Making decisions about educational and support programs requires knowledge of the relationship among campus programs. Participation - A better model for faculty participants in budgeting is the advisory committee. The most practical role of faculty and students is to help establish program and activity priorities, general recommendations, and general level of expenditures. Then the budgeters are held accountable to the priorities set by the campus committee. The greater involvement of professional staff in academic decision making leads to more sophisticated analysis, which in turn requires more information which means more staff time.
Information flows more up than down which frustrates participants closest to the activity.
The smoothness of how the budget cycle progresses is determined in large part by the degree of trust among participants at all levels. The greater the number of participants in the budget process, the more open the process. The degree to which the budget process is open to review by individuals not directly involved in the process dictates the amount of flexibility decision makers have in their negotiations over the allocation of resources. The trends in public institutions have been to be more open especially in states with sunshine laws. Open decision-making discourages negotiations are essential when you have limited funds.