First some general points about the overall University budget:
The overall University budget is planned to coordinate with the
Commonwealth’s biennial budget process–this means budgeting two
years at a go. The budget year runs from July 1 through June 30 and
we commence planning approximately 18 months in advance of the
beginning of a budget year. The University’s annual budget is a
little over a half-billion dollars. Of these budget dollars,
approximately 1/3 comes from the Commonwealth, 1/3 derives from
tuition and the last 1/3 comes from sponsored research and various
auxiliary enterprises (such as the Patriot Center).
Now to talk a bit about Krasnow’s internal budget process. As with
the University, we begin planning about 18 months in advance of
actually spending the dollars. Ever since Krasnow merged with Mason
in April of 2002, the budget is ultimately based upon the previous
year’s budget which serves as a “base”. The planning process, which
is completely integrated with that of the University, involves using
the base as a starting point and then looking at the new activities
and programs that will need to be funded de novo under the new
budget. We also are asked to carefully evaluate the current program
with the notion of finding savings where that is possible.
What you should take home from the above information is that it is
very difficult to find funding for contingencies and opportunities as
they come up, because in general the money has been committed long in
advance. For this reason I urge Krasnow staff, when they approach me
for support of some program or activity, to consider the relatively
long time-line when making their requests.
Next up we’ll write about the various sources of the Krasnow budget
dollars.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 