Purchases, Reimbursements and Travel

 

Reimbursements for Food for Events/Hosting a Speaker

Please submit receipts for any food items to siodept-reimbs-g@ucsd.edu with the following:

  1. A list of all attendees (Names and titles/affiliations)
  2. Reason for the event (Seminar, Q & A session, etc)
  3. The following info:
    • Group (MB, Earth, Cohort, etc)
    • Speakers’ name and institution
    • Discussion topic / Seminar title
    • Location of event

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Marketplace and Supply Purchases

If purchasing lab equipment or materials for research, please contact your lab’s grant manager in your business office and provide the following:

  1. Index number to be reimbursed from

* If you do not know the index number, please contact your adviser.

2. Explanation of what items are and will be used for

 

Marketplace Purchases

In order to purchase an item on Marketplace, you need to set up a business account (which is different from your UC San Diego ID). Please talk to your business contact to set up an account.

Although Marketplace is not a very user-friendly website, it has the advantage that budgets can be charged directly, so you do not have to wait to be reimbursed.

 

Non-Marketplace Purchases

Please submit a receipt to the business contact with the above information. If you charged the purchase to your own credit card, you will be reimbursed. Some labs also have Express cards through UCSD with which purchases can be made, ask your advisor for more information.

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Attending a Conference

Funding to attend a conference is provided either through an advisor’s grant, an external travel grant, or through the SIO Department Travel and Research Grants.

 

Expenses covered in advance:

  • Before you contact the travel agency (Connexxus Travel or Balboa Travel Agency), you need to set up an event number.
  • To expedite the flight booking process, you can provide the travel agent with flight numbers so that they do not need to search their database.
  • Includes:
    • Flights
    • Hotel

Expenses reimbursed after travel:

  • Please provide all receipts.
  • Includes:
    • Meals (check here for current rates)
    • Ground transportation (subway, trains, taxi, rideshare, etc.)
    • Airline baggage fees
    • Airline and hotel expenses paid out-of-pocket

Be sure to check with your business office as there may be different procedures!

 

Traveling through an advisor’s grant

Expenses for business-related travel will be reimbursed. Before any business-related travel, you MUST complete the student travel form and contact your grant manager in your business office with your dates of travel and the purpose.

 

Traveling through an SIO Department Travel Grant

SIO Departmental Grants are competitively awarded based on a short proposal for budgets up to $3000. There are three deadlines per year for the proposals: February 1, May 1, October 1.

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Travel Card

You may be eligible for a UCSD travel card, which would allow you to charge your travel expenses onto the card and have them be reimbursed directly by grants. There is no routine reporting to credit bureaus, unless any portion of your account balance is 90 days or more past due. Ask your business office for more information.

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Travel Health Insurance

UC SHIP provides worldwide coverage. Emergency or urgent care does not require a referral from the Student Health Services (SHS); you should seek care from the nearest emergency room or urgent care center.

Please note that referral requirements still apply for non-urgent care when you are away from campus. Please contact SHS for information on how to obtain a referral.

While traveling in the United States, you will pay less out of pocket for care when you use a Blue Cross network provider. You can locate a Blue Cross network provider in any state on the Anthem web site UC SHIP benefits levels are the same throughout the United States.

While traveling abroad, you will likely have to use a non-network provider and pay out of pocket for care, then file a claim to UC SHIP for reimbursement. UC SHIP covers most out-of-network care at 60% of Customary and Reasonable (C&R) charges (emergency care is covered at 100% of C&R charges). Any amount above the allowed percentage of C&R charges is the plan member’s responsibility. Benefits provided abroad are coordinated by BlueCard Worldwide.

Additional information on out-of-state and out-of-country coverage.

In addition to UC SHIP, the University provides a travel accident policy for students traveling on University business. The travel policy is provided at no additional cost to the students.

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