WWAMI Student Travel

Index by Subject

AirBnB (and similar services)

If the School’s policy permits you to arrange your own clerkship housing, the School will  reimburse up to $80/day (including all fees and taxes). The School does not endorse any particular lodging options, nor does the School assume responsibility or liability for services provided from any commercial lodging you arrange on your own. However, here are a few options:

You are not limited to these options, but in order for the School to reimburse you for it, all lodging must take place in a commercial lodging facility. AirBnB, VRBO, and similar services are considered commercial lodging facilities. You must present a valid receipt from the commercial lodging facility in order to receive reimbursement for your housing expenses.

Airfare 

If you have a required clinical clerkship away from your official duty station, you will receive an email from the WWAMI CLERKSHIP TRAVEL account (gowwami@uw.edu) six weeks ahead of the first day of the clerkship. This email will have instructions about arranging airfare if your clerkship is in Alaska or if you are an Alaska Track student with a clerkship in the Lower 48.  The email will have a few general instructions about travel otherwise. If you will not be flying to/from a required clerkship, you do not need to reply to this email.

If you will be flying to/from a required clerkship, the School will purchase airfare for you. We have arrangements with a commercial travel service and pay for the tickets directly. You will not go out-of-pocket for your airfare.

You must contact the office of Academic Affairs at least 4 weeks in advance to arrange for airfare ticketing. You are responsible for any increase in price due to late scheduling. You should not purchase your own airfare. If you purchase your own flights, you assume the responsibility for providing receipts that meet the UW’s documentation requirements. These requirements are not necessarily intuitive or obvious, and there is a chance that you will not be reimbursed if the UW Central Travel Office (which is independent of the School of Medicine) rejects your receipts! If you purchase your own airfare, we ABSOLUTELY DO NOT GUARANTEE that you will be reimbursed. We can guarantee that the reimbursement process will take longer than usual, because non-standard travel purchases like this involve several offices other than ours and thus several additional layers of review, all of which takes additional time.

It is up to you to know where and when an end-of-clerkship exam is being held. If you make a mistake purchasing airfare, the School cannot pay for any change fees! Contact the appropriate Clinical Clerkship Coordinator before you make travel plans.

If you request a change in your scheduled exam site, the reimbursement of travel costs to that alternate site may not be approved by Academic Affairs (even if the site change was approved by the Student Testing Services) if there is no didactic reason for the change in site or if the change was made purely for personal reasons, especially if travel to the alternate site is more expensive than to the original site.

If you are not an Alaska Track student and want to fly to a non-Alaska clinical site, be aware that the School cannot pay more for the flight than the equivalent mileage reimbursement would be, a limitation that rules out a lot of flights. Also, if you are not an Alaska Track student and choose to fly to a non-Alaska clinical site, you will have to work out having a vehicle at the site on your own; the School will not reimburse you for renting a car there.

APC Travel/Housing 

The School can only support travel/housing for the APC and Subinternship that are recorded as required credits on the Graduation Audit Report (GAR). Per School policy, only the first APC and Subinternship attended count as required credits on the GAR. This means that the School can only pay for travel/housing for the first APC/Sub-I rotations that appear on your schedule.

If you have, for example, your first APC at your official duty station, that is the course that will appear as a requirement on your GAR. If you have a second APC away from your official duty station, it will not be recorded on your GAR as a requirement, and the School cannot support your travel/housing costs. You should do whatever you can to schedule APCs and Sub-Is that involve travel earlier than those which do not. The School’s policies do not allow us to pay for travel/housing for non-required APC/Sub-I rotations even if the School did not pay for travel/housing for an earlier APC/Sub-I. Only the first APC and Subinternship attended can be reimbursed for housing/travel. The School treats these rotations like all other required clerkships, in terms of travel policy.

Baggage Fees

If you fly to/from Alaska and have baggage receipts, you can immediately request reimbursement for up to two checked bags by submitting a request through our online form. Note that the UW Central Travel Office will reject smartphone photos of receipts, so please scan the receipt (at a minimum of 300 dpi resolution) and attach that scan to your online request.

Clerkship Housing, non-Seattle 

When you take a required clinical rotation away from your duty station, lodging will be either provided for you or reimbursed if you make arrangements on your own. In almost all cases for non-Seattle rotations, the site has prepared lodgings for you, and all you need to do is show up on the right day.

Clerkship housing is managed by the individual clinical sites, not directly by the School. For details about lodging at any particular site, you should contact that site directly. Regional administrators at state WWAMI offices are excellent sources of information, but details change so you’re better off asking the site if you can.

NOTE: It is your personal responsibility to insure your private property. Neither the clinical sites nor the owners of the student lodging will be responsible for loss of or damage to your personal property.

