Travel Card Program

The travel card is used for travel related expenditures incurred for the purposes of conducting UA business. Cardholders can use their card as needed during travel and use the SAP Concur mobile app to upload receipts as they go. Charters must be approved by procurement and are not allowed on university credit cards.

The travel card is not and does not replace a ProCard. Cardholders should adhere to their department’s normal procurement processes for non-travel purchases. Non-cardholders should work with their department if they need monetary support before or during travel.

UA charges the card balance to a general ledger. To reconcile the charges to the appropriate funding, cardholders must assign those charges to and submit an Expense Report for the approved trip. Once approved for payment, the Report initiates a JV in Banner to move the charges from the general ledger to the trip’s funding as assigned in the Report Header and/or Allocations.

Here are examples of travel items cardholders can purchase:

• Airfare related charges such as baggage and internet fees
• Lodging including hotels, Airbnb and VRBO
• Car rental and related expenses such as fuel and parking
• Ground transportation such as taxis, Uber, Lyft and trains
• Food and beverages during travel (“Per Diem Offset” or “Actual Meal”)
• Registration fees
• Field supplies for remote fieldwork

1. Forms are available through the “Campus Applications and Contacts” link on this page.
2. Does not affect personal credit: The application only requires the last four digits of the cardholder’s SSN for security purposes. When activating the card or calling JP Morgan for assistance, the cardholder is prompted to enter the last four digits of their SSN.
3. Enter the department address or a memorable address into the “Delivery Address” fields. This is the address the cardholder may need to occasionally provide at the point of sale. It is also the billing address entered on their Concur profile.
4. The org field drop-down lists a couple hundred orgs but not every org for UA. Start typing the department's org into the field and the options are filtered to match the numbers entered. If the department's org is not available after typing the entire number into the field, please contact your campus card administrator.
5. The department approver is the cardholder’s supervisor or other department designee such as the Executive Officer. The default org is addable by applicant or approver.
6. Default limits are set by how often a person travels and are increasable with finance manager and card administrator approval.
   1. Cardholders who travel more than once per month have a default monthly cycle limit of $10,000.
   2. Cardholders who travel less than once per month have a default monthly cycle limit of $6,000.
7. The card administrator receives travel cards in about a week. The cardholder must pick up their card from the card administrator.
8. The campus may require cardholders to attend travel training before picking up the card. If so, the card administrator verifies training completion before releasing the card.
9. Cardholders must activate the card before using or loading the information into their Concur profile.
10. Cash advances (withdrawals from ATM) are available on the card with card administrator and campus travel administration permission. This request is processed after the formal application and training are complete.

University employees should receive tax exempt status in Alaska while traveling on university business. We receive tax exempt status because the university is a political subdivision of the state. 

The following documents are useful if you are asked by a hotel to provide details explaining the university's tax exempt status:

IRS University Tax Exempt Letter

State of Alaska Tax Exempt Letter

Anchorage Political Subdivision Informational

Anchorage Room Tax Website

Anchorage Tax Exempt Memo

Juneau Tax Exempt Guidelines

Ketchikan Tax Exempt Documentation