Why Higher Education Institutions Travel — And How to Manage It Better

Travel is core to how colleges and universities operate. From admissions counselors visiting high schools to athletic teams competing across the country to faculty presenting research at national conferences, higher education institutions depend on face-to-face engagement to advance their most important strategic priorities. In fact, 88% of U.S. higher education CFOs say business travel is very or extremely important to their institution's overall growth strategy.

This whitepaper, produced in partnership with University Business, examines the most common and most costly drivers of institutional travel in higher education — and what they mean for finance, operations, and travel management leaders responsible for managing that spend. It also explores how emerging technologies, including agentic AI, are beginning to reduce administrative burden while improving visibility and policy compliance across the travel and expense lifecycle.

Key topics and data points covered include:

• Student recruitment: Why admissions travel is one of the largest and most consistent institutional travel categories — and why 94% of admissions administrators say in-person recruiting remains critical
• Athletics travel: How Division I institutions spend millions annually on team travel, with individual schools like UNC exceeding $12.1 million in a single fiscal year
• Faculty-led research: How NSF-funded collaborations, fieldwork, and scholarly meetings keep research travel essential to the academic enterprise
• Additional travel drivers: Professional development, study abroad, advancement and fundraising, sponsored research, and institutional partnerships
• Agentic AI in higher ed travel: How AI agents within SAP Concur can automate trip planning, expense report creation, and policy compliance — reducing manual work for administrators

Download this whitepaper to better understand where your institution's travel budget is going, and how modern travel and expense solutions can help you manage it with greater efficiency and control.