SOP-TVL-16: Student Group Travel

Number: SOP-TVL-16

Subject: Student Group Travel

Summary: Best practices and processes when booking student group travel and reconciling expenses prepaid by IU.

Source: University Travel Management Services

Date of Issue: 10/22/2024

Procedure

Student Group Travel consists of three or more students accompanied by an Indiana University faculty or staff employee who is designated as the group leader of the IU business trip. If you are an individual student traveling or a student traveling with a group who is responsible for their own expenses, please review SOP-TVL-17: Student Travel.

All travel expenses for the group must be charged under the group leader’s name using Indiana University prepayment programs charged to an Indiana University Travel Meeting Card issued in the group leader’s name, or paid out-of-pocket by the group leader to be reimbursed after the completion of the trip.

If the student group leader decided to pay out of pocket for expense, then the group leader should avoid accruing reward points on group travel expenses related to the Indiana University student group business trip. IU prepayment methods are recommended to ensure good stewardship of IU funds, increase duty of care, and support managed/controlled spend with suppliers. Points/cash back incentives should not be earned through utilizing airline, credit card, and hotel personal rewards accounts on out-of-pocket payments of group expenses associated with the trip. The student group leader may earn reward points and cash back incentives on their own travel expenses.

Meeting Card Application:

Meeting cards are used for student group travel. If you are the Student Group Leader going on the trip, a meeting card should be utilized to reduce out-of-pocket expenses being incurred. Please click here to learn more about meeting cards. Please apply for a meeting card here.

Cash Advance:

If the destination for the trip is in a cash-based economy, a meeting card might not be a feasible option for paying expenses during the trip. A cash advance should be requested in this instance to help reduce the out-of-pocket expenses. Please visit this link to learn more about student group cash advances.

Trip Authorization:

The Chrome River Trip Authorization (TA) report should be created in the student group leader’s Chrome River profile. The “Student Group Travel” report type should be selected on the TA. A roster is not required during the Trip Authorization process, but it is best practice to include one. In the TA, the Meals Per Diem tile is for the trip leader’s meal expenses only. Student meals are generally paid with the IU meeting card. If for some reason they aren’t going to be paid utilizing a meeting card, the “Other” expense tile should be used to estimate those expenses. The “Other” tile may also be used to estimate local tipping for outings planned, entrance fees, etc. For more detail on how to submit a TA, please refer to this page.

Booking Airfare and Hotel:

IU’s Designated Travel Agencies (DTA) should be utilized when booking student group airfare, Local DTAs require a TA number for the security protocol required to validate the group reservation. They will also require a unique university identification number (UID #). To allow for all transactions to flow into the student group leader’s CR ewallet, please provide the student group leaders unique university ID number to the local DTA booking the travel. Please visit the DTA page here for more details on booking student group travel. Please visit this page for more information on reconciling eWallet charges.

An Egencia Group Trip can be created to book airfare and hotel accommodations. The group leader must have access to each student in Egencia. To gain this access, the group leader should be set as an arranger for all students needing arrangements made for them. All travelers will need an Egencia traveler account. Click here to learn more about Egencia traveler accounts. The best method for booking group trips within Egencia is to call Egencia to ensure all travelers are on the same flights and have the same hotel bookings.

When booking hotel accommodations with any agency, please keep in mind the number of rooms might be less than the number of the travelers on the trip, as some travelers may be sharing a room. Egencia’s search function can help with this level of detail.

Hotel room blocks – If a block of rooms is being secured for a trip, the group leader/arranger should reach out to the hotel for a contract. The group leader/arranger will need to work out the terms with the hotel. Information to be included but not limited to, dates/number of travelers/room amounts/cancellation/etc. Once the contract is received, it should be sent to the travel team for review and signature via the support form via the options (Traveler or Arranger, Hotels and Per Diem, then Signature required on room block agreement) which can be found on the Travel Contact page.

When utilizing a hotel room block contract it is the best practice to onboard the hotel as an approved BUY.IU supplier and pay the deposit/s and final invoice utilizing the Prepaid Travel Check Request.

Expense Reporting

Reconciling IU paid expenses:

After purchasing flights with a designated travel agency via an IU ghost card, the group leader must reconcile charges from a Chrome River ewallet. If the group leader’s UID was given to the DTA during booking, all transactions will flow to the group leader’s ewallet. These transactions must be reconciled via a student group travel report type. All transactions require reconciliation in accordance to IU’s accountable plan compliance timeline, or they become taxable on the group leader’s payroll. Please visit this reconciliation link to learn more.

If the student’s UID was given to the DTA, the transactions will flow into the student’s Chrome River ewallet and will need to be moved to the student group leaders ewallet for reconciliation. Please reach out to travel via the support form to get these transactions moved to the correct ewallet.

If Egencia was used for booking and the IU ghost card was used, transactions will flow into the student’s ewallet. Please reach out to travel via the support form to get these transactions moved into the group leader’s Chrome River ewallet for reconciliation.

If a meeting card is used for payment for anything prior to/throughout the trip, the charges will route to the assigned responsible card holder’s Chrome River ewallet. All transactions should be reconciled as soon as possible, and within IU’s accountable plan compliance thresholds. A meeting card reconciliation report should be used to reconcile these charges.

IU prepaid expenses should be reconciled from the group leader’s Chrome River ewallet on the Student Group Travel expense report in accordance with IU’s accountable plan compliance timeline. Non-compliant transactions are subject to tax reporting on the group leader’s payroll.

Reimbursing out-of-pocket payment:

The student group leader will likely have incurred some out-of-pocket business expenses during the trip, including but not limited to meals per diem, tips for group outings, entrance fees, etc. A student group travel report should be submitted to request reimbursement of these miscellaneous expenses. If the meeting card was used for meals, and the group leaders’ meals weren’t paid on a separate check (which is best practice), you will need to deduct that meal expense from the corresponding days meals per diem entry. Please visit this reimbursement link to learn more on reimbursements.

Student group meals should not contain alcohol purchases.

All expense reports related to the trip should have a student roster attached or contain a cross reference to an expense report containing the roster

Receipt Requirements

Receipt requirements are outlined in FIN-TRV-01 Travel Policy. 3a. An itemized receipt are required for individual expenses $75 or greater. Hotel incidental expenses are not reimbursable and should not be included for payment by IU funds in room block contracts. All meals require itemized receipts and should not exceed the calculated per diem allowance for the group. View SOP-TVL-18: Student Group Meals for a walk-through of utilizing the Chrome River built in group meals tool. View receipt requirements here.

Definitions

Chrome River:

Indiana University’s expense management system that is accessible via One.IU.

eWallet:

Banner within Chrome River to let employees know a receipt or expense is ready for their review.

Ghost Card:

An IU method of payment via a virtual card that IU DTAs have access to that help travelers out of pocket costs.

Meeting Card:

Corporate card designed to allow student group travel leaders a means to charge group travel expenses to a university corporate credit card. The Meeting Card is for student group travel only. Eligibility for the credit card will be determined by Travel Management Services and will be based on the purchase needs of the group requesting the card.

Student Group Travel:

A trip that consists of three or more students and a staff group leader who is responsible for all the expenses incurred.

Reconciliation:

Taking Chrome River ewallet items and adding them to an expense report with a funding account so money is pulled from appropriate IU account.