The housing at most sites is not suitable for families, and at no site is it suitable for pets. If you intend to travel with your family, you should contact the site well in advance to determine if they can house your family as well as you. If they cannot, you are free to arrange housing on your own, but the School will not reimburse you for that expense. If you intend to travel with a pet, you will need to arrange your own housing and you will have to pay for it on your own. In both cases, it is a professional courtesy to notify the site well in advance if you are not going to stay in the lodging they provide. Note that “pets” here does not refer to service animals.

The School is obligated to pay clinical sites for the clerkship housing they provide for your rotation whether you stay in it or not. Usually this housing is arranged for your rotation far in advance of your arrival at the site. If you choose–for any reason other than a disability accommodation–to stay in lodgings other than the housing provided by the clerkship site, you must pay all costs for that housing out of your own pocket and the School will not reimburse those costs

A NOTE ABOUT SEATTLE-AREA CLERKSHIPS WITH CLINICAL SITES IN EVERETT: Some clerkships in the Seattle metropolitan area involve multiple clinical sites, and a student might spend all or part of a clerkship at locations in Everett. No student housing is provided in Everett, but the School will reimburse students for traveling between Seattle and Everett.

Clerkship Housing, Seattle  

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ALSO APPLIES TO STUDENTS COMING TO SEATTLE FOR REQUIRED EXAMS, INCLUDING OSCES, AND FOR TRACK STUDENTS COMING TO SEATTLE FOR THE TRANSITION TO CLERKSHIP COURSE.

If you are a Track student taking a required rotation in Seattle, you have the choice to either stay at the Extended Stay America in Northgate or Extended Stay America in Bellevue (the School will directly pay for this lodging), or to stay at any other commercial lodging facility (the School will reimburse you up to $80/day at these locations).

The Extended Stay hotels in Northgate and Bellevue are designed especially for longer stays with studios offering fully-equipped kitchens with refrigerator, stovetop, microwave, coffee maker, cooking utensils, dishes, and cutlery. There is wireless internet access available in all rooms and a coin-operated laundry facility on the premises that is open 24 hours.

Some things that you may want to consider are that Extended Stay in Northgate (13300 Stone Ave N) is not completely a non-smoking hotel and may become noisy when at full capacity. There are guests from several local human service agencies who rent these rooms as short-term lodging.

The Extended Stay in Downtown Bellevue (11400 Main Street) is a completely non-smoking facility, located just off of I-405 about halfway between 520 and I-90. The commute from the east side can be long at rush hour.

King County Metro bus stops are within walking distance of both Extended Stay hotels.

To arrange lodging at one of these hotels, you should contact your Regional WWAMI office at least a month before the start of your Seattle rotation. The Regional WWAMI office will make the reservation and arrange for payment by the School. Note that the School will pay for only room charges and taxes. All other hotel charges must be paid by you.

If you decide to arrange your own Seattle housing, the School will reimburse up to $80/day (including all fees and taxes). The School does not endorse any particular lodging options, nor does the School assume responsibility or liability for services provided from any commercial lodging you arrange on your own. However, here are a few options:

You are not limited to these options, but in order for the School to reimburse you for it, all lodging must take place in a commercial lodging facility. AirBnB, VRBO, and similar services are considered commercial lodging facilities. You must present a valid receipt from the commercial lodging facility in order to receive reimbursement for your housing expenses.

There is no temporary housing on campus for students on required rotations.

A NOTE ABOUT SEATTLE-AREA CLERKSHIPS WITH CLINICAL SITES IN EVERETT: Some clerkships in the Seattle metropolitan area involve multiple clinical sites, and a student might spend all or part of a clerkship at locations in Everett. No student housing is provided in Everett, but the School will reimburse you for traveling between Seattle and Everett.

Clerkship Travel  

As a student at the University of Washington School of Medicine, you will be expected to travel the five-state WWAMI region to complete required clerkship rotations (which includes the WRITE and LIC programs) during your Patient Care and Explore & Focus phases of the curriculum. The School of Medicine receives funding to help offset some of your major travel costs associated with clerkship and conference travel. Because these funds come to the School from the WWAMI state legislatures, it is all public (tax) money, and there are laws and policies that limit how the money can be spent. At present, the School is able to pay for the following:

  1. Mileage to/from a required clinical site. The current reimbursement rate used by the School is 30.55 cents/mile.
  2. Airfare to/from a required clinical site in Alaska, plus baggage fees for the first two bags (If you wish to fly to a non-Alaska clinical site, be aware that the School cannot pay more for the fare than the equivalent mileage reimbursement would be; also, if you choose to fly to a non-Alaska clinical site, providing a vehicle during the clerkship will be entirely your own responsibility)
  3. Overnight lodging when you drive 650+ miles to a required clinical site, or when you drive to an end-of-clerkship exam held in a different location from your clinical site, or when there is inclement weather and you don’t feel safe driving. The School will reimburse you up to $80/night for overnight lodging (you must present an acceptable receipt to claim reimbursement).
  4. Car rental in Alaska (non-Alaska students only), and in non-Alaska WWAMI states (Alaska Track students only). See here for the UW’s policies regarding car rental, and information about the UW’s Enterprise and National contracts.
  5. Required clinical clerkship housing in Seattle (for official Track Program students only).
  6. Credentialing platform costs: The School will reimburse students for the cost of subscriptions to credentialing platforms, when such subscriptions are required for onboarding at WWAMI clinical clerkship sites. Current platforms that can be reimbursed are CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest), Clinician Nexus, and myClinicalExchange. Submit a request through our online form, including the credentialing platform receipt.

