How Long Do Reimbursements Take?

[omoplata]

Credit card bills are looming and I have to say, I failed to consider the turnaround time for grad school recruitment visit reimbursements before budgeting.

[MathCat]

Yeah, this is a problem for me too. One, where I filled out the paperwork while I was there, took about 2.5 weeks. I had to mail the receipts for the other in, and it's been a month and I have not yet received it. I can't afford to buy another plane ticket until I get it...

[TakeruK]

This is a real problem in academia, unfortunately. And it's definitely a problem that affects some people (sometimes disadvantaged people) more than others!

 

For me, the typical time for reimbursement was 6 weeks after the visit date (which usually translates to 8-10 weeks after purchasing flights etc.). However, there would probably be an extra week or two of delay due to sending mail (receipts and checks) across Canada/US border and additional complications when a University uses funds to pay a non-American (I had to fill out a bunch of W-9s or whatever they were!).

 

This problem doesn't get a lot better after you start grad school either. My school only reimburses after the trip but we often make bookings months in advance, which means that unless I have savings, I'm going to be paying interest for several months. Luckily, for most things, the department admin staff uses our advisor's P-card to make the booking for us, but sometimes this doesn't always work. Some schools do have no-fee loans for this purpose though, so this might be a good thing to check when considering places to attend. 

[MathCat]

For me, the typical time for reimbursement was 6 weeks after the visit date (which usually translates to 8-10 weeks after purchasing flights etc.). However, there would probably be an extra week or two of delay due to sending mail (receipts and checks) across Canada/US border and additional complications when a University uses funds to pay a non-American (I had to fill out a bunch of W-9s or whatever they were!).

Oh boy. That's good to know in advance. I guess I will probably be getting a loan from my parents to pay for my US visits, since I can't wait for a reimbursement before booking another ticket. Luckily I'm in a situation where I can do this, but I wish schools were better about it for those that aren't.

[TakeruK]

I was also lucky to have my own savings (yay for affordable Canadian schools that don't put us in $10,000+ of debt!)

 

For some solidarity (and some additional thoughts), consider this blog post on this very topic (also read the comments!): https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/academic-travel-on-a-budget/

[rising_star]

It really depends on the school. I've been at a bunch of institutions. Some took 6 weeks to reimburse after receiving receipts whereas others take 5 business days. I realize it's frustrating but there's not much to be done other than hopefully getting a 0% interest credit card.

[TakeruK]

Well, not much we can do at the moment. But I hope some of us will remember this when we are in a position to do something about it in the future and maybe we can create certain initiatives to help the future generations. For example, we might advocate for advance reimbursements (one of my past schools will give you an advance up to $1000) or help enable programs that will allow for these expenses to be paid directly from a grant instead of on a reimbursement basis.