmentally approved research. 

- Leadership Activities*: Students may receive reimbursement for leadership activities that exemplify Columbia’s commitment to fostering a professional and inclusive working environment. Please submit evidence of attendance and an explanation of the activity's promotion of leadership. 

*ASGC retains ultimate discretion in approving applications.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are going to attend an in-person international activities, make sure to register your travel on Columbia's Global Travel prior to attending the conference. You must provide proof of registration with International SOS (ISOS) for your trip. For details, please follow guidelines here.

ELIGIBILITY

All must apply:

  • students from MA and PhD programs administered by GSAS (see eligible programs here)* with an active departmental representative attending ASGC plenary meetings.
  • students who have not yet met the $500 cap per terminal degree program from the ASGC Student Travel and Professional Development Grant
  • will remain the registered status after the conference (i.e. still enroll as a student at GSAS)
  • attendance-only applicants must provide departmental confirmation of the conference's relevance. Preference is given to applicants who have exhausted, been denied, or are ineligible for other means of funding. 

*If your program is not administered by GSAS, you can find a student council which represents your program here. 

DEADLINES

Our deadlines are based on when conference proposals have been accepted (as opposed to actual conference dates):

  • For acceptance letters received August 20 - November 20, 2025:
    • Application due November 20, 2025
    • Recipients announced by early December
  • For acceptance letters received November 20 - April 20, 2026:
    • Application due April 20, 2026
    • Recipients announced by early May
  • For acceptance letters received April 20 -June 30, 2026:
    • Application due June 30, 2026
    • Recipients announced by early July
  • For acceptance letters received July 1- August 20, 2026:
    • Application due August 20, 2026
    • Recipients announced by early September
       

REIMBURSEMENT PROCEDURE

Funding is on a reimbursement basis, i.e., you must submit receipts for expenses up to the amount awarded by ASGC. This must be done by preparing a reimbursement packet of the following:

  1. The ASGC Travel Grant award letter (email).
  2. A completed Non-Profiled Payee Travel and Business Expense Worksheet (opens in a new tab):
    • The person to be reimbursed is the Payee.
    • Alcohol is considered as a separate item and should be segregated from other expenses.
    • Save as pdf.
  3. An advertisement for the conference (preferably listing your name).
  4. Scanned and/or electronic receipts documenting all of the expenditures approved for the grant. Please send documents as separate files, not as a combined single document. For expenses in a foreign currency, please document how you converted them to US dollars. Receipts have to show the card holder name, last 4 of the card and the amount charged or something of that nature. Bank statements can also be used, but the charges have to be fully processed (pending charges will not be accepted).
  5. (Updated in Fall 2023) If you are going to book lodging with Airbnb, please provide documentation of price comparisons of nearby hotels at the time of booking.
  6. For additional instructions and tips, visit here.

To receive a reimbursement, email the packet to Daniella LaBella at [email protected] and fill out the Student Travel Grant Reimbursement Form within 30 days following the conference.

FAQ

Q: Are there any other travel grants available at Columbia that I can apply to? 
A: We suggest that you apply to the GSAS conference matching travel fund before applying to ASGC. The GSAS travel grants are guaranteed for the eligible candidates. Check our Useful Links page for other grants.

Q: Am I eligible to apply for ASGC Travel and Professional Development Grant if I already received GSAS Matching Travel Fund?
A: Yes.

Q: I already attended the conference, can I still apply for the ASGC Travel and Professional Development grant? 
A: Yes, but the acceptance letter still had to be received within the ongoing application window. Remember that you must have original receipts to apply for reimbursement. If you did not save your receipts, please do not apply for the travel grant, since you will not get reimbursed.

Q: I submitted an application and haven’t received an email saying whether or not I was selected to receive a travel grant. 
A: ASGC only emails the recipients, if you’re wondering whether they’ve been selected check on this webpage.

Q: I am a 10th year student in the _____ department, am I eligible to apply? 
A: All current GSAS students are eligible to apply as long as they meet the eligibility requirements listed above.

Q: Can I use the travel grant to attend a conference other than the one that was listed on my original application? 
A: No. However, if you did not use the award towards the listed conference, and thus have not reached your $500 limit, you may reapply for the new conference or activity. 

Q: I am a third year PhD student who has already reached the $500 cap for the ASGC grant before the conferral of my M-Phil degree. Am I eligible to apply again? 

A: No, the PhD program is considered a single graduate degree program, even with the conferral of an MPhil degree during the process. Thus, students can apply up to $500 total over the duration of their PhD program.