That is everything the School pays for in the way of WWAMI clerkship travel. Meals, UHaul vehicles/trailors, skis, bicycles, repairs to your personal vehicle, traffic tickets, towing charges, and anything else not mentioned here, are your own personal expenses.

Clinician Nexus Reimbursement 

The School will reimburse students for the cost of subscriptions to credentialing platforms, when such subscriptions are required for onboarding at WWAMI clinical clerkship sites. Current platforms that can be reimbursed are CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest), Clinician Nexus, and myClinicalExchange. Submit a request through our online form, including the credentialing platform receipt. Include the name of the clinical site and the clerkship for which the subscription is required.

Commercial Lodging Facility 

The UW defines a commercial lodging facility as “A business, non-profit or governmental entity that provides lodging accommodations for a fee. A commercial lodging facility other than a hotel must be supported by a tax ID number or a published advertisement. The facility must be available to the general public to qualify as commercial lodging (i.e. listed with a rental agency, newspaper ad, etc.). Reimbursements for lodging at a private residence that is not commercially offered to the public (a sub-let, in other words) are not allowed under State and University policies and procedures.”

Commuting

The School is only able to provide funding to support travel from your official duty station to a required clerkship site or a required exam site (including OSCEs). Travel here means point-to-point, from your duty station to your clerkship site (city-to-city). The School has no funds to support commuting at clinical sites (or within the Seattle metropolitan area), which means you will need to arrange your own local transportation for your clerkships.

CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest) Reimbursement 

The School will reimburse students for the cost of subscriptions to credentialing platforms, when such subscriptions are required for onboarding at WWAMI clinical clerkship sites. Current platforms that can be reimbursed are CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest), Clinician Nexus, and myClinicalExchange. Submit a request through our online form, including the credentialing platform receipt. Include the name of the clinical site and the clerkship for which the subscription is required.

Credentialing Platform Reimbursement 

The School will reimburse students for the cost of subscriptions to credentialing platforms, when such subscriptions are required for onboarding at WWAMI clinical clerkship sites. Current platforms that can be reimbursed are CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest), Clinician Nexus, and myClinicalExchange. Submit a request through our online form, including the credentialing platform receipt. Include the name of the clinical site and the clerkship for which the subscription is required.

Do I Need My Own Car?

The School will reimburse you for renting a vehicle if:

  1. You are an Alaska Track student and you travel outside of Alaska for a required clerkship, or
  2. You are not an Alaska Track student and you travel to Alaska for a required clerkship.

Otherwise, you should expect to provide your own transportation during clerkship travel. If your personal vehicle is not reliable, or if it breaks down at a clerkship site, or you do not own a car at all, the School still cannot step in and solve your transportation problem for you.

Exam/OSCE Travel 

If you are required to travel to a site away from your required clerkship location in order to take an exam, you will be either reimbursed for driving to the exam site, or the School will purchase airfare for you, whichever is appropriate.

You must contact the office of Academic Affairs at least 4 weeks in advance to arrange for airfare ticketing. You are responsible for any increase in price due to late scheduling. You can purchase tickets on your own, but it’s better to let us buy your airfare! If you purchase your own flights, you assume the responsibility for providing receipts that meet the UW Central Travel Office’s documentation requirements. These requirements are not necessarily intuitive or obvious, and there is a chance that you will not be reimbursed if the Central Travel Office (which is independent of the School of Medicine) rejects your receipts!

It is up to you to know where and when an end-of-clerkship exam is being held. If you make a mistake purchasing airfare, the School cannot pay for any change fees! Contact the appropriate Clinical Clerkship Coordinator before you make travel plans.

If you request a change in your scheduled exam site, the reimbursement of travel costs to that alternate site may not be approved by Academic Affairs (even if the site change was approved by the Student Testing Services) if there is no didactic reason for the change in site or if the change was made purely for personal reasons, especially if travel to the alternate site is more expensive than to the original site.

If it is necessary to stay in a hotel at the end of the travel day or at the end of the exam day (or both days), the School will reimburse you up to $80/night for a hotel room. You must make your own lodging arrangements for this (except for students traveling to Seattle for OSCEs, who if they choose can stay at the Graduate Hotel, within walking distance of the UW; contact gowwami@uw.edu to arrange staying at the Graduate Hotel).

