Erica Husse and Omar Qudrat are running for financial supports
commissioner in this year’s undergraduate student elections
because they want to make it easier for students to focus on their
studies rather than on paying for their educations.
Qudrat, a third-year philosophy student on the United
Independents slate, worked for the financial supports commission
this year and said he plans to devote his time in office making the
commission’s book-lending program more accessible to
students.
“I want to advertise the program a lot more,” Qudrat
said. “I want to take the step of going out and finding the
students who need them and showing them we have the
resources.”
Qudrat said asking professors to include information about the
book-lending program on class syllabi and targeting the most
popular classes are possible ways to get students informed about
the program.
He added that if elected, he plans to apply for money from the
Undergraduate Students Associated Council’s surplus fund to
purchase more books for the program.
Husse, a third-year political science and environmental studies
student running with Students United for Reform and Equality, said
she wants to aggressively advertise the book-lending program.
Another focus, Husse said, would be collaborating with the
school’s textbook buy-back program to ensure that used books
are available for the students who need those books the most.
Husse said she wanted to create a student financial aid
coalition on campus to ensure that students who are struggling with
financial issues know where to find help.
“I’ve gone through the financial aid process for
three years and I really want to make a difference. … I know some
of the problems that exist,” Husse said.
Husse, who was vice chairwoman of the On-Campus Housing Council
this year and the president of Hitch Suites, said she plans to use
her knowledge of Housing issues to address student concerns about
both on and off-campus housing.
Ranking high on her list of goals for next year’s
commission would be to co-program with UCLA’s Office of
Residential Life, collaborating to make Westwood housing indexes
more accessible to students.
Qudrat said one of the commission’s biggest challenges
this year was getting data on Westwood apartment buildings. When
the majority of the data is compiled, Qudrat said he plans to make
the index highly public to pressure landlords to lower their
prices.
“What we’re doing is putting the landlords in a
position to keep their prices competitive,” Qudrat said.
“I’ll personally contact the landlord who has an
unjustified higher rate “¦ by mail, by phone, and if they
don’t respond I’ll go knock on their doors
myself.”
Expressing concern about students’ lack of knowledge about
programs addressing financial issues, both candidates plan on using
information sessions to tell students about available programs.
Husse said she wants the financial supports commission to
provide a series of seminars to help students make good financial
decisions.
“I’m interested in doing “¦ seminars on
building good credit, making wise decisions and getting rid of
debt. This is the first time (students) are on their own,”
Husse said.
Qudrat said he will work with the financial aid office,
contacting every financial aid student at UCLA with information
about services offered by the commission.
Office hours and periodic workshops should also be available to
keep students updated on financial aid issues, Qudrat said.
“Let them know what we have available for them “¦
since they’re the ones we’re working for, I want to
make sure that I hear their concerns,” Qudrat said.
Qudrat also said he wants to ensure that the BruinGo! program,
which allows students to ride the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus for
free, stays up and running this coming year.