Students: Apply

Build your own experience with the DeGroote Experience Fund

The DeGroote Experience Fund is used to support DeGroote students who participate in experiential learning opportunities. Funding is available to DeGroote students or student teams for national and international competitions, conferences, leadership workshops, and a wide variety of events.

If you are a current student and would like to apply for funding, please read the Terms of Reference below for detailed instructions and eligibility requirements. Questions can be directed to Jennifer McCleary, Director, Student Experience.

Terms of Reference

The DeGroote Experience Fund (henceforth referred to as “DEF”) was established through the generosity of donors to support students in full-time studies at the DeGroote School of Business in experiential learning opportunities that augment classroom learning.

Criteria

The DEF will be used for any of the following purposes:

National and international case competitions hosted by other schools or organizations in which teams of DeGroote students compete.
External competitions, conferences, and extracurricular activities that complement in-class learning are undertaken by teams or individual students.
Major national and international conferences, competitions, and events with a budget of over $20,000, organized and hosted by DeGroote students and independent of existing student clubs. The event must first be approved by the Dean.

Further Criteria

Case competitions and conferences: All reasonable expenses for case competitions and conferences can be considered eligible, including: registration fees, travel expenses, and accommodation. It is expected that faculty advisers and student participants will make every effort to minimize expenses with the goal of keeping expenses below $5,000. The Fund’s objective is to subsidize the activity, lessening the financial burden for students. With most fund requests, students will incur some out-of-pocket expenses.

DeGroote events with a budget over $20,000: Limited funding will be allocated to provide start-up support for major conferences, competitions, and events organized by DeGroote students if sponsorship secured from external sponsors does not cover full costs. Funding will decrease as initiatives gain stability. It is expected that by the completion of the third year, initiatives should be self-sustaining (either cost recovery or profit-making).

Selection and Reimbursement Process

Written requests must be submitted to Jennifer McCleary, Director, Student Experience.
If the event is a DeGroote-hosted event, it must receive approval in principle from the Dean’s Office before a DEF request is made.
All requests must include a written plan, including a budget and rationale to demonstrate how the initiative aligns with the goal of the School to build our national and international reputation and/or enhance student academic learning. Requests must also state any other funding/sponsorship sources.
The DEF Committee evaluates requests as they come in, using the Terms of Reference and according to funding available on an annual basis. Applicants will be informed in a timely manner whether their request has been approved or denied. These requests will be submitted pre-event.
Approved funds will be reimbursed to a student post-event upon receiving a Learning Report. All original receipts must be received and processed by the Student Experience team. Eligible expense guidelines can be referenced on the Expense Policy.
Every effort will be made to support as many initiatives and as many students as possible. However, support may be limited depending on funding available in a given year.
Eligible activities will not be associated with a course credit or program requirement.

Guidelines for Funding

The Fund disburses approximately $100,000 annually, and last year, it supported more than 100 student activities.

Individual student request:

Up to 100 percent of the registration cost for an event/case competition, up to a maximum of $500, plus
Up to 75 percent of travel costs, not to exceed a maximum of $1,000

Team request:

Up to 100 percent of the registration cost for an event, up to a maximum of $500, plus
Up to 75 percent of the costs, not to exceed a maximum of $3,500

The activity cannot be part of a student’s academic experience. For example, The MBA study trip to South America is not eligible because it is affiliated with a three-unit course. However, if a student elected to participate in the study trip and did not use this experience for credit, it could be considered eligible for partial funding, using the DEF guidelines.

Normally, a student can access the Fund up to two times on an annual (academic year) basis. It is our goal that the Fund is accessed by as many different students as possible. As such, if a student requests funding multiple times and there are limited remaining funds, another student, if it were his/her first request, may be granted funding.

Funding is not reimbursed until after an event, and all expenses must be submitted with original receipts/invoices.

DeGroote Experience Fund Committee

The DeGroote Experience Fund Committee includes the Associate Dean-Academic, the MBA Program Director, and the Director of Student Experience.

Reporting

The Director of Student Experience, as a representative of the DeGroote Experience Fund Committee, will provide a written report of expenditures and results of funding on an annual basis to donors of the Fund and make the report available to students, faculty, and staff of DeGroote.