Ahh... beat me to it! I worked for a Florida community college for 5 years and got screwed on this for each and every trip. This per diem has not been raised since the 70s!!!! There is talk of the legislature finally raising it. I think it's awful that gov't balances its budgets on the back of their underpaid employees.

Has anyone here ever tried to eat a decent breakfast for $3? Ridiculous.

Oh, and the college I worked for used to tell us that if our conference started at 8 am in a city 2 hours away (assuming no traffic snarls) that we should leave at 6 am (instead of a reasonable 5 or 5:30 am to ensure enough time for parking, etc.) just to save the $3 on breakfast. Sheesh!

No receipts for meals were necessary, though, so if you could figure out how to eat cheaper, you could pocket the difference.

Thank goodness my new company has one of those "reasonable" type guidelines. I've never been told to skimp on anything, and in fact have been part of group outings to expensive restaurants with many rounds of drinks, many shared appetizers, individual salads, an entree, dessert, AND espresso or an after-dinner drink. Gotta love corporate America!