This Table was provided by the SDSU Budget office and shows the amount of funds carried over by the Provost (Academic Affairs) for the last 8 years. We all know what "carry forward" is: the funds that are unspent at the end of a fiscal year that are brought forward into the new fiscal year. Note the line in bold at the bottom of each yearly column. That's the amount of money that is held by the Provost every July when the fiscal year restarts. A few points are worth noting:

1) Although the distribution shows the funds disbursed among various colleges and institutional entities, every year all these funds are "swept" back into Provost Marlin's account for her discretionary redistribution to the institution. One might wonder why a College Dean or other person in charge would not spend down their entire annual allocation rather than let it be "swept" back into the Provosts Office. This is a question best asked to those in charge, although some of you might like to speculate on our Google Group web Forum.

2) Note that the amount of carry forward has increased 6.5 fold (yes, that's a 650% increase) over the period from 2002 to 2010 while Provost Marlin has been overseeing this fund.

3) The largest increases in carry forward were noted in the last few years while the CSU system endured the most devastating and painful funding decreases in history. We were told we needed to do more with less, resources were slashed, staff were laid off, and furloughs were instituted. In fact, a large chunk of this increased carry forward was recovery of funds based upon the 10% cut in pay resulting from furloughs in FY 09-10.

In a meeting with President Weber and Provost Marlin the SDSU PI group was told that these funds were held back to guard against unanticipated state cutbacks based upon a recommendation by the President's Budget Advisory Committee (PBAC). Although the minutes of PBAC meetings are public and available for perusal, no mention of such a recommendation form the PBAC was found in their records.

If you have questions about this source of funds, how it is being used, or why it has increased so dramatically while SDSU faculty have struggled to hold on, the appropriate place to direct your queries would seem to be to Provost Marlin. If you would like to comment, then please post your reaction to the SDSU PI Group Forum.