Forum Post
We petition university leadership to find alternatives to the recently imposed restrictions on core funding carry forward. Academic units that depend in whole or in part on extramural grants and contracts rely significantly on discretionary funds to manage the inevitable fluctuations in external support. Strategic use of these reserves enables units to sustain workforce stability, retain qualified faculty and staff, provide stable educational and mentoring opportunities for students, and contribute meaningfully to WSU’s standing as an R1 research institution.
The ability to carry forward core funds from one fiscal year to the next has historically been essential, facilitating access to reserves during periods of reduced external funding and enabling recovery during more robust funding cycles. This approach has repeatedly proven its efficacy, particularly during the pandemic and recent delays in federal funding, helping maintain the resilience of WSU’s research enterprise.
The new limitations on carrying forward core funds pose a considerable risk to the integrity of WSU’s extramurally funded research programs by constraining faculty access to accrued balances in discretionary, start-up, and F&A accounts. We strongly advocate for the continued legal and transparent use of these funds to support research infrastructure and the retention of unconstrained access without restrictions on carry forward.
We also note that any redirecting of F&A resources toward non-research purposes will contribute to federal calls for reduced F&A rates. Further, principal investigators maintain long-term relationships with funders and are obligated to inform them of their institution’s procedural changes regarding research dollars. These changes will adversely affect future funding, as funders know that fettered access to stabilizing funds diminishes the institution’s capacity to sustain productive teams and operational laboratories.
Without the flexibility to manage reserves, intermittent funding gaps will lead to the loss of highly trained personnel, undermine prior investments, and erode institutional capacity of WSU’s research enterprise. Moreover, the inability to offer job security during lean funding periods complicates efforts to rehire or retain talent when funding resumes, risking long-term damage to WSU’s research infrastructure. These adverse impacts will potentially see research groups begin to unravel as early as calendar year 2026.
In sum, the financial, reputational, and human resource consequences of the restrictions on carry forward of core funds are substantial. This policy will critically impede progress in President Cantwell’s third strategic pillar of Innovation and Use-Inspired Research. It will also interfere with the second strategic pillar of Academic Excellence and Modernization by failing to support and retain top faculty, provide experiential and interdisciplinary learning for students, and directly connect students with emerging knowledge and technologies through research. For the continued health and competitiveness of WSU’s research enterprise we urge careful reconsideration of the new policy.
We appreciate your attention to this matter and are confident in our shared commitment to WSU’s excellence.
Response
Leslie Brunelli, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, presented on the university budget at our October 30 Faculty Senate meeting. In addition to an excellent overview of the university’s finances, she explained how carry forward accounts, of all types, are considered positive assets in a college’s budget and balance deficit spending that may occur in other areas of a college. Spending on these accounts effects the overall cash flow of a college and may contribute to deficit spending. Also discussed were the situational needs of faculty with research programs, or other academic needs, to access carry forward funds to make time-sensitive investments in their programs to ensure their continuance when between extramural grants. Provost Riley-Tillman agreed that a policy is needed to establish an approval process for faculty to spend from carry forward accounts in such circumstances, regardless of college affiliation. He also noted the need to consider the full fiscal health of the academic units as a whole and of WSU when considering carry forward spend requests. He and EVP Brunelli committed to create a draft policy in the next few weeks.
Comments
I wanted to provide my strong concurrence with this point. F&A funds are intended to be spent on supporting the research infrastructure at WSU, not for other purposes. Further, I would like to add practical context to this concern. F&A funds are highly variable with new grants being received and other grants ending every month in a fiscal year. Therefore, it is very difficult to accurately budget for F&A revenue within a fiscal year. This is especially a challenge for the most successful research departments and units. Additionally, WSU does not deposit F&A funds in a timely manner. Many, if not most deposits come in quarters 3 and 4 of the fiscal year. When units receive large deposits in quarter 4, how can they be expected to spend these funds by the end of the fiscal year? This is why in the past, WSU has approved the carry forward of these funds. By not approving carry forward of F&A funds, the positive momentum of highly successful research units is being stymied and units who are trying to build out their research infrastructure will give up. While some units may need oversight and assistance in spending down large balances of F&A, the vast majority of units use these funds wisely and as intended. If WSU is serious about maintaining and growing impactful research and improving its reputation, then our policy regarding F&A funds should stimulate not hamper research.
