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Policies for University Business Travel Expenses

Faculty Travel | Conferences & Seminars | Team & Student Travel | Other Business Travel

Faculty Travel

This policy provides guidelines to all faculty who incur travel expenses while engaged in University business or related travel.

Reimbursement Guidelines

  • All faculty members have a specific location designated for their instructional duties. The designated locations are Baldwin City, Overland Park, Topeka, Wichita, Lee’s Summit, St. Louis and St. Joseph.
  • The University will reimburse business mileage at a rate established by the University from their designated location, in the event that faculty members are asked to travel to an additional location.
  • Mileage for each trip must be logged on the business expense reimbursement form.
  • The mileage recorded must begin from your designated office location, never from your home.
  • The mileage reimbursement rate is 35 cents a mile.

Conferences & Seminars

This policy provides guidelines for the administration of University travel policy. The guidelines apply to all faculty, staff, students and administrators of the University regardless of affiliation or location.

Reimbursement Guidelines

Reimbursement for all expenses associated with a workshop, seminar or conference will be made from actual, properly documented receipts. This includes expenses for registration fees, meals, transportation, lodging and other costs associated with attending a seminar or conference.

Lodging

Lodging accommodations will be paid up to $96.00 per night while attending an out-of- town conference or seminar. Lodging accommodations will only be paid for University travel beyond a 100-mile radius of the employee’s primary work site.

Sometimes a conference is held in a hotel that charges more for rooms than is normally allowed under lodging allowances. In this case, those room charges may be reimbursed with the approval of the budget manager and department head.  Reimbursement will be made from actual, properly documented receipts.

Transportation

Types of transportation authorized for University business travel include airlines, automobiles, taxis and other usual means of transportation. Use of rental cars is permissible only when other means of transportation is not available. Taxis, shuttles and other forms of public transportation should be used when available. The size of the automobile rented must be proportionate to the number of individuals in the group and the duration of the trip.

Purchase of insurance on rental cars is not necessary, as rental cars are covered under the University’s fleet auto insurance.

Personal automobile expenses will be reimbursed at a rate established by the University. Each trip and the purpose of the trip must be logged on an expense form. The mileage recorded must begin from your office location, not your home. The mileage reimbursement rate is 35 cents a mile.

Meal Allowance

While at a conference or seminar, the reasonable amount for meal expenses, including taxes and tips, is $41.00 per day for three meals. This allowance is in accordance with the IRS per diem rates. 

Please note that alcohol is not a reimbursable expense under any circumstance.

The breakdown of the daily allowance is as follows:

  • Breakfast       $ 8.00
  • Lunch            $12.00
  • Dinner           $21.00

An actual itemized meal receipt must be attached to the expense report. A copy of the credit card slip is not adequate documentation. The original sales ticket must be presented.

Non-Reimbursable Travel Expenses

The following items will not be reimbursable under this policy:

  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Tobacco products
  • Spouse or family member’s travel costs
  • Telephone calls that are not University related
  • Lost/stolen cash or personal property
  • Personal items and services such as toiletries, luggage, clothes, haircuts
  • Avoidable expenses, such as sightseeing tours that are not University business related
  • Excess cost of indirect or side trips for personal reasons
  • Repairs, towing services, maintenance, auto accident insurance, etc. for personal vehicles
  • Pay-for-view movies in hotel/motel room
  • Traffic citations, parking tickets and other fines.

Team & Student Travel

This policy provides guidelines for the administration of the University travel policy. The guidelines apply to all students of the University regardless of affiliation or location.

Team Lodging

Teams may stay at any hotel of the coach’s choice; however, the IRS Federal per diem rate of  $96.00 per night is applicable.

Double rooms are to be reserved with four members of the same sex staying in a double room.

Coaches/sponsors are entitled to stay in a single room.

Team Meals

Each team member is allowed up to $18.00 per day in a meal allowance. The coach/sponsor may choose to either (1) give each team member cash for their meals; in this case each member must sign a roster acknowledging receipt of the cash or (2) have each member order a meal and provide receipts to the Business Office.

Coaches/Sponsors MUST provide receipts for their meals.

Coach’s or sponsor’s meals submitted without appropriate receipts will not be reimbursed. See expense reporting for additional details.

Other Business Travel

This policy provides guidelines to all faculty, staff, students and administrators of the University who incur expenses while engaged in University business or related travel. Every effort should be made to encourage conservative use of University resources for business travel and entertainment.

Reimbursement Guidelines

Reimbursement for all expenses associated with University business travel will be made from actual, properly documented receipts. This includes expenses for meals, transportation and lodging and other costs while conducting University business. See expense reporting for additional details.

Hotel & Lodging Accommodations

Hotel and lodging accommodations will be paid for University travel beyond a 100-mile radius of the employee’s primary work site. 

Employees are expected to seek standard lodging accommodations that are comfortable, convenient, meet the business need, and offer good value. Employees who plan overnight travel should request the lowest available rate when making reservations. 

Lodging accommodations will be reimbursed up to $96.00 per night while conducting University business.

