With the economy so bad these days, being conservative is the way to think, according to John Waayers, the university̢۪s budget officer in Academic Affairs.

Waayers, who is one of six members of the IRA Advisory Board, has worked with money since 1984. He received a bachelor̢۪s degree in informational technology systems from CSU Dominquez Hills and an MBA from California State University Stanislaus in Turlock.

Waayers said his first experience with money was working at TRQ Space and Defense in Redondo Beach as the budget manager. By 1990, he worked his way up to the financial manager position. He has worked at Fresno State since 2002.

His first three years at Fresno State, he worked in the university̢۪s budget office and for the past three years he has been the Academic Affairs Budget Officer.

Waayers said he is more on the conservative side when it comes to dealing with money and feels the IRA board, overall, is more liberal than he is. He looks at how IRA funds will best serve the most possible students.

“I tend to have more practical thinking, Waayers said. “My philosophy on allocating student money is how to best benefit students.â€Â

James E. Walton, chair of the English Department and also one of the six IRA board members, met Waayers a year ago.

“Mr. Waayers is a bit more open and flexible than other budget officers I have worked with,â€Â Walton said. “[He] is willing to research and re-think issues.â€Â

Walton knows Waayers̢۪ input has been helpful in IRA decisions because he looks at different angles when deciding on giving money out.

“Although some of the board insists that paying salaries is not a proper use of IRA money, Mr. Waayers is researching and interpreting rules that might allow support for paying the salaries of some student positions,â€Â Walton said.

Michael Jenkins, the dean of the Lyles College of Engineering, looks at Waayers as a fair and conscientious person and said that Waayers is much like himself when it comes to spending money responsibly. Waayers worked with Jenkins in the past year to tighten up some of his college̢۪s IRA spending practices.

“Every one of his decisions have been very fair,â€Â Jenkins said. “He’s a good budget officer, very reasonable with numbers.â€Â

The first semester Jenkins came to Fresno State, he worked together with Waayers on budgets. He remembers when Waayers first handed him a paper and said, “Here’s your budget sheet.â€Â

Part of Waayers̢۪ role as the university̢۪s budget officer is automatically being one of the six committee members for the IRA board. He looks over the policies and coordinates the funds. After approvals are done, Waayers then ultimately sets up the accounts.

Waayers talked about how the funds are like a checking account. Part of the accounting process is putting the applications into the system.

“Each fund gets a unique fund number so they can see their funds,â€Â Waayers said. If an organization has been one that got money in years past, they keep the same number they had from before.

When deciding who gets what money, he looks at past years̢۪ policies to see what the group got before. He also looks at how the activities will benefit the whole university and how it will represent the university as well.

“Nothing goes without student consent. Half the committee is run by students, so students’ opinion does matter and is looked at,â€Â Waayers said.

Additional reporting by Ben Keller and Dominique Vargas.