I support this post. F&A returns and faculty start ups must be allowed to carry forward for the integrity of WSU research to survive. The funding climate in research always goes through ebbs and flows. The above mentioned funds ensure that personnel that has been hired under one grant contract remain employed and available to work when he next contract comes around. The carry overs make this possible. If this is stopped it will likely resulted in having to fire skilled personnel that will be then hard to hire again when funds become available. This also applies to graduate students, who often require a 5 year commitment of funds. Paying for. 5-yer PhD will not be possible without carry over of F&A returns
An additional concern is the current expectation that any carryforward spending is offset at the unit or college level by current year budget allocations – this results in departments/colleges having to cover (contractually obligated) start up spending with funds from other areas of the budget, resulting in needing to effectively cut other equally important mission critical activities, even if we are given permission to spend carryforward.
I fully support all of the points made in this forum post and hope that the new policy restraining carry-forwards can be reconsidered. In particular, “The ability to carry forward core funds from one fiscal year to the next has historically been essential, facilitating access to reserves during periods of reduced external funding and enabling recovery during more robust funding cycles. ” directly resonates with my ability to continue to do nationally-recognized work for WSU. It can take time and relationship-building to secure new grants or develop new funding/contract opportunities. Further, even ongoing funding can experience hiccups, through the domino effect of our funders waiting for their own funding to make it through new/uncertain processes. We’ve seen most of these hiccups ultimately result in our funded work continuing forward, but this makes it even more important that we have flexibility to retain essential faculty and staff during the ebbs and flows and uncertain cadence of funding.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I wholeheartedly support this forum post and petition to WSU leadership.
I support this forum post and would like WSU Leadership to act on carrying forward funds.
Entirely concur. The research office’s website says that there are currently 660 PIs working on 1,215 federal grants at WSU, representing $209 million in funding and more than 2,000 WSU jobs supported in part or full by federal funds. University leadership should check in with some or all of those PIs and ask about how many of those jobs, grants, dollars, and PIs would disappear from WSU if research funding carry-forward was restricted.
The WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center (SPRC) conducts human and animal research in laboratory, clinical, and field settings in support of basic and applied sleep science. We are unique in the world, and a leader in research on sleep and biological rhythms, and their impact on performance and health, by integrating from the molecular level to real-world operations. Since our creation in 2008 we have secured $120M in grants and contracts, published close to a thousand peer reviewed manuscripts, presented close to a thousand extramural presentations, and supported over 300 students and staff members. The potential impact of not approving carryover funds to the SPRC are massive. Using historical data across the past five years, I estimate that without access to carry over funds the SPRC would have suffered the following losses:
– 12 to 15 FTE in faculty and staff would have been lost permanently
– Five graduate student slots would have been lost
– Curriculum research spots for about 20 medical students would have been lost
– Work/research opportunities for approximately 30 undergraduates would have been lost
– $750k in equipment would have been inoperable due to deferred maintenance
– Approximately 50 peer reviewed articles would not have been published
– Approximately $7-10 million in new extramural funding would not have been secured
Should use of carryover funds not be approved, our future losses will be extreme, as we will be decimated as a normally highly productive research group. I urge University leadership to consider the potential impacts of not approving use of carryover funds to our productivity, our earning potential, and our reputation as one of the leading sleep research centers in the world.
I strongly support this petition and want to highlight how carry-forward flexibility of core funds is essential for maintaining research continuity and personnel stability at the individual lab level.
