Graduating seniors not yet prepared to give back

At UCLA, nobody kept score on who I was, they just wanted to see what I did.

For this reason, I was surprised to see the heightened interest in my money as graduation approached.

As we get closer to abandoning the hills of Westwood and tackling the real world, seniors not only find ourselves inundated with senioritis, commencement invitations and job applications; we also have to fight off, or concede to, the repetitive hounding of the UCLA Fund and its gracious telemarketers seeking a senior gift for the school.

“Would you like to donate to the UCLA senior class gift?”

“No, I’m hella broke.”

“OK, would you want us to try and reach you at another time?”

“Not really. I’ll still be broke.”

Come on, UCLA! During our four years, graduating seniors that entered the campus as freshmen have endured myriad fee increases, two rounds of budget crises and vetoes of two different versions of that elusive California Dream Act that would have increased access to financial aid. With such legislative misfortune, the class of 2008 cannot be expected to have much left in the tank, let alone its pockets.

But such political reality is not enough to deter the Bruin spirit of those who work for the money-raising machinery.

“I don’t like acting like a solicitor to students,” said a self-aware Richard Potomac, fourth-year psychology student and outreach chairman for the senior class giving committee. “I just want them to appreciate all that UCLA has done for them.”

Now, the intellectual and cultural enrichment that we can gain while at UCLA is undeniable, but drawing a direct connection to the finances of the institution itself is a risky endeavor. The university is still trying to clean up its image after the 2006 compensation scandal, in which UC President Robert Dynes faced calls for resignation over the lucrative perks from which high-level faculty and administrators were benefitting.

Either because of personal economics or institutional distrust, this batch of Bruins is not short of arguments for a monetary abstention.

Others laugh at the prospect of being the targets of a fundraising drive.

“I will give money when I am rich, provided that it gets me lower-level seats in Pauley,” said Andrew Scott Lamming, a fourth-year philosophy student who declined to donate to the senior class gift.

Members of the giving committee eagerly talk about planting the seed of generosity for the school that made us who we are. But the truth remains that this batch of seniors is not ready to fork out much dough, regardless of how good UCLA might be to us.

In essence, the goal of the giving committee is a fair one: aid future Bruins in their pursuit of research, scholarships and extracurricular activities while also placing a neat little plaque on Bruin Walk.

The Facebook group for the giving committee indicates that $53,230, or roughly a whopping one-eighth of our new chancellor’s annual salary, have already been raised for this year’s graduating class. The giving committee has already surpassed its goal of 2008 pledges and gifts.

Evidently, some of our seniors are ready to pour their money into this amazing school. However, the financial reality of this year’s graduating class is not the best. According to the 2007 UC Student Association Affordability Report, our time in the UC system was marked by a higher total cost of attendance than comparable public institutions such as the Universities of Michigan, Illinois or Virginia. And this isn’t the only data that indicates graduating Bruins are not getting the best treatment.

Hearing about the $3 billion raised during the Carnesale era could be enough to overwhelm the upcoming batch of seniors, who are getting ready to leave the fairy-tale life of 8-claps and undie runs and face the real-world reality of unemployment and recession.

UCLA has been good to us, with a sweet streak-cutting victory over USC, three Final Fours, enough good parties and an astounding commencement speaker in Bill Clinton. The dubious prospects upon graduation, however, warrant us a break.

No graduating senior is saying UCLA did not prepare us for the future, but some may want to hold off on monetary contributions. We can still pledge to be vocal fanatics of all things UCLA.

After all, you think getting our money right now is exciting? Wait ’til you see how much we make tomorrow.

Tell Ramos not to be greedy at mramos@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.

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