The Associated Students of UCLA have released a Food Services
Master Plan to reinvent the variety and quality of student eateries
on campus. The intentions of the plan are good, but it ultimately
continues to perpetuate a poor business model which has prevented
ASUCLA from both escaping debt and providing cheaper home-grown
services.
Included in the new plan’s proposals are adding another
Panda Express in North Campus, building a Jamba Juice adjacent to
Taco Bell’s current location, starting a pub (possibly with
upscale dining services), and building a soup-and-salad bar.
ASUCLA’s business model differs from those used by many
other universities in its emphasis on revenue accumulation through
store and restaurant profits, rather than by charging students a
union fee. The idea behind the current model is to spare students
high fees by bringing businesses to campus whose profits would
provide the bulk of ASUCLA’s financial support.
But at only $7.50, student union fees are significantly low
compared to other schools, which sometimes charge hundreds of
dollars. The $7.50 was temporarily increased by $43.50 for five
years starting in the mid-1990s and ending last year to help the
organization finance itself while in the hole. The organization is
still suffering: its estimated profits from textbook sales and some
campus restaurants this year, for example, have fallen short of
expectations.
The idea of keeping student fees low is a noble one, but
it’s not working. Students may be paying low fees, but they
will be paying high prices for food at Panda Express, Rubio’s
and Jamba Juice. And they will be receiving little in the form of
inexpensive entertainment and socializing outlets. Students who
don’t like arcades have one alternate source of amusement:
pool for $6 an hour ““ only $1.50 less than what they pay for
student union fees per quarter.
ASUCLA should explore whether it can charge less for food if it
prepared it in its own restaurants ““ as it currently does in
the Cooperage and in Northern Lights ““ rather than expanding
contracting with corporate names and bringing in corporate
products. Even if the difference is only minimal, it’s in the
best interest of our campus image to keep food services to ASUCLA.
McDonald’s may make good Big Macs, but no one really wants to
eventually have a McDonald’s on the way to Royce Hall.
There’s a general distaste for increasing student fees of
any kind, but student union fees should be viewed differently than
registration fees, which were recently increased by the University
of California Board of Regents. Whereas the latter are unpopular
largely because they were increased in response to the perceived
poor planning by state politicians, the former are meant
specifically to increase student quality of life. As long as
students get something they regard as valuable back from the union
for their money, they will support increases in student union
fees.
The campus pub idea is the Master Plan’s best. Though it
seems to be the star player in Master Plan in terms of bringing in
revenue due to its potentially enormous popularity, this
shouldn’t deter ASUCLA from looking into revamping their
business model.
ASUCLA needs to propose permanently raising the student union
fee and develop another master plan for what to do with the money
to increase the quality of student life.