If you stay in a hotel for exam travel as described above, please submit a reimbursement request through our online form.

Explore & Focus Travel/Housing 

WWAMI travel and housing funding in the 4th-year E&F phase can be confusing, but it follows the same rules as are used in the Patient Care Phase. The School is allowed to reimburse students for travel/housing for required clerkships only.

The Neurology and Emergency Medicine clerkships are requirements, so students taking those rotations away from their official duty stations will be reimbursed for travel and housing will be either provided or reimbursed in the same manner it is for the Patient Care Phase.

APC and Subinternship rotations are not as straightforward, but the rule is that the School can support travel/housing for the APC and Subinternships that are recorded as required credits on the Graduation Audit Report (GAR). Per School policy, only the first APC and Subinternships attended during the E&F phase count as required credits on the GAR. This means that the School can only pay for travel/housing for the first APC/Sub-I rotations that appear on your schedule.

If you have, for example, your first APC at your official duty station, that is the course that will appear as a requirement on your GAR. If you have a second APC away from your official duty station, it will not be recorded on your GAR as a requirement, and the School cannot support your travel/housing costs. You should do whatever you can to schedule APCs and Sub-Is that involve travel early in your E&F year. The School’s policies do not allow us to pay for travel/housing for non-required APC/Sub-I rotations even if the School did not pay for travel/housing for an earlier APC/Sub-I. Only the first APC and Subinternships attended during the E&F phase can be reimbursed for housing/travel. The School treats these rotations like all other required clerkships, in terms of travel policy.

Family Housing 

The housing at most sites is not suitable for families. If you intend to travel with your family, you should contact the site well in advance to determine if they can house your family as well as you. If they cannot, you are free to arrange housing on your own, but the School will not reimburse you for that expense.

Clinical clerkship housing is managed by the individual clinical sites, not by the School. The School is obligated to pay clinical sites for the clerkship housing they provide for your rotation whether you stay in it or not. Usually this housing is arranged for your rotation far in advance of your arrival at the site, and the site has already paid the rental costs for your stay. If you choose–for any reason other than a disability accommodation–to stay in lodgings other than the housing provided by the clerkship site, you must pay all costs for that housing out of your own pocket and the School will not reimburse those costs

Family Travel Program 

The School has a mandate to promote rural medicine, which entails encouraging physicians to practice in rural locations within the WWAMI region after residency. The purpose of the Family Travel Program is to provide students’ spouses an opportunity to evaluate rural communities as potential places to live and work after your graduation/residency. Spouse and family* travel expenses (limited to airfare or mileage reimbursement) to and from WWAMI required clerkships are the only costs supported by the Family Travel Program.

Because the purpose of this program is to promote rural medical practice, the program does not apply to clerkships in Seattle.

Your spouse and/or children must be at the site for the entirety of the clerkship. Short visits are not supported.

You must obtain written pre-approval from Academic Affairs in order to obtain funding through the Family Travel Program. Contact gowwami@uw.edu to get pre-approval. Include the name of your spouse and preferred dates of travel if you need us to purchase airfare.

Driving reimbursement will only be paid for one vehicle. Costs of additional vehicles or use of a moving van, trailer rental, bicycle, etc., as well as any additional food or lodging costs, are the responsibility of the student.

Be aware that not all sites can accommodate spouses and/or families in the provided student housing. You must contact the sites before making travel arrangements. You must ensure that families are allowed and warn sites that family members will accompany you.

If sites cannot accommodate families in the student housing, any different/additional housing for family members must be arranged and paid for by you.

*Family consists of student, spouse and their children.

The Family Travel Program is funded out of a special discretionary allocation from the Dean of Medicine’s office; no public funds are used to support this program.

Finding My Own Housing 

Clinical clerkship housing is managed by the individual clinical sites, not by the School. The School is obligated to pay clinical sites for the clerkship housing they provide for your rotation whether you stay in it or not. Usually this housing is arranged for your rotation far in advance of your arrival at the site and our clinical partners can’t get refunds from the property owners. If you choose–for any reason other than a disability accommodation–to stay in lodgings other than the housing provided by the clerkship site, you must pay all costs for that housing out of your own pocket and the School will not reimburse those costs. For required clinical rotations in Seattle (for Seattle students whose official duty station is not Seattle) or at clinical sites that do not provide student housing, you can either arrange your own housing and be reimbursed (see specific sections of this website for rules about that), or the School can arrange for you to stay in a long-term hotel (contact gowwami@uw.edu to start that process).

