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Office of Business Affairs
Travel with Research Fund

The following list needs to be checked as you are planning your trip. These items will help you to determine the cost of your excursion and will expedite the process.

Please provide the Travel Authorization Form at least two weeks before your scheduled departure date

  • Check per diem rates for the area.(Over the Maximum Per Diem will require prior approval by PI)

  • If you would like to request a RF Travel Card for your trip, please complete the application for Bank of America Visa - RF Travel Card at least 4 weeks prior to your travel. The card can be used for many expenses, saving you out of pocket expenses.

  • If vehicle transportation is needed, review options for the most cost efficient method. State fleet vehicle, Rental Vehicle RF (Enterprise) (PDF) or a personal car. If you use chose to take your personal vehicle, you will need to use the OGS Travel calculator to calculate your mileage reimbursement. Prior approval and justification is required if you take your personal vehicle. ( State fleet or rental car is preferred )

  • Airfare may be directly billed to the award using Direct Travel. No reimbursement is given for payment with personal card until travel is completed. RF reimburses for Economy travel with no upgrades.

  • Registration information, pay on Travel card or procurement card when able, no reimbursement is given for payment made with personal funds until the trip is complete

  • Make sure appropriate Project, Task and Award information is provided and account has the funds on the appropriate budget line to support your trip.

  • Supporting documentation for trip expenses including, but not limited to, business purpose of the trip, original itemized receipts, conference/meeting agenda will need to be submitted with the reimbursement request.

  • Approval by Supervisor and/or PI for use of funds.

Please note that any travel reimbursements for State or Research Foundation-funded travel that are 120 days past the last date of travel or more will be forwarded to the Payroll Office and will be subject to tax.

Reimbursement of travel expenses requests must be submitted to the Travel Office within 30 days of departure. Completing your RF Travel Expense Form in a timely manner will ensure accurate claims and quicker reimbursements for the traveler.

All expenses must be recorded and attached to a completed RF Travel Expense Form. By making sure the following items are filled in or attached you can help expedite your reimbursement. Please note we CANNOT REIMBURSE A TRAVELER FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S TRAVEL COSTS.

  • Date and time of departure - this will determine if meals will be paid for. Meals may be reimbursed on the RF Travel Expense Form on a per diem basis based on location of lodging. If meals are provided or paid by another source related to the scheduled event, the traveler will not be reimbursed. If the traveler is opting to claim reimbursement at the full meal Per Diem meal allowance, then the Travel Card may not be used to purchase food and beverages.

  • Mapquest/Google Maps mileage if you took your personal car.

  • Original receipts for hotel, conference registration, rental cars, and airline ticket stubs (or travel agency print out), for any charges you are claiming reimbursement for or have put on your travel card. Please note that bank and credit card statements are not accepted in lieu of actual receipts or folios for expenses.

  • Method I MUST BE USED IF TRAVELER DOES NOT STAY IN A HOTEL. For more information, see overnight Travel Reimbursement under Reimbursement section.

  • Sales tax for lodging is only reimbursable if it is out of NY State.

  • Non-overnight trips: when you take a day trip and are going to claim meals, you must have a receipt for all of the claimed meals (breakfast & dinner) to get up to the listed per diem. No reimbursement is allowed for lunch. Otherwise, you will only get reimbursed $5.00 for breakfast and $12.00 for dinner. Both are taxable since these are non-overnight trips.

Please note when applying for an RF Bank Of America Travel Card, you will need to complete the RF Travel Card Agreement for Employees Form, have it approved, and then send it to the Travel Coordinator, Kristina Hart, 101 Bray Hall, kehart@esf.edu, it will then be forwarded to ORP for approval. Then, once ORP has approved, it will be sent to RF Central for processing and they will order the card, have it sent to you at the address indicated on your application form within 7-10 business days, and will set up training with you.

Travel Card

Travel for the person whose name is embossed on the card

Net Card

Travel for students, guests and faculty/staff traveling as a "Group" with students
Lodging Lodging for guests, faculty and students
Registration (only expense that can be paid with Travel or Pcard) Conference registrations for faculty/staff
Meals Candidate meals or Recruitment meals
Airfare Airfare for guests, faculty and students
Rental Cars Rental Cars
Taxi, Uber, Trains and Parking Taxi, Uber, Trains and Parking
Fuel for rental car Fuel for rental car
Internet  
Telephone charges (related to official state business)  
Cannot be used for purchase of good or services  

Alcoholic beverages CANNOT be paid with NET or Travel Cards

NYS Travel Information

Please note that any travel reimbursements for State or Research Foundation-funded travel that are 120 days past the last date of travel or more will be forwarded to the Payroll Office and will be subject to tax.

