We must all share the pain of ASUCLA’s crisis

We must all share the pain of ASUCLA’s crisis

By Elaine Chu

You may have noticed the students’ association’s increased
prices in the student store and in food service. While the
students’ association has made a strong effort to keep prices the
same over the years, as the $1.8 million projected loss for 1994-95
demonstrates, we can no longer do that.

During winter quarter, the students’ association made public the
expectation of a $1.8 million loss for the 1994-95 fiscal year. The
decrease in tourists visiting campus coupled with increasing
registration fees have caused people to spend less in the student
store.

This has significantly dropped the revenue stream upon which the
students’ association depends. The consultants hired by the board
of directors two months ago recommended several changes to the
students’ association’s operation and revenue.

One of the major problems the consultants pointed out was that
the students’ stores have been selling more expensive convenience
store goods at a lower grocery store price. For instance, the
student store has always strived to sell products at the same low
prices as grocery stores ­ this way, for example, you can buy
single, small-sized bottles of cold drinks, much like those you
would find in a convenience store. This difference in pricing,
however, has cut sharply into the "bottom line," or net revenue, of
the students’ association.

Hence, as of March 27, the students’ association implemented
price increases on certain convenience store items. Some other
price increases you see are due to the disparities between the
Country Store and Food Service prices for the same product. For
example, customers used to be confused by the inconsistency of a
Hansen’s juice selling for $1.05 at Tropix, yet only for $0.99 at
the Country Store. Since the price changes, prices for Snapple,
yogurt, California Rolls and others have been made equal in all
ASUCLA service areas.

In another effort to reduce the loss faced by the students’
association, prices on selected products in Bearwear and in the
Universal City Walk Spirit Store were increased by an approximate 7
percent average. Since the students’ association is aware of the
chronic money shortage problem with students, a selected line of
Bearwear has been kept out of the price increases.

Although you might go in the store and complain that this line
consists of the sweatshirts with "blah designs" or of thin
material, while the "good" sweatshirts cost $45, consider the needs
the students’ association must satisfy. We are increasing prices to
help defray the accumulated $3 million loss we must begin repaying
in a couple of years. Since this is a students’ association where
profits are returned to help students ­ for instance, keeping
Kerckhoff Hall and Ackerman Union open 24 hours during dead week
and finals, giving $100,000 each year to the student programming
fund ­ it’s fair to ask the campus to bear some of the
load.

The students’ association is not relying on students alone to
dig us out of our $1.8 million loss. We have asked full-time UCLA
employees to accept a freeze on wages and merit adjustments and the
university has agreed to continue paying half of the maintenance
costs of Ackerman and Kerckhoff.

This is a period of shared sacrifice. Through everyone’s
coordinated efforts, we expect to reduce the projected loss to $1.2
million, before additional T-shirt sales from the basketball
championship. But we can only do this with your shared support.

Every time you go into Westwood to buy lunch or to Target to buy
notebooks instead of going to the Student Store, the students’
association’s ability to serve concessions at basketball games and
to continue selling Rx candy at low prices is made that much
harder.

I realize that everyone ­ undergraduates, graduates, career
employees, faculty ­ would rather not pay the increased
students’ association prices. Me neither. But I’d rather have a
student store in which to shop than none at all.

We welcome your comments; you can call the ASUCLA board of
directors at 206-5966 or e-mail [email protected]. I can be
reached at [email protected]

Chu, a fifth-year economics/international area studies student,
is an undergraduate students’ association board member.