This article was updated at 2:59 p.m. on April 30.
Some students groups are pushing to pass a quarterly $3 fee increase referendum this week to combat decreases in undergraduate student government funds, while other students are questioning why they should have to pay for it.
If passed, the student group event referendum would generate about $260,000 yearly for the Undergraduate Students Association Council Contingency Programming Fund, the USA/Associated Students UCLA Board of Directors Programming Fund and the Community Activities Committee funds. The total is based on the projected number of enrolled students next year.
The fee, which aims to combat the 31.7 percent decrease in student funding since 2009, would also be indexed for inflation. In line with university policy, a fourth of the funds raised would also go toward financial aid.
The referendum aims to compensate for the increased competition for USAC funds and inflation. About 800 student groups applied to the USAC Contingency Programming Fund and USA/ASUCLA Board of Directors Programming Fund in 2009, while more than 1,000 applied in 2015, though the pool of funding remained relatively stable, said Community Service Commissioner Cynthia Wong, who proposed the referendum.
The original budgets of the USAC Contingency Programming Fund, USA/ASUCLA Board of Directors Programming Fund and the Community Activities Committee funds are $80,000, $293,000 and $10,000 respectively. Additional student group funding comes from USAC surplus funds, which can be unpredictable. As USAC does not go through its budget until the end of fall quarter, these funds may be left with less money in winter than expected.
Surplus funding is money that was not used in the previous year and rolls over to the next year.
Wong said she thinks the referendum would help stabilize funding for the next few years if the surplus continues to decrease.
“This referendum very much serves that need right now with a very small, marginal change in student fees,” Wong said. “I don’t think that it is the end-all (and) be-all solution, because it’s not going to be.”
Mikael Matossian, the president of the Armenian Students’ Association, said he has noticed a decline in the funding that the group has received from USAC in the last few years.
“USAC has helped us with funding allocations, but there just aren’t as many funds available – that’s the thing,” said Matossian, a fourth-year environmental science student who said he voted in favor of the referendum.
Teri Nguyen, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student and director for the 2014 Vietnamese Culture Night, said she ran into problems while applying for USAC funds.
Nguyen, who ran for office with the FIRED UP! slate last spring, said she thinks the referendum is necessary as long as the funds are used responsibly, because more student groups are applying to them and UCLA facilities are getting more expensive to rent for student events.
Other students said they did not support the measure.
“Why should I have to pay?” said Sean Missimer, a second-year aerospace engineering student. “If they want more funding, they should pull it out of their own pockets.”
Trisha Patel, a fourth-year biology student, said she is split on how she feels about the referendum. While she helps handle the finances for Los Angeles Student Educational Outreach and CityLab at UCLA and has seen a decline in the funding they receive, she also doesn’t think the referendum would be fair to the average student.
“The referendum would be a benefit to those who are involved (in student groups),” Patel said. “But if you aren’t, it could be forcing them to pay more money to something that wouldn’t help them as much.”
Wong said USAC is also looking for other ways to improve funding processes and increase the amount of student funds available.
Wong said she recently made a presentation to the ASUCLA Board of Directors Finance Committee about indexing the approximate $123,000 that USAC contributes to the USA/ASUCLA Board of Directors Programming Fund to account for inflation, and will find out whether this has been approved when ASUCLA presents its budget in May.
Students can vote on the MyUCLA website until 3 p.m. on Friday.
Contributing reports by Andrea Henthorn and Sierra Desousa, Bruin contributors.
Do the “decreases” in student government funds have anything to do with the increase in pay that the USAC council voted to give themselves? That money had to come from somewhere, but now we’re losing money and need to charge students more?
I’m not sure about the USAC money but a big chunk of these funds are allocated by the UCLA Student Advisory Fee Committee on a yearly basis (which oversees funding distribution for all student fees). The challenge with the Community Service funding, at the very least, isn’t related at all to USAC stipends but has more to do with funding volunteer programs out of an inconsistent surplus that relies on unspent money rolling over from year to year. This means that if groups do an efficient job of utilizing money for their programs there’s actually less money that gets passed down to the following year. The current system pretty much punishes people for good spending practices. Passing stable funding would reduce that.
Had the UC implemented this fee, everyone would be up in arms. How is this any different other than students being able vote on the issue? A fee is a fee (and if you’re not for it, then a “tax”). Students shouldn’t go into debt (or burden their parents with higher costs) just because student groups need more funding regardless of whether it’s $3 or $30 or even $300. USAC provides enough funding and the issue is that the pool of money doesn’t really increase, but the number of student groups can. If students are compelled to participate then they should make do with the funds provided to them, reduce their costs or number of events, or contribute from their own personal funds. There’s only so much the student population should subsidize in funding these extracurricular activities.