Meal Allowance Breakdown

The breakdown of the meal allowance for breakfast and dinner are allocated as follows, with different allowances based on location:

Meals and Incidental Expenses Total Continental Breakfast Dinner
$59 $12 $47
$64 $13 $51
$69 $14 $55
$74 $15 $59
$79 $16 $63

Note: Incidental expenses such as tips to bellmen, porters, hotel maids, etc., continue to be included in the allowances.

Documents and Forms

Travelers should use the most efficient and cost effective method of transportation available. Often times this means using a common carrier such as a train, bus, taxicab or airplane. When choosing a method of transportation several factors should be considered like; the distance traveled, the travel time, number of travelers, number of locations to be visited, and type of transportation available.

When a common carrier is available but a more expensive method is chosen without sufficient justification, reimbursement may be limited to the common carrier rate. Attach all original receipts to voucher to show means of transportation and amount paid.

If a trip is cancelled at the direction of the agency, the traveler will not be responsible for any costs incurred. If cancelled for the traveler's convenience, he/she may be responsible for any costs.

Important Vehicle Reservation Information

To reserve a vehicle, please complete the Vehicle Request Form and include the following information:

  • Vehicle use and destination

  • Reservation dates/times

  • Desired vehicle type (car, van or truck)

  • ***Drivers MUST be entered and approved through the NYS DMV License Event Notification Service (LENS) Program before reservations can be confirmed. Visit UPD, located at 16 Bray, with your Driver's License at your earliest convenience if you have not already been entered in to LENS

  • 24-Passenger Bus Reservation Request Form (PDF)

  • Bus Layout Template (XLS)

Please fill out this online form for Vehicle Request and Bus Request Online Form. Next day vehicle requests must be made before 2:00pm the day before your desired reservation.

This email will be checked daily and you will receive a confirmation email with relevant information once your request is approved.

For more information on the fleet vehicle reservation process, please visit the Garage webpage.

Rent in the name of New York State and sign the agreement as an agent for the State. Do not purchase the additional insurance on the vehicle when using your NYS Travel card. The rental agreement and receipt should be submitted with the Travel Voucher upon your return. Gasoline purchases as well as any other direct costs associated with the rental vehicle can be placed on the Travel card and receipts should be submitted with your travel voucher upon your return. Reasons for using a rental car may be public transportation not available or a rental car is cheaper than alternative transportation.

SUNY ESF has contract pricing with Enterprise. Please use this link for information on rental vehicles: RF Online Rental Reservations 

A personal vehicle may be used when common carrier transportation is not available or cost effective. Mileage will be reimbursed in accordance with the current collective bargaining agreement, regardless of the number of passengers.

Mileage Rate Reimbursement for Personal car

MapQuest or Google Maps directions should be submitted with your Mileage form as back up for the miles traveled. Charges for fuel, accessories, repairs, depreciation, antifreeze, towing and other similar expenditures will not be allowed. These are considered operating costs of a vehicle and are covered in the mileage allowance.

For employees traveling within 35 miles from both their official work station and home, travel reimbursement for personal car mileage will follow the Lesser of Mileage Rule as is stated in the OSC travel manual. No meals will be reimbursed. The Office of State Comptroller (OSC) Travel Manual also states, it is the traveler's responsibility to know State travel rules and regulations and the agency's specific travel policies and procedures.

Charges for gasoline, accessories, repairs, depreciation, anti-freeze, towing, insurance, auto club memberships and other expenditures may be included.

What can be claimed?

  • If you travel from home to another location and then continue to your primary work location during the day, only the additional mileage incurred beyond the normal commute is reimbursable

  • You can claim only the mileage incurred during the course of daily business for the distance greater than your normal commute to your official work station. You can only have one official work station.

  • Travel Office will round down mileage totals when reimbursements are calculated.

Mileage Rates for Official College Travel

You may use a personal vehicle for official travel when an ESF owned vehicle or common carrier is not available, not cost effective, or otherwise not appropriate. Before a trip, justification may be required for use of a personal vehicle.

Mileage Rates

Year Rate per mile
2024 $0.67 per mile (effective 1/1/2024)
2023 $0.655 per mile (effective 1/1/2023)
2022 $0.625 per mile (effective 7/1/2022)
2022 $0.585 per mile
2021 $0.56 per mile
2020 $0.575 per mile
2019 $0.580 per mile
2018 $0.545 per mile
2017 $0.535 per mile
2016 $0.540 per mile
2015 $0.575 per mile

Reimbursement & Allowance

  • Please note that Research Foundation travel reimbursements are paid by check, UNLESS you sign up for direct deposit specifically for your travel reimbursements. If you are signed up for direct deposits for your regular pay, your travel reimbursements will NOT automatically also be direct deposited. To sign up for direct deposit, please complete this form

  • Checks are automatically mailed to the address on your paychecks, if you need to change your mailing address that your checks go to, please contact Human Resources.

