Travel & Emergency Funding for Students
BU Wheelock supports undergraduate and graduate students with one-time funding through both the Student Support Fund and the Graduate Travel and Research Fund. If you require any additional support or have further questions, please reach out to Wheelock Student Services at whestu@bu.edu.
Other resources are available from Boston University. Visit Student Support Services.
Student Support Fund
The BU Wheelock Student Support Fund is available to all BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development students who find themselves in need of additional, one-time funding to cover the cost of items that are essential to their academic progress at BU and to their well-being, as well as support during emergencies.
What's Covered
Funding may be available for costs that fall into one or more of these categories:
- Emergencies – unexpected expenses such as medical or family emergencies
- Textbook support
- Professional development – support for undergraduate students
- Academic-related expenses – other than textbooks
Some examples of eligible expenses include:
- MTEL exam registration fees (required for licensure in many education programs)
- Course-related experiential costs (e.g., a required museum visit, field trip, or materials fee linked to an academic project)
- Emergency travel (e.g., a last-minute plane ticket home due to a family emergency or medical crisis)
- Travel to conferences (for undergraduates)
- Replacement of essential academic equipment (e.g., a laptop that breaks unexpectedly and is required for coursework)
- T passes, course materials, or other academic costs
Note: Funds cannot be used toward the cost of tuition, fees or any portion of a student’s past-due or current bill. In addition, submitting a request for funding does not guarantee funds will be granted.
How to Apply
- Fill out the Student Support Fund Application.
- All submissions are regularly reviewed by the Wheelock Student Support Fund Committee. The committee aims to respond to all requests as quickly as possible.
Graduate Travel and Research Funding
Funding support for master’s and doctoral students who are presenting or attending a conference or event is available through BU Wheelock. Approval must be requested before expenses are incurred and reimbursement cannot be guaranteed if the student makes purchases without prior approval. Retroactive requests will not be accepted. Students may also split the usage of their funds for multiple travel events and research projects up to the specified amount below. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30, so events must occur within this time frame and receipts must be submitted before June 15 to be reimbursed.
Master's students
The average award size for master’s students is between $100-$800. Factors that may impact the award size include the nature of the request, whether the requestor is presenting at a conference or attending a conference/event, the location of the event, academic standing, availability of funding, and the total amount of requests that are received
Doctoral students
Wheelock supports doctoral students through travel and research funds through three primary mechanisms: travel/research funds, dissertation funds, and internal awards. Each of these is described below:
- Travel/Research funds: In the 2025-2026 academic year, all PhD students in years 1-5 have access to $1,000 for travel and/or research that supports the student’s academic and professional development and progress to degree. This amount may change each year based on budgetary and other considerations and does not roll over from year to year. Sixth year students do not automatically receive these funds, but requests will be considered and awarded if funds are available.
Travel/research funds can be used to support the following:
- Travel to conferences, including:
- Transportation (economy class airfare, train, bus, Uber, rental car)
- Accommodations (hotel, Airbnb)
- Food/drink (excluding alcohol)
- Conference and professional fees:
- Conference registration, certifications, society membership
- Poster printing
- Professional development:
- Reference books (beyond class materials, up to $200 max), software, apps.
- Research support:
- Participant payments (typically in the form of gift cards)
- Coding and analysis software
- Travel to data collection sites
- Research assistant (faculty advisor must be willing to serve as official supervisor to research assistants)
Funds cannot be used for additional stipend support, computers, or textbooks.
How to Apply
- Fill out the Pre-Approval for Graduate Travel and Research Form for each trip/request.
- Once approval is obtained:
- Work with the department administrator. Reference books should be purchased by the department administrator. For travel expenses, if paying out of pocket and then obtaining reimbursement poses a financial hardship, then the department administrator will work with the student to make purchases when possible. Note that certain purchases, such as basic economy flights, Airbnb, and shared hotel rooms cannot be made by the department administrator and must be pre-approved, purchased and then submitted for reimbursement.
- For any expenses that cannot be purchased by the department administrator, keep all receipts.
- For any expenses that require reimbursement, fill out the Reimbursement Form within 30 days of travel:
- Requests to hire research assistants must be made and approved prior to a research assistant beginning work on a project. The timeline for processing a hiring request for a research assistant is generally two to four weeks from the time that the request is submitted to Wheelock’s HR Administrator. Research assistants are employees of Boston University and are formally supervised by the doctoral student’s faculty advisor.