NIU should have known better.

The old Arndt House is one of NIU’s latest little household improvements, but things are already getting off to a slow start that could have been avoided.

The Board of Regents said it needs an itemized list of expenditures that comprise NIU’s $192,800 renovation budget for the old Arndt House before the university can begin to seek bids for the project.

The Regents just want to see a breakdown of what exactly is going to be worked on and how much certain parts of the project will cost. This seems like a natural request when talking about dealing with large sums of money. For that reason, such a request should have been expected.

But, apparently NIU thought it could just submit a figure and have it approved on a silver platter. The university should have planned to have the renovation budget itemized beforehand. This might sound crazy, but some people do like to know exactly what they’re paying for when they approve a budget worth a couple of thousand bucks.

Anybody who ever asked their father for an advance on their allowance when they were younger should be able to understand this. How many times did dear old Dad fork over the money without making you tell him exactly what you planned to do with it?

Blunders like the above are how big projects get stuck in the mud. Students can learn a lesson of life from this incident: When dealing with a lot of somebody else’s money, it’s a good idea to be ready to explain exactly what you’re doing with it.