In my lab, two research staff members supported by my NIH grant are expected to leave within the next year as they advance to graduate and medical programs. To sustain progress and avoid disruption in federally funded work, I need to recruit and train a new team member now, an effort that requires 6-12 months of preparation. The ability to strategically use and carry forward startup funds is critical for bridging such transitions.
If this flexibility is removed, labs like mine will face gaps in personnel support, delays in project milestones, and potential loss of federal funding due to missed progress benchmarks. The capacity to responsibly manage carry-forward balances is not about accumulating reserves, it is about ensuring continuity, retaining skilled scientists, and protecting the integrity of WSU’s research enterprise.
I strongly support this post. The approval of carry forward funds is vital to our research laboratories. In our productive, ongoing work with various funding agencies, we have a solid reputation of being ready and able to complete projects – often with quick turnaround times from when an announcement or request is made to when the work needs to be done. This does not leave time to hire and train new individuals as projects arise, but relies on our having existing and well trained teams. If we needed to let staff go during brief lulls and rehire, our skilled teams would surely find work elsewhere rather than waiting for possible rehiring and both our reputation and our capability for carrying out high-quality research would be destroyed.
I enthusiastically support this petition. The ability to carry-forward funds is essential for our individual labs, as well as our Departments, to ensure viable long-term planning and the flexibility to meet unanticipated immediate needs.
I fully support this petition and agree that the ability to carry forward core funds is essential for maintaining workforce stability, supporting graduate student funding, and sustaining research productivity. Restricting access to these reserves risks disrupting lab, clinic, and department operations, and could negatively impact WSU’s reputation and long-term research capacity.
I strongly support this statement regarding the necessity of core fund carry forward for the sustainability of our research enterprise. In addition, with F&A under increased scrutiny, we must maintain transparency and ensure that F&A dollars remain committed to research purposes.
I strongly support this petition. This is an existential issue for WSU faculty who conduct research. Many faculty change their research directions every N years, where N can vary from 4 to 10 or more. Changes in direction involve a time-consuming learning curve to read and understand the literature in the new area, and to publish enough high-quality research to establish credibility in the new area, before competitive grants in the new area can be written. During these intervals between successful direction changes, carryover funding of F&A, startup an/or industry unrestricted gift funding is absolutely essential to faculty success. There has been much discussion in the past few years about WSU’s fall in national and international rankings. A guaranteed way to accelerate that fall, indeed to turn it into a death spiral, is to cut off faculty members’ ability to carry forward accumulated funds to support research during lean times. I am willing to place a substantial bet that all top-25 universities in the US allow carry over of accrued funds – this is one of the ways they stay in the top 25. If WSU still has aspirations to achieving a higher national ranking, then this petition must be honored.
I strongly support this post. These carryover funds are essential to sustaining research productivity and continuity, allowing us to replace broken or outdated equipment, hire and retain lab personnel, and purchase necessary reagents and supplies. Restricting access to these resources disrupts our ongoing projects and undermines our collective research momentum. Approving the carryover will enable us to make strategic investments that uphold the university’s commitment to research excellence.
I fully support this petition. I agree that the ability to carry forward core funds is essential for maintaining research workforce, supporting graduate student funding, and sustaining research productivity. Restricting access to these funds will disrupt lab research and activities, student research programs, professional development and mentoring activities, and research productivity. This will negatively impact WSU’s reputation and long-term research capacity.
I support this petition, and agree with every point put forth by my colleagues. Carry-forward of these funds is necessary to collect preliminary data and establish partnerships necessary to successfully compete for extramural grant awards. Redirecting the funds would compromise future research capacity, as well as undermine academic-community partnerships that are essential to many of our research portfolios.
This is a clear explanation of a difficult financial reality. If the carry-forward constraint is a fixed parameter for now, can the Senate provide more guidance or support for units navigating it?
Specifically, could there be a more streamlined or transparent process for units to present a compelling case for carrying forward funds earmarked for specific, strategic multi-year projects? A clearer pathway would help departments plan more effectively and feel less that their savings are simply being confiscated without consideration for their unique needs.