Meals

The university provides a fixed meal allowance to staff while traveling on official business at the rate paid by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Per Diem Rates for travel inside of Continental United States and outside of Continental United States.

• The fixed meal allowance provides a daily reimbursement amount for meals and gratuity
• The rate is paid based on the location of University business
• The traveler is paid the allowance after the trip, upon submission of an expense request
• The fixed meal allowance begins the day the traveler departs for business and continues through the day of return, as long as all days in between are business-related
• Generally, travel includes the day before business is set to begin and ends the day after business concludes. If the flight and layovers totals more than 14 hours, the destination is foreign travel, airfare is coach/economy, and follows a direct route with no personal destinations, an additional rest period day can be claimed. When a rest day stop is authorized, the applicable fixed meal allowance rate for that day will be calculated for the rest stop location. When the International Date Line is crossed, actual elapsed time will be used rather than calendar days to determine the meal allowance.
• An individual department may reduce a per diem allowance due to funding restrictions (e.g. grant)
• The provision of food, beverages, activities or events for the purpose of promoting and furthering the mission of the University is considered a Hospitality expenditure and is defined in that policy
• If a funding source (e.g. grant) requires the Indiana state fixed meal allowance, refer to the State of Indiana Reimbursement Rates Meal Per Diem.
  • In-state: $41.00
  • Out-of-state: $52.00
• The fixed meal allowance is prorated based on travel time. The below chart must be used to determine the correct allowance.
• Expenses subject to documentation requirements.

• If a meal is provided, no subsistence shall be claimed for that meal, and the fixed meal allowance must be adjusted by deducting the appropriate amount shown in the GSA per diem rates for travel inside of Continental United States and outside of Continental United States.
• An employee who chooses to drive rather than fly long distances may be paid a fixed meal allowance for a total of two full driving days: one day before and one day after official business.