Faculty Moving Allowance - Policy

To pay for moving costs associated with hiring new faculty.

University policy regarding relocation of faculty is found in the Administrative Guide Policy 2.1.20: Relocation of Faculty and Staff.  This section sets forth policies and procedures to facilitate the moving and reassignment of new or current Stanford faculty and is updated regularly as policy changes. Please consult this section for the policies that underlie H&S faculty moving guidelines, rates, and procedures, which follow.

Eligibility

• All new appointments for regular, tenure-track faculty are eligible for moving assistance in the current academic year.
• Faculty who are on a fixed-term appointment of two years or longer and funded from the operating budget are also eligible (e.g., a two-year fixed term assistant professor replacing one of our faculty members currently serving in an administrative position).
• Senior lecturers, lecturers, emeriti, faculty on restricted funds, and other visitors are not eligible.
• Significant delays in incurring moving expenses should be pre-arranged with the H&S Finance Group for funding purposes.

Offer Letter Specifications

• Each offer letter for a new faculty member must specify a move allowance.
• Reimbursement will not exceed the moving allocation in the offer letter.
• Reimbursement of expenses for moving laboratory equipment, when appropriate, is handled separately through a research commitment and is specified in the offer letter. Create a separate line item for laboratory expenses. These expenses are not tax reportable. See note below for the moving of offices.

Exceptions (increases) to the moving allotment must be approved in writing by the Senior Associate Dean for that Department. It is expected that the additional funding will be cost-shared by the Department and the School.

Parameters

• Department Administrators should be thoroughly familiar with current university policy on the procedures for reimbursement of faculty moves and communicate the relevant information to the Department Chair and new faculty. Refer to Administrative Guide Policy 2.1.20: Relocation of Faculty and Staff.
• Effective September 1, 2011, the School of Humanities and Sciences will provide the amounts in the table below as reimbursement to new faculty for the expense of moving. Allowances are graded according to geography and rank of the faculty member; thus a full professor moving from New York would have a considerably higher allowance than an assistant professor moving from Oregon.
• Any additional travel allocation made by the Associate Dean is handled as special commitment and will be funded from the Dean’s discretionary reserve account.

OF SPECIAL NOTE:

• Moving allowance includes transportation from home to Stanford-area residence, moving of plants, etc.
• Research allowance (if any) includes transportation of former faculty office, books, etc.
• If faculty has not yet accepted, visits, etc. are part of recruitment and are charged to the recruitment budget.
• If faculty has accepted, visits, etc. are part of moving and are charged to their moving allowance.

Table of Moving Allocation:

Zone 1: California

Zone 2: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona (previously part of Zone 1)

Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas

Zone 3: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama

Zone 4: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, Alaska

Zone 5: International

Procedures

Refer to Administrative Guide Policy 2.1.20: Relocation of Faculty and Staff for SU moving policies and procedures, including suggested moving companies.

• Before approval, consult the offer letter for the exact language of the moving allowance; sometimes a faculty member receives more than the minimum.
• Charge directly to the School account #1096104-1-AABBO.  Use either expenditure type 52260: Employee Moving Allowable or 52265: Employee Moving Unallowable as appropriate.
• Route to the appropriate Finance Liaison for review and approval.
• The offer letter must be included with backup for the IOU.
• The moving costs not allowed by the IRS will be submitted to Payroll by Travel and Reimbursement.

Personal Tax Liability

Refer to Administrative Guide Policy 2.1.20: Relocation of Faculty and Staff for tax liability information.