It may seem student lobbying groups are more concerned with
keeping student fees low than with looking out for how much
students pay for on-campus living space.
But things may be changing.
Over the weekend, members of the On Campus Housing Council
joined members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council as
they traveled to Sacramento to lobby for lower student fees.
OCHC, on its part, journeyed to make students’ voices
heard regarding housing fee increases, which are scheduled to occur
again next year.
OCHC and USAC also created a joint resolution to work with
administrators to keep housing fees down on Feb. 25.
The resolution discusses the importance of on-campus housing to
the student experience and how increased fees could deny future
students that opportunity.
“We created the resolution because we needed the
students’ voices to be heard and to convey the
students’ commitment to keeping housing fees from
increasing,” said OCHC chairwoman Michelle Sivert. “Our
goal is to keep housing fees down and minimize them as much as
possible.”
USAC endorsed OCHC and the resolution, so that it would have
more weight and would be more publicly acknowledged, Sivert
said.
“(USAC) recognizes the hardships of housing fees, and we
took a stand to lower housing fee increases,” said USAC
President David Dahle.
OCHC is also printing up pre-stamped postcards they will
distribute to students in the residence halls. In May, these
postcards will be sent to the UC Board of Regents, who approved
Housing’s 10-year Master Plan to accommodate all undergrads
for four years, and will approve the Housing budget for next
year.
“We’re sending the postcards to the regents in hopes
that they will be more committed to keeping fees down. How often do
they hear the students’ perspectives? By sending the
postcards, we are letting them keep the students’ opinions in
mind when approving the budget,” Sivert said.
Since the Housing administration is an auxiliary organization,
it does not receive any money from the state and receives all of
its funding from students.
“We’ve looked into other options of where the money
could come from, but because it is auxiliary, it comes down to the
fact that students have to pay for it,” Sivert said.
Housing and USAC have acknowledged that OCHC has been more
active this year regarding housing fees.
“I’ve been impressed with them this year and the
steps they’ve been taking,” Dahle said.
This year, OCHC has been looking at Housing’s budget and
has been working with the administration to see if they can cut
some items from the budget that seem more expendable than
others.
As a result of OCHC concerns expressed last year about the short
time frame they had been given to review the budget, Housing worked
with the Policy Review Board from the beginning of fall quarter to
review the On Campus Housing budget with OCHC.
“We have been fully conversant with them, and we have
tried very very hard to keep them fully informed every step of the
way so that there would be no surprises with impacts in financial
costs,” said Director of Housing Michael Foraker.
Housing relies on the Policy Review Board, which includes OCHC
members, to provide feedback to the On Campus Housing department
managers on the value, appropriateness and effectiveness of the
services provided to the on-campus residents.
This feedback is used by the department managers in establishing
their strategic planning and future service levels, which are then
incorporated into the budget process, said Housing Administration
Business Manager Dan Les.
Before cutting anything from the budget, the OCHC wants to make
sure it will be something students will agree with. Student input
reaches the OCHC through the students’ floor external vice
presidents.
“We haven’t decided to take anything out yet. We
haven’t gotten feedback from the students on what students
are willing to cut to get lower housing fee increases,”
Sivert said.