Can anyone at state universities count jobs?

Since I have been so critical of inflated job loss estimates from UC-Davis and Sacramento State, I couldn't help noticing the news that California State University reported that federal stimulus saved 24,000 jobs in the CSU system this year.

Someone in the university system should have objected to reporting the numbers because "they don't make sense," California's stimulus watchdog official said Friday.
CSU reported late last week that federal stimulus dollars let them retain about 26,000 full-time-equivalent positions. That's more than half of CSU's work force, and it's more jobs than the state of Texas and 44 other states reported saving with stimulus money.
"If I were them, and I followed instructions to a T, and I came up with a number like that, I would have said, 'Whoa,' " said Laura Chick, the state's inspector general for Recovery Act funds. "Then I would have been on the phone saying, 'These numbers don't look right.' "

Someone also should have said "these numbers don't look right" when Sac State estimated over 1 million lost jobs from small business regulations, and UC Davis estimated 80,000 lost jobs from reduced water deliveries.

Fortunately, the people of California have an alternative to public universities for both their education and their job counting.