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University hid reserves from legislature while hiking tuition

I’m not exactly shocked. Hiding the reserves from the legislature is, of course, Job #1 for any public university’s VP for Finance. If the university is unionized, they also have to hide the money from the unions and the AAUP’s forensic accountant Howard Bunsis.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for forwarding the latest exemplar, from the SacBee:

The California State University stashed away $1.5 billion in discretionary reserves while raising tuition and lobbying the Legislature for more funds, according to a report released Thursday by California State Auditor Elaine Howle.

CSU put the money, which came primarily from student tuition, in outside accounts rather than in the state Treasury, the report said.

The investigation mirrors Howle’s 2017 report on the University of California Chancellor’s Office, which charged that top UC brass kept a $175 million slush fund while hiking students’ tuition.

… The CSU Employees Union, which had asked Quirk-Silva to request the audit, noted that CSU had threatened to increase tuition in 2018 if it did not receive additional state funding. At the same time, the CSU Board of Trustees increased pay for the top administrators, including those in the Chancellor’s Office and CSU president, said union legislative director David Balla-Hawkins.

6 Comments

  1. Crackpot 06/20/2019

    Hiding money is terrible. That being said Bunsis is all too happy to take faculty unions’ money to write reports that tell them exactly what they want to hear. I have been on three campuses he showed up on, wrote reports for them that turned out to be off base, worthless and lacking any understanding of state laws, etc.

    • uomatters Post author | 06/20/2019

      Really! I’ve always found his reports much more credible than our VPFA’s. So give us some specifics, please.

      • Crackpot 06/20/2019

        Ask SOU…I believe he took 10k from their union and told them, among other things, that funds from the legislature for capital construction could be funneled to faculty compensation and were not restricted for their intended use. He does make some good points now and then but often leaves out or is unaware or key pieces that would balance his analysis. His reports always conclude the university is fine, even in case where that particular university is far from fine.

  2. honest Uncle Bernie 06/21/2019

    I was expecting to read a scandalous report about UO, not Cal State.

    How about telling us about the new expenditures at UO and how much they match up with the excessive tuition hike?

  3. charlie 06/21/2019

    I wonder if any of those construction contracts were no bid. And who were the auditors or the audit mechanism for the contracts? Is there any similarity between what UO and Cal State do in terms of contract oversight? Just askin….

  4. Tim 06/21/2019

    Not sure what this has to do with anything but ok.

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