Despite the personal nature of an economic crisis, individual employees can be overlooked during the media craze surrounding the pending budget cuts in the UC system.
But the budget cuts and furloughs that will compensate for the $813 million reduction in funding from the state could have a very real impact on ASUCLA employees, which includes those who work for the undergraduate and graduate student governments, student media, and services and enterprises.
Though the impacts of the furloughs and changes in the budget are still unclear, some students are already facing new economic pressures.
Stacy Hwang, a fourth-year psychology student and BearWear employee, said that she noticed a change in terms of anticipated pay raises.
“I worked for an entire year and then my review was good enough to get a raise, but I couldn’t because there was no money,” Hwang said. “I won’t be getting another raise until a year from now.”
However, many employees will not understand the consequences of the budget cuts until after implementation.
“We’re really not sure how it’s going to impact us yet,” said Bob Williams, executive director of ASUCLA. “It’s too soon to tell.”
Patrick Healey, the general merchandise manager at the UCLA Store also said that employees will have to wait to understand the real impacts of the budget cuts.
“None of us have felt them yet, because they are still being worked on,” Healey said. “If approved, they will not take effect until August.” He added that the cuts will likely affect USAC employees differently given their position.
“Each employee will have to understand (the cuts) based on their own salary levels,” Healey said. “You have to adjust expenses accordingly and learn how to cut back in some areas that are not essential.”
Williams said that because of the need to reduce costs, employees could anticipate requests to devote more effort and more time to jobs, as well as reductions in pay.
D’Juan Farmer, the financial supports commissioner for USAC, said he anticipates a different environment at UCLA given the economic situation.
“It’s going to be a little less welcoming for the students at UCLA until people in USAC and other departments figure out how to compensate to include students and give them the same support as in previous years,” Farmer said.
He added that he anticipates new academic and social challenges for students as they are forced to bear a larger financial burden. Farmer also said that the lack of funding for new programs will prove to be an obstacle.
“USAC will have to take a unique approach to prioritize students and address all of them in more than one capacity,” Farmer said. “USAC has been getting a lot more “˜No’s’ about ideas and programming. … The support isn’t there because people are losing their jobs and being stretched a lot further to compensate for the budget loss.”
Hwang also said fewer students receive promotions to supervisor positions, and managers emphasize worker efficiency more so than in the past.
Farmer said that many students are choosing to work extra jobs and commute from home rather than live off campus to prepare for the anticipated increases in student fees.
But despite the negative outlook for the 2009-2010 school year, some are hopeful that the university can adapt to alleviate the economic consequences.
“We (USAC) are working hard, just like a lot of people in the staff, to make sure that students don’t have to bear the entire burden,” Farmer said.