The Travel Award in Counseling Psychology is funded by several sources available in the program, including the Steven Snyder Travel Award and the Lofquist-Dawis Award. Counseling Graduate Students will need to apply for a Travel Award in Counseling Psychology by completing the Travel Award in Counseling Psychology Application form. Funding from the award will not cover all costs associated with travel, so please plan accordingly.

Eligibility. Graduate Students in the Counseling Psychology who are in good academic standing and are registered for a minimum of 1 credit are eligible to apply for the Travel Award in Counseling Psychology. Counseling graduate students also must be attending a scientific/professional conference to be considered for the travel award.

Terms. Counseling Graduate Students are guaranteed $800 to attend a scientific/professional conference during each fiscal year (July 1 - June 30). Students do not need to present to be eligible for their first award during the fiscal year. Students can apply for another $800 to attend a second conference; however, students must be first-author of a paper accepted for presentation to be eligible for a second award. Also, a second award is not guaranteed and will depend on available funding as well as equity across all counseling students. These funds are not to be used for personal expenses and doing so will jeopardize future eligibility for receiving awards from the Counseling Program.

Awarding Policy. Travel Awards will be paid to the student’s account through the Office of Student Finance: Scholarship. Please be aware that financial aid may be adjusted in response to your receipt of this award and the award may be subject to taxable income.

The Counseling Program has established a new policy on applying for and distribution of our travel award to meet University and CLA requirements. Starting Summer 2024, the University is discontinuing GRAD 4999, which was a zero credit/zero fee summer registration option for our students who needed to register during the summer to be eligible for awards/fellowships. This policy change and additional recommendations have required us to adopt this new policy. The Department of Psychology is working on language surrounding summer awards/fellowships. Once they are available, the Counseling Program will review and edit our policy to align with the department’s.

Deadlines. We will have three hard deadlines for applying for travel funding: September 15th (for conferences occurring in the fall), January 15th (for conferences occurring in the spring), and April 1st (for conferences occurring in the summer). Students who have submitted their application by 5 pm CST on the dates listed above will receive notification of award within a week of the deadline. If you miss the deadline, we unfortunately will not be able to consider your application.

Awards made during April will be paid out during the end of Spring Semester with the expectation that these funds will be used to attend conferences/professional meetings during the summer.

Award Use/Expectations. We recommend talking with your adviser to determine which conference(s) would be most beneficial to your professional development and how to make the most of your experience at a conference, including how you can most effectively share what you learned at the conference with the Counseling program. Once again, the Travel Award is an opportunity to grow as a professional and using the award primarily to vacation at the conference destination while attending very little of the conference  violates the spirit of the award.