UMD uses the federal per diem but on the request, departments can reduce the per diem to accommodate their budget. We are looking to explore a virtual card with our bank where the departments can upload X amount on a student account and have a date range for using the funds. We have only met with the bank and will pursue this in the months to come.

Hope this helps.
Pamela McNally
University of Maryland (UMD)

At CSU students are typically reimbursed the same per diem rate as employees which is set by the state. As with UMD, departments can choose to offer a lower per diem to fit budget restrictions, but not more.

At our university, we have given cash advances to the faculty lead for travel if requested in time before the trip.

This way the students can receive cash at the correct per diem rate (same as employees) for the days of travel.
They will sign an affidavit to confirm they received the cash.

Option 2 is to go with the custom pre-loaded cards provided by your bank or your travel management system. The cards can have limits on daily spending, which can be controlled by the lead admin or the travel card administrator.

Option 3 is for the faculty lead to pay for all meals out-of-pocket.

We have all three on a case-by-case basis.

Note: The above applies for undergraduate student travel.

Graduate students are treated like full time employees since they are on payroll. They will travel and pay for their own meals and be reimbursed for their expenses.

Same.

Our office arranged to set up meal per diems for students that match the rate provided to faculty. We provide these per diems to students who are traveling to present or perform at academic conferences or events. We calculate the per diem amount and direct deposit it into the student's non-payroll bank account on file in advance of their departure. This allows us to provide a set amount to the students they can use toward their meals and not have to collect receipts.

For our students, we have a set per diem rate based upon the trip type. These "advances" are done through student accounting and are deposited on their TechOne(refund) card or direct deposit whichever they have their refund process set up. If they don't, then we either purchases gift cards for those students. The majority of our students are set up for a possible refund. No receipts or funds have to be returned.

Funny you should ask....I just had a meeting with a couple of folks from our travel office to plan for FY24. This year, I will be creating spend authorizations with cash advances for meals, ground transportation, airport parking and baggage fees directly to the individual student. Itemized receipts are required for all. I will book flights, hotels, registration's and rental cars or shuttles with my university travel card on behalf of the student. Hope this helps!

We reimburse the student the same State per diem rate that we reimburse employees. We are currently looking at the Emburse card for certain types of travel. @Pamela McNally which bank are you working with as far as card program?

At W&M,
1. We reimburse the students per diem based on the travel location.
2. The supervising faculty leader can obtain a cash advance to administer to students for food. The students will have to sign the affidavit confirming that they received the cash. The faculty member will request for reimbursement after the trip.
3. The Supervising faculty leader can obtain a cash advance and pay for all meals under our business meal policy for each meal and request reimbursement after the trip.

At Boston College we recently transitioned from a prepaid debit card that was preloaded with the requested per diem per trip to an electronic system that can now send money via Zelle or PayPal.
Internally, the staff member is required to complete an excel sheet outlining the days of the trip and the requested per diem per day. Our rate per day is $38. On the travel office side, we complete the upload in the payment system.

Follow up question - what about International travel? What rates do you all use?

This is for international Travel

1. Generally, we only allow the state out of state per diem rate to be used for International Travel.
2. If the traveler has travel written into the grant that provides rates for the countries intended for visitation, then the documentation from the grant must be provided in both the pre-approval and the expense report. This also includes student travel. We also require the travel to attach the country's current M & IE rate chart from Travel.usa.gov.
3. The supervising faculty leader can obtain a cash advance to administer to students for food. The students will have to sign the affidavit confirming that they received the cash. The faculty member will request for reimbursement after the trip.

Hi Jeanette,

The University of Alaska uses State department: https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp defined per diem rates for international travel destinations.

Hi Jeanette,

The University of Alaska uses State department: https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp defined per diem rates for international travel destinations.