The practice of making departments return funds to the central administration is not new at the University.

Academic and non-academic units have returned funds to the central administration for years, said Charles Hosler, acting University vice president and provost. The need to return funds usually arises when Harrisburg delays funding, Hosler said. The University has instituted fund recycling again this year because of state funding cuts.

When the University asks departments to return, or recycle, funds to the central administration, each unit must cut its budget by a requested percentage, said Ken Martin, Graduate Student Association president.

The University allocates funds to each department at the beginning of the fiscal year and the departments base their budgets on that figure. When the University calls for the return of funds in the middle of the fiscal year, the departments must trim the remainder of their budgets and return the requested funds.

Departments have not had to recycle as much funding in the past as they have this year, Hosler said. This semester, academic units must return 1.25 percent of their funds to the administration, and non-academic units will return 1.5 percent, Hosler said.

Departments return about 0.25 percent of their funds to the University in an average year, he said. The 0.25 percent enables the University to fund new projects and handle unexpected situations, such as increased demand for a class. The University also keeps a varying amount of funding aside for flexibility, Hosler said.

The University's recycling level has not been this large in several years, Martin said. Recycling has occurred frequently in the past, but not every year, Hosler said.

Martin said administrators plan budgets conservatively, especially in uncertain economic times.

"The University does not budget every cent we have," Hosler said.

Hosler said college deans may choose to keep some funds aside to allow flexibility and to offset the effects of University recycling, he added.

Some units planned their budgets with the unstable economy in mind. Ted Kiffer, interim dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, said he "expected the worst" this year so he put money aside in case of a funding return.

The funds did not cover the return rate, but provided a "down payment" to offset some of the effects, Kiffer said.

If returning funds becomes a annual practice, it will have a disastrous effect on some departments, Kiffer said, citing hiring freezes and restrictive travel budgets.

From 1977 to 1986, the College of the Liberal Arts recycled $200,000 more than its new allocations, Martin said. The University increased funding to the college by a total of $1 million during that period, but asked the college to recycle $1.2 million during those 10 years, Martin said.

Kiffer said the college finally began to break even this year after years of returning funds, only to be hit with another recycling request.