Undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students who are engaged in direct service, activism, and/or advocacy at a site in the greater Philadelphia area during the academic year are eligible for reimbursement of their transportation costs to and from their service site. Reimbursement is available to student volunteers, students enrolled in a Praxis course, participants in the Community Based Work-Study program, and unpaid student interns.
Civic Engagement processes student reimbursement requests and offers 50 percent transportation reimbursement for individual student volunteers and unpaid interns, and 100 percent reimbursement for all students participating in Praxis and/or Community Based Work-Study.
Transportation Reimbursement applies to the following expenses:
Public Transportation
Remember to save your receipts. Forms cannot be processed if the receipts are not included.
- Train Tickets: Train stubs do not count as receipts—please ask for a receipt when purchasing your ticket. Also, individual tickets only, not SEPTA passes, are acceptable for reimbursement.
- Trolley and Bus Trips: Print out your Septa KeyCard trip history and highlight your Civic Engagement trips. Submit this history with your transportation reimbursement request.
- Taxi Cabs: Civic Engagement does not reimburse the cost of taxi cabs.
Personal Vehicles
- Mileage on a personal vehicle: Civic Engagement follows the College policy of using the standard mileage rate determined by the IRS. Click here for the current rate.
- Tolls: Remember to save your receipts for all tolls.
Ride Share Services (Uber, Lyft, etc.)
Whenever possible, students should use public transportation, campus vans or personal vehicles to travel to their field sites. When public transportation is unavailable or unfeasible (for example, if there is an accessibility issue), the student should be in touch with their Civic Engagement staff contact (for example, their Praxis Coordinator or Community-Based Work Study Coordinator) to discuss transportation before using a ride-share service. In certain circumstances, Civic Engagement will reimburse the mileage portion of a ride-share trip directly between campus and the field site, using the IRS-approved mileage rate. In these cases, students must submit their ride-sharing receipt along with a printed map of the route, showing the trip’s mileage.
How do I request transportation reimbursement?
Becoming Eligible
- To receive reimbursement you must be a current BMC undergraduate or post-baccalaureate student serving as a Praxis student, Community Based Work-Study employee, unpaid intern, or volunteer, or have attended a protest, rally or community organizing event.
- If you are an individual volunteer or unpaid intern, you will also need to provide Civic Engagement with a letter of verification from your field site.
Submitting Reimbursement Requests
- Save all receipts for travel costs (except mileage).
- Fill out a transportation reimbursement form, available using the link at the top left of this page, or in Civic Engagement, located in Dolwen on Cambrian Row. Please remember to sign your form and print all information clearly.
- Attach all receipts to the request form and turn it in to Civic Engagement.
- Reimbursement requests submitted after the May 21, 2019 at Noon deadline will not be processed.
Collecting Reimbursement
- The Controller’s Office will process student reimbursement requests once a month.
- Deadlines for turning in requests for transportation reimbursement for the current semester are printed on the reimbursement forms.
- Reimbursement requests will be submitted to the Controller's Office on the last Monday of each month.
- All reimbursements will be paid by direct deposit or by check and sent to students in campus mail.
Questions?
Please contact Sydney Robertson at srobertso1@brynmawr.edu.