QuBiT Lab Trainee Travel Lending Funds

Academia is many times unfair towards trainees.

Even when grants and other sources will eventually pay for conference travel, trainees are often asked to incur travel costs upfront (i.e., pay for

registration/airfare/hotel/per diem before/during the conference).

Reimbursements can take months for expenses comparable to a trainee's monthly salary.

While I (as the PI) have been trying to work with the university to avoid that, sometimes "the system" won't allow for such arrangements (that would

nonetheless prevent trainees from going broke).

 

Might there be an alternative?

Here, I’m looking for a $25k total donation to go to a “lab account” from which we can lend money to trainees to go to conferences --

until they’re reimbursed and can pay the account back. $25k is more or less what we might need for 10 trainee travels; 10 travels is what we might

need for ~5 months, which is the average time it’s been taking to get reimbursements processed (yes, it is that shameful).

 

Disclosure: 1) I have been putting some of my own private money into such an account, but that is not sufficient; 2) the account is a private account and is in my name.