Justification Resource for Organization Funding

ASHE understands conference attendance can be a budgetary challenge for your organization or department. As such, we have developed the letter template below as a resource below to shape your conversation with your program coordinators, department heads, supervisors, etc.

For graduate students, we hope this information can also help shape funding requests through your departments, graduate colleges, and/or graduate student organizations. You may also want to consider applying for the Graduate Student Scholarship.

We encourage you to search for multiple funding sources that may exist across your institution or organization.

Sample Letter Requesting Support

<Salutation Here>

This letter serves as a formal request to attend the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s (ASHE) 48th Annual General Conference on November 15-18, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ASHE is the premier academic association for higher education researchers, and the annual scholarly conference provides attendees with opportunities to present peer-reviewed research. This is an opportunity to not only continue building my presentation portfolio, but also enhances the reputation of the program, department, and university.

Through my full engagement in the conference program--including attending research and scholarly paper sessions, interactive symposiums, presidential and invited sessions, performance, visual, and digital scholarship sessions, posters and works in progress, and keynotes--I will be able to stay up-to-date with emerging research that will benefit my teaching [and/or learning if a graduate student], scholarship, and service to the field. I am happy to share what I have learned with my colleagues upon my return, if desired.

Throughout the conference, more than 100 peer-reviewed scholarly sessions will be available to about 1400 attendees in person.  This is in addition to networking events and meetings where I will serve as a representative of the institution. [insert here if there are any special meetings, such as journal ed boards, that you will attend]

[If Presenting: Additionally, I have been selected to present a <paper, poster, works in progress, symposium titled> <Insert Title>. My proposal was selected for the conference through a peer-review process which has on average a 40% acceptance rate.]

I know a limited pool of funds exist this year to support professional travel. This presents a unique opportunity in many ways, however, especially as <a graduate student/early career faculty/etc>. I am seeking support for expenses incurred in travel, registration, and meals as appropriate.

A detailed cost breakdown can be found below.

  • Registration: The full price for registering for the conference as a non-member is $510 but can be reduced to $245 [**adjust by membership level at ashe.ws/registration2023**] by registering as a member before the early deadline 8/5/2023.
  • Roundtrip Airfare: <Designate Airports>
  • Ground Transportation: To/from airport is between $28 - $32 per trip, and about $12 - $15 around the city.
  • Hotel: ASHE has secured a discounted hotel rate of $149 per night plus taxes and fees at the Hilton Minneapolis, the conference headquarters hotel. The total for five nights (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) is $745 plus applicable taxes.
  • Meals: There are no formal meals provided by the conference. As such, based on <per diem for institution>, the estimated amount for meals for 5 days (including travel days) is <insert per diem for trip per institution rates>.

The total estimated costs associated with attending the ASHE 2023 General Conference is $<insert your total cost>.

I look forward to the opportunity to positively represent <Your Institution> at this scholarly conference and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, 
<Your Name Here>