Graduate Student Travel Match
The Student Travel Matching provides financial support for graduate students to present their research at academic conferences and professional meetings. This program offers up to $800 in matching funds per student, with priority given to Doctoral students, while still welcoming applications from master’s students.Eligibility:
To qualify, students must meet one of the following criteria:- Their name appears on a conference paper (presenting is not required),
or - Their name appears on a poster, and they are the presenting author.
Matching funds of up to $800 must be paired with an equal amount of support from the student’s faculty, department, or college.
For example, if a student’s faculty, department, or college provides the student $1,000 from their funding sources to travel, the student will receive an additional $800 as part of this initiative.
Funding Guidelines:
- Each student may receive the STM once per program of study. Additional travel requests may be considered on a case-by-case basis for exceptional situations.
- While priority is for Doctoral Candidates, Masters students are still encouraged to apply.
- This initiative is separate from the Graduate College’s $500 Graduate Student Travel Award (GSTA), which continues to operate independently and can be utilized so long as its eligibility requirements are met.
- Additional information for the GSTA can be found here on the Graduate Student Travel Award (GSTA) page.
- If awarded, the Graduate College’s GSTA award of $500 will not be considered as matching funding. Only funding provided by a faculty, department, or college to a student’s travel will be considered.
Spring 2026 Travel Match Application
Summer 2026 Travel Match Application
Fall 2026 Travel Match Application
What Happens Next:
- The Graduate College in conjunction with the Division of Research will review the application and approve the match if the criteria for presenting is met, and proof of Faculty, Department, or College support is provided.
- Students will be notified of the decision via their UTRGV email.
- For the funds to be disbursed to the student administrative staff within the Academic College will need to submit a Non-PO Payment Request form through iShop, using the Graduate College Cost Center provided in the award notification email. Please note that Accounts Payable may require additional documentation, such as: Approval from the Scholarships Office and Travel confirmation from the Dean of Students. Additional information regarding the Non-PO form can be found here: UTRGV Accounts Payable FAQs.
- Once the form has been processed by Accounts Payable, the funds will be disbursed directly to the student.
Direct Questions To:
Justin Ramirez, Financial Manager at justin.m.ramirez01@utrgv.edu
Eddie Martinez. Program Specialist at edelmiro.martinez01@utrgv.edu