Request a Form for Your Field Trip

Five College Risk Management has developed an online database where students can electronically sign waivers and trip managers can easily track which students have signed a waiver for their activity.

In terms of risk management procedures and policies, off-campus and domestic travel/trips can usually be classified as one of two types: voluntary trips or mandatory academic field trips. Mandatory academic trips are a required component of a student's coursework. If you are coordinating a mandatory academic trip, it is recommended that you use an informed consent form. Voluntary trips are distinguished from mandatory academic field trips as not being required for academic credit. International J-term courses, including those offered for credit, are considered voluntary. Hosting students at a faculty member's home must always be considered a voluntary.

Online Waivers

Risk Management is happy to review existing waivers or informed consent documents to ensure compliance with the current waiver format. Risk Management will also assist with the generation of new waivers or informed consent documents upon request.

In order to support the Colleges and lighten the administrative burden of maintaining the waiver program, Five College Risk Management has developed an online database where waivers and informed consent forms for college activities can be signed, viewed, and stored. Faculty, staff and students can request a form using the webform below.

Important: Please give us 10 business days' lead time when placing your request (10 days before the start date of voluntary trips, or 10 days before the first day of class for course-required field trips). This ensures that we have time to develop your waiver, and that signatories have sufficient time to review the agreements beforehand.

Sign a Waiver

Find instructions to sign an existing Waiver or Informed Consent Form in our Online Database.

Get Instructions

Request a Waiver or Informed Consent Form

Use the webform below to request a waiver or informed consent form for your field trip. Note that you will be asked in the web-form below whether your trip is voluntary or whether it is linked to a course. Your answer will determine the type of form you are issued.

After you have submitted the form below, a member of the Five College Risk Management office will contact you to confirm that your waiver or informed consent form is ready. We will also supply you with instructions on how to direct students to the online form and how to view which students have added their signatures.

Please give us 10 business days' lead time when placing your request (10 days before the start date of voluntary trips, or 10 days before the first day of class for course-required field trips).

Organizer Details

In addition to the yourself, this individual would recieve notifications and would be able to view a list of everyone who has signed your form.

Additional Organizer

Travel Details

Select the sponsoring institution. For instance, if you are going on a Mount Holyoke sponsored field trip with students from all five institutions, select Mount Holyoke College. If you are uncertain as to who the sponsoring institution is, please include your concerns in the comment box below.
Provide the date you would like students to start signing waivers. Please note that once a student has signed the waiver, it cannot be changed, so be sure that this date reflects when you will know all pertinent trip and travel details.
Please provide the destination of your field trip. If there is more than one destination, please list as many as is reasonable, or further describe the locations in the Comments box below.
Please provide a brief but specific description of the purpose for this trip (e.g. Astrophysics Conference, geology field trip, study abroad in Italy, etc.).
Include a list of destinations and the planned dates for each field trip affiliated with this class.
Provide any additional instructions that you would like to provide for students. This could include reminders on pre-trip assignments, other requirements students must meet before the field trip, or even more information on the trip itself that the student should see here.
Provide any special or specific risks that students should be aware of before attending this field trip. General risks that apply to most field trips will be automatically included in the waiver form.
Please add any other comments or questions you may have about your field trip or the waiver process.

Instructions for Activity Managers

Managers can access their activity's roster and waiver by signing in on the Five College Online Waiver Administrative Log In. Multiple activities can be associated with one manager username (email address), and one activity can also have multiple managers.

Check out our Manager's Guide to the Waiver Database.

How to Log in to the Online Waiver Database as a Manager

  1. Once you have been added as a manager for an activity, you will receive an email with the name of the activity and a link to the Five College Online Waiver Administrative Log In
  2. Select the "Five College Student, Faculty, and Staff" Log In
  3. Select your college and enter your college user name and password
  4. Once you have logged in, you will be directed to the Risk Management Waiver Database Administration page

Finding Your Activity and Your Activity's Roster

  1. You can navigate to your activity by selecting your activity's college, activity type, and activity name with the filters at the top of the page. 
  2. This will bring up a list of all activity members who have signed a waiver for your activity. 
  3. You have the option to export the list as a CSV file using the Export button.
  4. In the upper right hand corner of the page, you will also see a link for Reporting. By following this link, you can view and export an Activity Roster (list of students who have signed waivers for your activity) or an Activity Report (list of activities you manage with a waiver submission count listed for each).
  5. You can also export both of these reports as a CSV file using the Export button.

If you have any questions about online waivers or if you run into problems with the website, please feel free to contact Five College Risk Management. We are more than happy to help.