Inclement Weather 

When you drive 650+ miles to a required clinical site, or when you drive to an end-of-clerkship exam held in a different location from your clinical site, or when there is inclement weather and you don’t feel safe driving, the School will pay for overnight lodging. You can immediately request reimbursement for up to $80 of the lodging cost by submitting a request through our online form. Note that the UW Central Travel Office will reject smartphone photos of receipts, so please scan the receipt (at a minimum of 300 dpi resolution) and attach that scan to your email. Reimbursements take about two weeks to process. (you must present an acceptable receipt to claim reimbursement).

LIC (Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship)

The Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship is, for purposes of WWAMI Student Travel policy, treated as if it is an official Track, based in Olympia. LIC students have Olympia as their official duty station.

Mileage for Personal Vehicle  

The School will reimburse you for driving your personal vehicle to/from a required clinical site. The current reimbursement rate used by the School is 30.55 cents/mile. No reimbursement is allowed for driving rental vehicles if the School is reimbursing the cost of the rental.

To get reimbursed for mileage, submit a request through our online form.

Reimbursements will all be in the form of a paper check, sent either to whatever address you provide for us. The UW doesn’t have the ability to reimburse you in the form of a direct deposit.

Misinformation 

Do not assume that a School student, staff member, or faculty member who tells you something that contradicts the policies listed on this website is correct. That person is not correct, no matter that person’s position. This website is the official statement of WWAMI Student Travel policy. The School will not honor a promise, no matter made by whom, that contradicts these policies. Doing so is not only a violation of UW policies, it is sometimes a criminal act. If you have any doubt, contact us before you spend your own money.

myClinicalExchange Reimbursement 

The School will reimburse students for the cost of subscriptions to credentialing platforms, when such subscriptions are required for onboarding at WWAMI clinical clerkship sites. Current platforms that can be reimbursed are CPNW (Clinical Placements Northwest), Clinician Nexus, and myClinicalExchange. Submit a request through our online form, including the credentialing platform receipt. Include the name of the clinical site and the clerkship for which the subscription is required.

Non-Travel Costs

Meals, UHaul vehicles/trailors, skis, bicycles*, repairs to your personal vehicle, traffic tickets, towing charges, and anything else not explicitly listed on this website as reimbursable, are your own personal expenses.

*Some students have rented bicycles when no rental cars were available for Alaska clerkships, and the School has reimbursed the cost. We think renting a bike is a great idea when the weather allows it, but contact us before you choose this option.

Official Duty Station 

WWAMI Clerkship Travel funds can only be used to support your travel to required clinical clerkship sites, away from what’s known as your “official duty station.” What is your official duty station? The easiest way to think about duty stations is to remember that there are only two possibilities: Seattle, or an official Track Program site.

The official Track Program sites for the Patient Care Phase are:

State-based tracks:

  • Alaska
  • Idaho
  • Wyoming

City-based tracks:

  • Spokane, WA
  • Billings, MT
  • Bozeman, MT
  • Missoula, MT
  • Wenatchee, WA

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC):

  • Olympia, WA

The official Track Program sites for the Explore & Focus Phase are:

  • Alaska state track (based in Anchorage)
  • Idaho state track (based in Boise)
  • Montana state track (based in Missoula)
  • Spokane, WA city-based track

If you are not in one of the above-listed official Track Programs, then your official duty station is Seattle, WA. There are NO OTHER official duty stations than Track Program sites and Seattle.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT MY OFFICIAL DUTY STATION IS?

Are you in one of the official Track Programs? If yes, then your Track site as listed above is your official duty station.

Are you in the Olympia Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC)? If yes, then your official duty station is Olympia.

Are you in the WRITE program? If yes, then your official duty station is Seattle, WA.

If you are not in a Track or LIC, then your official duty station is Seattle, WA.

The WWAMI Student Travel funding is only able to support permitted expenses related to required clerkship travel from and returning to your official duty station.

NOTE: “Seattle,” in terms of duty station under this policy, means the Seattle metropolitan area, which is the geographical area in and around the city of Seattle, north to the Everett city limit, south to the Tacoma city limit, east including the East Side (Mercer Island, Bellevue, Redmond, Bothell, Woodenville, etc.), and bounded on the west by Puget Sound (the islands and the Olympic Peninsula, including Bremerton, are outside of the Seattle metropolitan area).

Overnight Lodging

When you drive 650+ miles to a required clinical site, or when you drive to an end-of-clerkship exam held in a different location from your clinical site, or when there is inclement weather and you don’t feel safe driving, the School will pay for overnight lodging. You can immediately request reimbursement for up to $80 of the lodging cost by submitting a request through our online form. Note that the UW Central Travel Office will reject smartphone photos of receipts, so please scan the receipt (at a minimum of 300 dpi resolution) and attach that scan to your email. Reimbursements take about two weeks to process. (you must present an acceptable receipt to claim reimbursement).

Pets at Clerkship Sites

The housing at clinical sites is not suitable for pets. If you intend to travel with a pet, you will need to arrange your own housing and you will have to pay for it on your own. It is a professional courtesy to notify the site well in advance if you are not going to stay in the lodging they provide. If you intend to bring a service animal to a clerkship site, please contact the Student Affairs office to find out the necessary steps.

