USAC votes to increase councilmember stipend

Members of UCLA’s undergraduate student government voted Tuesday night to increase their stipends from $355 to $672 per month in an effort to make serving on the council more financially feasible.

The decision passed with a vote of 8-1-0 after several weeks of discussions and debates about the change, which was proposed to the Undergraduate Students Association Council by Roy Chamapawat, director of the UCLA Student Union, and Patricia Zimmerman, student government services manager.

Starting this year, councilmembers will be paid for a 20-hour work week at $8 an hour, which is California’s minimum wage. In their presentations to the council, Champawat and Zimmerman expressed concern about rising student fees over past years and a static rate of pay for councilmembers.

USAC President John Joanino said he thinks the decision was difficult for councilmembers to make because the money used to increase council pay could possibly go to student groups if those groups requested more funding.

“At the same time, we are all students and are dealing with the same financial realities,” he said.

Internal Vice President Avi Oved was the only councilmember to vote against increasing stipends. Oved said that he did not feel comfortable raising his own stipend because it could take away from student group funding.

Other councilmembers also expressed concern about raising their own pay, but they argued that they did not want low wages to deter other students from serving on the council in the future.

Multiple councilmembers said they had to quit their jobs because of the time commitment required to serve on council, and that they work significantly more than 20 hours a week.

Joanino said he plans to increase the council’s outreach to student groups to make them more aware of the funding accessible to them.

Compiled by Amanda Schallert, Bruin senior staff.