Conference Fund
The Student Assembly (SA) at Christopher Newport University (CNU) is committed to helping students be successful in their personal, academic and professional endeavors. One way in which this support is demonstrated is through financial assistance for individual students who want to enhance their educational experience by attending leadership, academic, and professional conferences.
Effective the 2015/2016 academic year, the SA Conference Fund, administered through the Office of Student Activities (OSA), will no longer operate on a reimbursement basis but will now award “travel stipends” to qualified student applicants prior to conference attendance. Qualified applicants are those who meet all the eligibility requirements, apply within the published time frame and include all requested documents. The transition to a stipend basis is designed to reduce the upfront financial burden for students and reduce paperwork.
Students are encouraged to apply as soon as the decision is made to attend a conference or present research. All applications must be complete and received no less than 6 weeks prior to attendance for consideration. This timeline is necessary to allow adequate time for review and stipend payment processing. Stipend payments will be processed by the university and disbursed to the student by Higher One using the disbursement method the student selected. If the student has not selected a disbursement method with Higher One, his/her stipend will be delayed for 21 days or until he/she makes a selection. If attendance is cancelled before the anticipated travel date, the student must notify the OSA office to make arrangements to return the funds, and the award will be voided.
Applications must be hand delivered with all attachments to the Office of Student Activities between 8am and 5pm Monday-Friday.
The SA sets the annual conference fund level and an appointed committee of student assembly delegates and staff members will meet on a bi-weekly basis to review the applications. Applicants will be notified of the committee’s funding decision by email. Please see the published schedule for more information regarding the applicable timeline.
Stipends are granted based on one of five eligibility categories as outlined further on this website.
Please note that travel stipend payments may be combined with other CNU awards or stipend payments for IRS reporting purposes. If combined award payments, exceed $600 in a given calendar year, the recipient will receive a 1099 at the end of the calendar year and may be responsible for income taxes on the reported miscellaneous income. The CNU Business Office generates the 1099 and it is the student’s responsibility to pay any applicable income tax due on payments received from CNU.