To attend the annual meeting, you will need to:

1. Register for the meeting

AHA25 Student Member Rate: Preregistration/$120 or Onsite/$138
AHA25 Student Nonmember Rate: Preregistration/$169 or Onsite/$199

Substantially discounted student registration rates are also available ($15 in 2025). To take advantage of this rate, an AHA member attending the meeting will need to add you to their own registration. Just ask a faculty member in your department—if they’re not going, they can probably point you to someone who is.

Undergraduates do not need to be AHA members to attend or participate in the annual meeting.

Find more information about registering here.

2. Find a place to stay in the meeting city

We encourage everyone to stay in the meeting hotels when possible.

Rates and information about booking a room at the meeting hotels are available on the housing page.

3. Arrange your own travel to the meeting city and hotels

The AHA prepares a handy guide that can help you get around the meeting city once you’re there.

If you want to present your research at the annual meeting, be sure to learn about the proposal process.

 

Annual Meeting Costs and Funding

In addition to the major expenses above, be sure to consider other costs you might encounter while traveling, such as food, ground transportation, and baggage fees.

Please note that hotels will place a hold on your credit or debit card when you check in.

Your department or institution will be the most likely source of funding to attend the annual meeting, especially if you’re presenting. Talk to your department chair about whether your department has research funding for undergraduates or undesignated funds that you may be able to use for travel.

If you are part of a student organization, such as a History Club, you could consider organizing a fundraiser—this could become an event that your club organizes each year.

Many institutions administer small grants to cover the cost of travel for students who are participating in academic events and activities. They might be administered through one of several offices at your college or university, such as an Office of Student Affairs/Activities or Office of Undergraduate Research.

Cost sharing is also an option at the meeting. If several undergrads from your institution or area are interested in attending, try coordinating your travel arrangements to cut costs. The meeting hotels offer “quadruple” rooms, which reduces the individual cost.

More Information and Policies for Undergraduates at the Annual Meeting

The Association seeks submissions on the histories of all places, periods, people, and topics; on the uses of diverse sources and methods, including digital history; and on theory and the uses of history itself in a wide variety of venues. The Association aspires to represent the full diversity of its membership at the annual meeting.

An undergraduate student may participate in both the poster session and lightning round provided that the research submitted to each session is unique.

Presenters will need to register for the meeting at either the student rate or the faculty–student group rate. Undergraduate presenters are not required to be members.

If you are presenting or attending and want the faculty–student group, we recommend you go to a professor with whom you have an existing relationship and explain that you are interested in attending the AHA annual meeting. They will be able to register you if they are attending themselves, or they can find a colleague who is attending.

As a registered attendee of the annual meeting, you are welcome to attend all sessions, regardless of education level. There are sessions tailored toward undergraduate attendees like the undergraduate orientation and reception and the undergraduate poster session and lightning round, which are worth budgeting time for.

If you have any questions about attending the annual meeting as an undergrad, please contact annualmeeting@historians.org.