Things at Grinnell I don’t understand: Student meal stipends

There are many things at Grinnell that I don’t understand. Some of them are big. Some of them are small. Some of them just catch me at odd moments. Here’s one of them.

I’m taking students to a conference. Here’s what the student travel guidelines say about student meals.

For conference days when meals are not included with registration, meals can be reimbursed up to $25 per day when original itemized receipts showing specific items purchased are provided [1].

But what do we charge students for meals? Let’s see. The Dining Services Page says that breakfast is $10, lunch is $12, and dinner is $15. If I do my math right, that’s $37 per day.

So, why is the student conference travel meal budget only 2/3 of what it would cost them to eat at Grinnell?

I think I’ll ask an Associate Dean [2].

I’ll bet it’s just as bad for sports teams. I should ask about that, too [3].

[1] There’s more, but the additional stuff does not affect this confusion.

[2] But not today.

[3] No, I won’t ask an Associate Dean.

Version 1.0 of 2017-09-23.