All lodging receipts are required. Meals and incidentals on lodging receipts must be itemized separately. A lodging receipt must include all of the following information: (a) The name and location of the lodging establishment, (b) the dates of stay and (c) itemized charges for lodging, meals, telephone calls, etc.

The cost for in-room movies is the responsibility of the traveler and will not be reimbursed by the University.

Automobile Transportation

Personal Vehicles
Any person authorized to travel on University business may choose to use his or her personal vehicle. A person driving his or her vehicle on University business is personally responsible for all costs of operation, including repairs to the vehicle and for public liability and property damage.

Employees using private vehicles on University business must be licensed and carry the minimum insurance required by the state of Kansas. Individuals using their private vehicle for business purposes will be reimbursed at a rate determined by the University. Mileage for each trip and the purpose for the trip must be logged into Vantage.

The mileage recorded must begin from your office location, never from your home. The mileage reimbursement rate is 35 cents a mile.

The mileage allowance applies to the following frequently traveled routes:

  • Baldwin City to SPGS Overland Park   72 miles round-trip
  • Baldwin City to KCI                           125 miles round-trip
  • SPGS Overland Park to KCI                68 miles round-trip
  • SPGS Overland Park to Wichita           362 miles round-trip
  • SPGS Overland Park to Topeka           134 miles round-trip
  • Baldwin City to School of Nursing       89 miles round-trip

On recruiting trips and admissions and fund-raising visits, gas receipts may be submitted. When submitting these gas receipts please documented where and why the trip occurred.

Company Vehicles
Some University departments maintain vehicles that can be used for specific University business. Staff and faculty members in these departments should check with their budget manager as to whether these vehicles are to be used for their travel situations.

Some vehicles have gas credit cards available for fueling the vehicle. When a gas credit card is available, the credit card should be used. In cases where a gas credit card is not available or cannot be used, the employee will be reimbursed for fuel expenses upon completion of an expense report with proper documentation attached.

Rental Cars
An employee may rent a vehicle when the rental is advantageous to conducting University business, not when the rental is simply convenient for the employee. A rental car may be less costly than using a personal vehicle or University vehicle. A cost comparison should be done when planning a business trip. The size of the car should be appropriate for the number of passengers.

Because an employee’s use of a rental car for University business is covered by the University’s insurance, an employee renting a car for business purposes should decline insurance offered by the car rental agency.

Meals

To be reimbursed for meals, employees must be at least 30 miles away from their primary work site at meal time.  Reimbursement for meal expenses may be requested by submitting a properly documented receipt along with an expense report. Please see expense reporting for information on proper documentation of receipts.

Please note that alcohol is not a reimbursable expense under any circumstance.

The breakdown of the daily allowance is as follows:

  • Breakfast       $ 7.00
  • Lunch            $11.00
  • Dinner           $18.00

An actual itemized meal receipt must be attached to the expense report. A copy of the credit card slip is not adequate documentation. Meal receipts must include all of the following information: (a) The name and location of the restaurant, (b) the number of people served and (c) the date and amount of expenses.

Non-Reimbursable Travel Expenses

The following items will not be reimbursable under this policy:

  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Tobacco products
  • Spouse or family member’s travel costs
  • Telephone calls that are not University related
  • Lost/stolen cash or personal property
  • Personal items and services such as toiletries, luggage, clothes, haircuts
  • Avoidable expenses, such as sightseeing tours that are not University business related
  • Excess cost of indirect or side trips for personal reasons
  • Repairs, towing services, maintenance, auto accident insurance, etc. for personal vehicles
  • Pay-for-view movies in hotel/motel room
  • Traffic citations, parking tickets and other fines

Submitting a Travel Expense Report Form

Travel expense reimbursement requests must be entered into Vantage. The employee must enter the reimbursement request in Vantage. The appropriate documentation must be sent to the Business Office in order for payment to be processed.

All expenses related to conference/seminar travel must be entered into Vantage within 30 days of return to campus. Accounts Payable must verify that expenses are reasonable and meet the following criteria:

  • Information contained on the Travel Expense Report and the accompanying support documentation is complete and in accordance with the policy.
  • Expenses conform to any requirements imposed by the IRS
  • Expenses are charged to proper accounts
  • Expenses have been reviewed and approved by the next level supervisor.

See expenses reporting for additional details.

Combining University & Personal Travel

Baker University does not pay travel expenses that are not required for official University business.

  • Indirect routes: If the traveler takes an indirect route or interrupts a direct route for any other than University business, reimbursement for airfare will be at either the actual charge or the charge that would have been incurred by traveling the direct route by the most economical means, whichever is less.
  • Rental cars: Any personal portion of the cost of a rental car must be subtracted from the total rental bill before requesting reimbursement. The personal portion is calculated by prorating the cost of the rental over the number of days for personal use and number of days for business use.
  • Travel expenses of spouse/personal guest: In general, the expenses of a spouse, family member or guest accompanying the business traveler are not reimbursable. The University will not reimburse spouse/personal guest travel expenses when a spouse/ personal guest attends a meeting or conference and has no significant role or performs only incidental duties. Such attendance does not constitute a valid University business purpose. Spouse/personal guest expenses may not be charged directly to the University and then later reimbursed to the University by the individual. These are considered personal expenses.