ODOS: Student Travel Committee

Please submit a completed application form online if you would like to request funding from the Student Travel Committee for travel during the 2011-2012 academic year.  The "application form" link will take you to a log-in page.  You will need to provide your NetID and password before proceeding to the application webpage.

The Committee will review requests for funding three times during the 2011-2012 academic year.  The first application deadline is September 26, 2011.  Applicants who meet this deadline will be notified whether they will receive funding by October 7, 2011.  The second deadline is November 23, 2011, with funding announcements made by December 12, 2011.  The third and final deadline in Spring 2012 will be February 27, 2012 with funding announcements made by March 16, 2012.  Students who have been denied funding, or funded only partially, in the first two rounds of funding may re-submit their applications in the February funding cycle for reconsideration.

If you have any questions about eligible travel or the application process, please e-mail, call or visit Committee chairs Assistant Dean Barbara Moulton (McDonough 212, tel. 202-662-9654, moultonb@law.georgetown.edu) or Dean of Students Mitch Bailin (McDonough 210, tel. 202-662-4066, mcb48@law.georgetown.edu).

The Committee reviews requests by individual students and student organizations to fund the following types of student-initiated travel:

• Travel by individual students to present papers at academic conferences
• Travel by individual students or members of student organizations to attend conferences, including but not limited to academic conferences, legal association conferences, law journal conferences and public interest conferences
• Service trips
• Fact-finding trips not otherwise funded through the Human Rights Institute or another Georgetown Law institute
• Travel by individual students to serve on the board of a national student organization
• Student organization travel for student events
• Other student-initiated travel that is consistent with Georgetown Law's mission and not funded (or funded completely) through other internal or external sources.

Students seeking Law Center funding for these sorts of travel activities are required to seek funding from the Student Travel Committee through the process described below.  Requests that are denied funding or funded only in part by the Committee generally will not be eligible for funding through SBA, the Dean’s Office or other Law Center offices.   

Policy on U.S. State Department Travel Warnings

Students requesting funding for travel to a country that is on the U.S. State Department’s Travel Warning list are required to adhere to the Law Center’s policy by seeking approval through the Office of Transnational Programs.  This approval need only be sought upon an awarding of funds. 

For more information about this policy, visit: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/otp/TravelWarningInformation.htm. For a list of countries on the U.S. Department of State’s Travel Warning list, visit: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html. 

Travel activities that are not initiated by students do not fall under the Committee’s jurisdiction and therefore are ineligible for Committee funding.  Such activities include clinic-related travel and travel for WinterCourse. 

Barrister's Council travel also is not subject to Student Travel Committee review or eligible for Committee funds.

Funding Priorities

In prioritizing funding requests, the Committee has adopted a number of guidelines, including but not limited to the following:

1. Student travel to attend a conference or program should benefit a student organization, the student government, or the broader Law Center community, rather than simply further an individual student's academic or career interests.  Students should explain in detail in their application how the travel will benefit other students and the Georgetown Law community.

2. The Committee generally does not fund international travel when a comparable program or experience is available in the United States.  For example, the Committee is unlikely to fund international pro bono work when the nature of the service and population served is substantially similar to pro bono work done in the U.S.  Students requesting funding of such travel are advised to explain in detail how and why the experience cannot be replicated domestically.

3. The Committee generally may set a limit on the number of students who travel to the same event or conference.  In such cases, students may choose whether to send only that number of students or to disburse the money equally over a larger group of students.  The Committee may also combine or consider in tandem applications for travel to the same event or conference.

4. Students seeking funding for an event or conference on behalf of or related to the mission of a student organization should advise and coordinate with the leadership of the organization before submitting an application.  In considering such applications, preference will be given to funding the organization's student leaders.

The Student Travel Committee generally will consider requests to fund (1) conference registration fees; (2) ground, air, or other transportation; and (3) hotel or other accommodations. The Committee will consider requests to fund other travel-related expenses, including meals, only in exceptional circumstances.  Students who are requesting funding on behalf of a student organization are not eligible to receive support for conference registration fees unless they first ask the Student Bar Association to fund the fees and are denied funding.  The SBA will fund up to a maximum of $250 in conference registration fees per organization.  

Multiple students participating in the same trip or conference will be expected to share hotel rooms where gender balance and other considerations permit.  They also will be expected to share rental cars where the destination does not require air travel.

The Committee will review requests to fund eligible travel that has already been completed if the student can provide full receipts.

The Committee will not fund expenses associated with trips within 60 miles of the Law Center, though students may apply for funding for such trips from the Student Bar Association.

There is far more demand for funding than available funds.  Accordingly, the Committee may fund a request in whole, in part, or not at all.  In individual cases the Committee may ask students to contribute to the trip themselves.  For partially funded trips, applicants may seek supplemental funding in the third and final application cycle for the academic year.  Such requests will be considered only after decisions have been made on all initial requests for funding.