Receipts

In order to be reimbursed for any expenses, you are required to provide documentation that details the nature of the purchase, in the form of an itemized receipt. UW policies require that all receipts explicitly state

  1. Vendor Name
  2. Item Purchased
  3. Date of Purchase
  4. Price of Item Purchased
  5. Taxes Paid, if any
  6. Method of Payment
  7. Your Name as the Purchaser

In other words, you must document what you bought, when you bought it, who you bought it from, how much you paid, and prove that you actually paid that amount. If you cannot provide documentation of all of this, the UW will not allow us to reimburse you. It is your responsibility to make sure you get all necessary receipts for your purchases. The UW makes NO EXCEPTIONS to this policy. No receipt = no money. A lot of vendors, especially online travel services and the like, are not able to provide acceptable receipts, so be careful. An excellent explanation of why you don’t have a receipt is not a substitute for an actual receipt and will not get you a reimbursement.

Renting Clerkship Housing From a Relative

UW purchasing and Washington State ethics policies forbid purchases of goods or services from relatives of agents of the University. The policies are broadly interpreted to include School of Medicine students as agents of the University, which means that the School cannot reimburse you if you rent clerkship housing from one of your relatives, even if that relative runs a commercial lodging facility or lists the property through a service like AirBnB.

Seattle Housing for Track Students

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ALSO APPLIES TO STUDENTS COMING TO SEATTLE FOR REQUIRED EXAMS, INCLUDING OSCES, AND FOR TRACK STUDENTS COMING TO SEATTLE FOR THE TRANSITION TO CLERKSHIP COURSE.

If you are a Track student taking a required rotation in Seattle, you have the choice to either stay at the Extended Stay America in Northgate or Extended Stay America in Bellevue (the School will directly pay for this lodging), or to stay at any other commercial lodging facility (the School will reimburse you up to $80/day at these locations).

The Extended Stay hotels in Northgate and Bellevue are designed especially for longer stays with studios offering fully-equipped kitchens with refrigerator, stovetop, microwave, coffee maker, cooking utensils, dishes, and cutlery. There is wireless internet access available in all rooms and a coin-operated laundry facility on the premises that is open 24 hours.

Some things that you may want to consider are that Extended Stay in Northgate (13300 Stone Ave N) is not completely a non-smoking hotel and may become noisy when at full capacity. There are guests from several local human service agencies who rent these rooms as short-term lodging.

The Extended Stay in Downtown Bellevue (11400 Main Street) is a completely non-smoking facility, located just off of I-405 about halfway between 520 and I-90. The commute from the east side can be long at rush hour.

King County Metro bus stops are within walking distance of both Extended Stay hotels.

To arrange lodging at one of these hotels, you should contact your Regional WWAMI office at least a month before the start of your Seattle rotation. The Regional WWAMI office will make the reservation and arrange for payment by the School. Note that the School will pay for only room charges and taxes. All other hotel charges must be paid by you.

If you decide to arrange your own Seattle housing, the School will reimburse up to $80/day (including all fees and taxes). The School does not endorse any particular lodging options, nor does the School assume responsibility or liability for services provided from any commercial lodging you arrange on your own. However, here are a few options:

You are not limited to these options, but in order for the School to reimburse you for it, all lodging must take place in a commercial lodging facility. AirBnB, VRBO, and similar services are considered commercial lodging facilities. You must present a valid receipt from the commercial lodging facility in order to receive reimbursement for your housing expenses.

There is no temporary housing on campus for students on required rotations.

A NOTE ABOUT SEATTLE-AREA CLERKSHIPS WITH CLINICAL SITES IN EVERETT: Some clerkships in the Seattle metropolitan area involve multiple clinical sites, and a student might spend all or part of a clerkship at locations in Everett. No student housing is provided in Everett, but the School will reimburse you for traveling between Seattle and Everett.

Seattle Metropolitan Area 

“Seattle,” in terms of duty station under this policy, means the Seattle metropolitan area, which is the geographical area in and around the city of Seattle, north to the Everett city limit, south to the Tacoma city limit, east including the East Side (Mercer Island, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, Woodenville, etc.), and bounded on the west by Puget Sound. The islands and the Olympic Peninsula, including Bremerton, are outside of the Seattle metropolitan area. Everett and Tacoma are outside of the Seattle metropolitan area.

Student Conference Travel

See this page for details on student conference travel. Student conference travel is managed by the office of Student Affairs and is not part of WWAMI Student Travel.

Subinternship Travel/Housing 

The School can only support travel/housing for the APC and Subinternship that are recorded as required credits on the Graduation Audit Report (GAR). Per School policy, only the first APC and Subinternship attended count as required credits on the GAR. This means that the School can only pay for travel/housing for the first APC/Sub-I rotations that appear on your schedule.

