Ruth Zambren, one of many UCLA students on financial aid, said
she sometimes has trouble financing her textbooks.
“I spend $300 dollars on books. Sometimes I don’t
have enough money,” Zambren, a second-year undeclared
student, said.
Students like Zambren are eligible for the Undergraduate
Students Association Council booklending program, which helps
financially disadvantaged students by giving them the opportunity
to borrow textbooks for their courses at no charge. Students
receiving financial aid or students who are working qualify for the
booklending program.
Operated by the USAC Financial Supports Commission, the program
has not been extensively successful in the past. But this year,
Financial Supports Commissioner Erica Husse hopes to improve the
program.
“I really tried to focus this year on the program because
it’s a valuable program that I could’ve used when I
first came to UCLA,” Husse said.
One obstacle the program has faced in the past is its lack of
publicity, limiting its ability to supply books for different
courses.
Amy Lucas, the inventory director of the program, said more
advertising is needed on campus to make students aware of the
program.
Vanessa Gonzalez, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies student, said
she had never heard of the program, but believes it is something of
which students should take advantage.
“It’s useful for students who have to go to the
library to check out books on reserve,” Gonzalez said. Books
on reserve can be checked out for two hours at a time, and Gonzalez
believes two hours is never enough time to get work done.
The program used advertisements in the Daily Bruin and
word-of-mouth to increase awareness for the program. Adam Harmetz,
the program’s director and former USAC general
representative, believes word-of-mouth was the most effective.
“A lot of students who used the program came in because of
word-of-mouth,” Harmetz said. Despite its lack of
advertising, some students have managed to learn about the
program.
Cheryl Singzun, a UCLA alumna, heard about the program three
years ago and considered donating some of her textbooks.
Harmetz said in past years, the books were mainly funded by USAC
mandatory student fees, but believed that using student fees to pay
for the books was a waste of money. Starting this fall, the program
will depend only on book donations from the Associated Students of
UCLA and students.
Through the donations, FSC acquired 400-500 books this quarter.
Lucas said there are now around 700 books in the booklending
library.
“(The program) is a great idea,” Lucas said.
“This is one of the few programs that can directly save
students a huge amount of money.”
For more information, go to
students.asucla.ucla.edu/FSC.