  • Employees will not receive any notification that a direct deposit has occurred, they would be aware that a reimbursement will be coming and the amount when they submit their Expense Report.

  • Employee reimbursements for travel/expenses will be paid on an ongoing basis and are not impacted by the payroll schedule. Employees will be reimbursed as reimbursement vouchers are processed.

When an employee is on a day trip only and does not stay overnight the following unreceipted meal rates apply. To be entitled to these meal rates the employee must be in travel status (over 35 miles from home and official station and gone for more than 3 hours) and meet the departure and arrival time requirements for breakfast and dinner. Per IRS guidelines, non-overnight meals are taxable.

Destination Breakfast Dinner
All locations $5 $12

Unreceipted meal rates for day trips Guidelines for Meal Reimbursement

If meals are included in a conference or provided by any other source, they will not be reimbursed. The meeting/conference agenda must be provided.

Per Diem Meal Allowed:

  • Breakfast and dinner are the only meals that are reimbursable

  • Reimbursement is not provided for lunch.

  • Incidental expenses such as tips to bellmen, porters, hotel maid are included in the per diem allowance.

For reimbursement, the RF Taxable Meal Payment Request and Authorization Form  should be completed and submitted to Travel for processing.

Employees may choose one of two methods for expense reimbursement for overnight travel, whichever is to their advantage. Travelers may not, however, combine the two methods on the same overnight trip. Breakfast and dinner are reimbursable meals; lunch is not.

Unreceipted Method (Method 1)

This method provides for a fixed rate allowance for meals, lodging and incidental expenses regardless of where lodging is obtained, including lodging with relatives or friends. Rates are established based on the city or county where lodging is obtained or the location to which the employee was traveling (whichever rate is less), and such location must be indicated on the expense report. No receipts are required to claim this method of reimbursement. Current rates are as follows:

Travelers using this unreceipted method are also eligible for an additional $5.00 for breakfast on the day of departure if they have to leave at least one hour before their normal work start time. They are also eligible for an additional $12.00 for dinner on the day of return if they return at least two hours later than their normal work ending time. For example, a traveler leaves Albany at 7:00 a.m. heading to New York City. The traveler stays overnight at a friend's house in New York City and arrives back in Albany the next day at 6:00 p.m. The traveler's scheduled work hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The traveler is entitled to the unreceipted per diem of $50 for the one night stay in New York City. In addition, the traveler is entitled to an additional $5.00 for breakfast and $12.00 for dinner.

Receipted Method (Method 2)

This method provides reimbursement of actual lodging costs and an allowance for meals and incidental expenses based on federal reimbursement rates for the county of lodging. The per diem rates for locations within the continental United States are revised annually. Since rates are based on location of lodging, the city and state of the lodging location must be indicated on the expense report. Receipts are required for lodging, but not for meals, when using Method 2. Meal expense reimbursements that are associated with overnight business travel are not taxable. Each day the traveler is in overnight travel status, the traveler is eligible for reimbursement for lodging up to a maximum lodging per diem and a per diem allowance for meals. The meal per diem is for dinner the first night and breakfast the following day. Please note that bank and credit card statements are not accepted in lieu of actual receipts or folios for expenses.

Travelers using this method are also eligible for an additional per diem for breakfast if they have to leave at least one hour before their normal work start time the first day, and/or for dinner if they return at least two hours later than their normal work ending time on the last day of travel. In these cases, breakfast and/or dinner will be reimbursed up to the maximum amount of the meal per diem allowance specified for the particular area of lodging. The current meal allowance are apportioned by 20% of per diem for breakfast and 80% of per diem for dinner.

Maximum lodging rates exclude taxes. For travel within New York State, a Tax Exempt Certificate ST-129  must be used as taxes are not a refundable item. For travel outside of New York State, state and local taxes are not included in the maximum lodging amount but will be reimbursed in addition to the per diem amount.

Occasionally, travelers may be unable to find a hotel at a rate that does not exceed the maximum federal lodging per diem rate for the location of travel. If that occurs, the traveler must obtain prior approval to exceed the federal rate by submitting an Over the Max Form. If over per diem is not justifiable and extremely over the rate, only up to the rate for that area may be paid.

Locations Per Diem
New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and Westchester Counties $50.00
Cities of Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and their respective surrounding metropolitan areas $40.00
All other locations in New York State $35.00
Out of State (this includes any out of state tax on lodging) $50.00

Foreign Per Diem Rates

(Includes Hawaii, Alaska, and U.S. Possessions)

The foreign meal allowance schedule lists the meal allowance as a lump sum. The meal allowance is broken down as follows:

  • 80% for dinner

  • 20% for breakfast

Check these links for travel advisories prior to booking international travel.

For further information on international travel contact the office of International Education at oie@esf.edu

Bank/credit card statements are not accepted in lieu of actual receipts.