If you have, for example, your first APC at your official duty station, that is the course that will appear as a requirement on your GAR. If you have a second APC away from your official duty station, it will not be recorded on your GAR as a requirement, and the School cannot support your travel/housing costs. You should do whatever you can to schedule APCs and Sub-Is that involve travel earlier than those which do not. The School’s policies do not allow us to pay for travel/housing for non-required APC/Sub-I rotations even if the School did not pay for travel/housing for an earlier APC/Sub-I. Only the first APC and Subinternship attended can be reimbursed for housing/travel. The School treats these rotations like all other required clerkships, in terms of travel policy.

Sub-letting Clerkship Housing

In order for the School to reimburse you for the cost of clerkship housing, the lodging must take place in a commercial lodging facility.

The UW defines a commercial lodging facility as “A business, non-profit or governmental entity that provides lodging accommodations for a fee. A commercial lodging facility other than a hotel must be supported by a tax ID number or a published advertisement. The facility must be available to the general public to qualify as commercial lodging (i.e. listed with a rental agency, newspaper ad, etc.). Reimbursements for lodging at a private residence that is not commercially offered to the public (a sub-let, in other words) are not allowed under State and University policies and procedures.”

The School cannot reimburse you for sub-letting a residence.

Things NOT To Do

The University and the State of Washington have many laws and policies that control how the School is allowed to spend money. These laws and policies create strict boundaries within which WWAMI Student Travel operates. We are not allowed to go outside of those boundaries, and we try very hard to stop students from spending money that the School is unable to reimburse. Our job is to be the subject matter experts regarding WWAMI Student Travel and how University policies and state laws limit allowed expenses. The School cannot negotiate either the University policies or the state laws, and that means that we cannot negotiate WWAMI Student Travel policies with students. The policies are what they are. We are also not in a position to explain the reasoning behind a University or a State rule, because the School is not part of the decision-making process. Our job is to know how to apply the policies, and to stop students from running afoul of them. A good rule of thumb is that if this website does not explicitly state that the School will pay for something, then the School will not pay for it. Another good thing to keep in mind is that if a University policy runs counter to logic and common sense, the policy still must be followed. Reason does not trump policy. This is the bureaucratic world in which the School operates.

Bearing that in mind, here are some things you should not do:

  • Do not assume that because something is convenient for you as a student, it is allowed under UW policy.
  • Do not assume that an expense that seems reasonable to you will be reimbursed. Ask us first; we do not guarantee that any expense not explicitly listed on this website will be reimbursed.
  • If housing is supplied for you at a clerkship site but you decide to stay elsewhere, do not assume that the School will reimburse it. Unless the alternate housing addresses a disability for which you have received an accommodation through the DRS office, the School will not reimburse you for this expense.
  • Do not assume that a School student, staff member, or faculty member who tells you something that contradicts the policies listed on this website is correct. That person is not correct, no matter that person’s position. This website is the official statement of WWAMI Student Travel policy. The School will not honor a promise, no matter made by whom, that contradicts these policies. Doing so is not only a violation of UW policies, sometimes it is a criminal act.
  • Do not assume that if your interpretation of these written policies differs from that of the WWAMI Student Travel office, you will be able to negotiate how the policy is applied.

We want to help you as much as we possibly can, but please remember that we have to say no when the University won’t let us say yes.

Track Program Travel

Your Track site is your official duty station. Travel from your Foundations site to your Track site at the beginning of the Clinical Phase is not reimbursable, nor is the cost of your housing at your Track site.

Whenever you take a required clinical rotation somewhere other than your official duty station, the School will pay or reimburse your travel costs and will provide lodgings or reimburse your lodging costs. At almost every non-Seattle clerkship site, the housing will be arranged for you. There is an entry on this page regarding clerkship housing for Seattle clerkships.

Travel Process

BEFORE THE CLERKSHIP:
If you have a required clinical clerkship away from your official duty station, you will receive an email from the WWAMI CLERKSHIP TRAVEL account (gowwami@uw.edu) six weeks ahead of the first day of the clerkship. This email will have instructions about arranging airfare if your clerkship is in Alaska, and a few general instructions about travel otherwise. If you do not need the School to purchase airfare for you, you do not need to reply to this email.

DURING THE CLERKSHIP:
If you needed to stay overnight at a hotel during your travel to your clerkship site per item #3 above, you can immediately request reimbursement for up to $80 of the lodging cost by submitting a reimbursement request through our form here. Note that the UW Central Travel Office will reject smartphone photos of receipts, so please scan the receipt (at a minimum of 300 dpi resolution) and attach that scan to your email. Reimbursements take about two weeks to process.

If you travel to Seattle from your non-Seattle official duty station and have arranged your own lodging, you can immediately request reimbursement for up to $80/day of the lodging cost by submitting a reimbursement request through our form here. Reimbursements take about two weeks to process. NOTE: If you paid for your Seattle lodging in advance, you can request reimbursement even before the start of the clerkship. See here for more details about Seattle lodging for non-Seattle students.

If you traveled to Alaska and have baggage receipts, you can immediately request reimbursement for up to two checked bags by submitting a reimbursement request through our form here. Note that the UW Central Travel Office will reject smartphone photos of receipts, so please scan the receipt (at a minimum of 300 dpi resolution) and attach that scan to your email. Reimbursements take about two weeks to process.

If you traveled to Alaska and rented a car, note that the rental agencies usually charge your credit card once when you first rent the car (for the first four weeks of the rental), and again for the remaining two weeks when you return the vehicle. The UW Central Travel office only allows us to reimburse the rental car after it’s been returned. After returning the car and obtaining final receipts, please submit a reimbursement request through our form here. See here for the UW’s policies regarding car rental, and information about the UW’s Enterprise and National contracts.

AFTER THE CLERKSHIP:
It is up to you to request reimbursement through our form here. We no longer email students after the clerkship period is over.

Reimbursements will all be in the form of a paper check, sent either to whatever address you provide for us. The UW doesn’t have the ability to reimburse you in the form of a direct deposit.

A CAVEAT ABOUT THE EMAILS:
The process that generates the before and after clerkship emails described above uses data from the e*Value scheduling system, which has limits and peculiarities. e*Value doesn’t know about Track sites, it doesn’t know about official duty stations, and it doesn’t know about the UW’s travel policies. Sometimes the reports we generate from e*Value to initiate the emails to you about travel have misleading or missing data, so it is possible that despite our best efforts, you may not get one of the before or after clerkship emails. If that’s the case, please contact us at gowwami@uw.edu to arrange airfare.

Travel Versus Commuting

The School of Medicine is only able to provide funding support for travel from your official duty station to a required clerkship site and/or a required exam site (including OSCEs). Travel here means point-to-point, from your official duty station to your clerkship site. If you are not leaving your official duty station, then University rules say you are not traveling.

There is also no funding available to support commuting while at clinical sites or within the Seattle metropolitan area. Many clinical rotations, both in and outside the Seattle metropolitan area, require students to commute between multiple clinical sites, between didactic teaching sites and clinical training sites, and between student housing and clinical facilities. You will need to take the initiative to discover all site-specific transportation requirements before your clerkship begins. Some clerkship sites can provide vehicles, shuttle services, or other forms of transportation, while other sites provide limited or no transportation.

You should generally expect to provide your own transportation. It is your responsibility to understand expectations for travel while at the clerkship site and make appropriate plans before the clerkship begins. You may need to be flexible with carpools, local and regional transportation options, bikes, etc., and be prepared to accept any costs related to “local commute” requirements, including providing your own vehicle. Detailed information on clerkship site transportation requirements can be got from the department clerkship administrators. You should contact the required clerkship department or the clinical site to get answers to any site-specific travel questions you have.

Vehicle Rental

The School will reimburse you to rent a vehicle for required clinical rotations in Alaska if you are not an Alaska Track students. The School will reimburse you to rent a vehicle in non-Alaska WWAMI states if you are an Alaska Track student.

See here for the UW’s policies regarding car rental, and information about the UW’s Enterprise and National contracts.

WRITE Program Housing

The WRITE Program is treated like all other required clinical clerkships. Your WRITE site is not your official duty station, so the housing there is provided for you and paid for by the School. You do not need to arrange or pay for your own housing at WRITE sites. All of the policies related to clerkship housing apply to WRITE site housing.

Note that your WRITE site is not your official duty station. If it were, then under University rules, you would not be “traveling” when at your WRITE site, and the costs of getting to and from the WRITE site, as well as all of the costs of housing at the WRITE site, would be your responsibility. If you are a student in the WRITE Program, then your official duty station is Seattle.

WRITE Program Travel

The WRITE Program is treated like all other required clinical clerkships. Your WRITE site is not your official duty station, so the School will pay for/reimburse your travel to and from your WRITE site. All of the policies related to clerkship travel apply to WRITE travel.

Note that your WRITE site is not your official duty station. If it were, then under University rules, you would not be “traveling” when at your WRITE site, and the costs of getting to and from the WRITE site, as well as all of the costs of housing at the WRITE site, would be your responsibility. If you are a student in the WRITE Program, then your official duty station is Seattle.

You will be reimbursed for travel to your WRITE site, or the School will purchase airfare to fly you to WRITE sites in Alaska. Alaska WRITE students who need to ship a personal vehicle to Alaska for the duration of the WRITE program should contact gowwami@uw.edu for details, as the Washington State laws that control what we’re allowed to do in this regard are subject to change.