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Shani Shahmoon: UCLA should allow alumni free access to BruinView

(Kelly Brennan/Daily Bruin)

By Shani Shahmoon

March 6, 2015 12:24 a.m.

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. UCLA alumni can in fact renew their access to BruinView after six months.

College graduates are facing a drastically different job market than the one that existed when our parents went to school.

Where before someone might have begun working after graduation in the same company they would one day retire in, now, it is not uncommon for students to jump from job to job throughout their 20s. As the job market shifts, it’s on the university to shift its sense of responsibility to its graduates.

The Career Center at UCLA is a resource for current students to seek out future job opportunities. But what happens when students graduate and still have not secured a job? Is it the university’s role to continue to provide for their past students?

Students invest their time and money into a four-year institution that will help them one day get a career. Part of the money students invest is allocated to funding the Career Center. UCLA should not stop providing Career Center resources after a student’s graduation.

One of the most important and useful tools offered to students through the Career Center is BruinView. BruinView is an online program for UCLA students on which thousands of employers post job offers daily. Students have access to this resource at any point in their undergraduate or graduate education at UCLA, and it will connect them to employers in their fields of interest.

Currently, UCLA alumni can only access BruinView by paying a $30 fee, along with the requirement of membership to the Alumni Association, which is $55 per year or $495 for a lifetime membership. The $30 fee covers only six months of BruinView usage, along with smaller additional tools for finding jobs, such as admissions to Career Fairs. These costs are unreasonable because students have already invested tens of thousands of dollars in this institution and deserve to have access to resources that will allow them to gain a return on their investment.

The UCLA Career Center, Undergraduate Students Association Council, and Alumni Affairs are in the process of trying to increase alumni access to BruinView without increasing student fees to bear the brunt of the cost, but this is difficult to accomplish.

In the past, USAC has advocated for adding student fees in order to support different initiatives such as The Bruin Diversity Referendum of 2014 and The Green Initiative Fund Extension. Now, USAC and the other collaborators said they will not take this approach. These organizations are aiming to reallocate current student fees or reach out to donors in order to secure these changes, rather than increase fees.

While subsidizing this $30 fee is important, it is equally important to acknowledge that no funding source is infinite and some limitation should be implemented. BruinView should be an avenue for alumni, but while six months is too short a time limit, we also should not offer lifetime access. BruinView should offer its services to alumni for free up to five or six years after graduation.

About 10 years ago, the Academic Planning and Budget Office was handed a proposal to expand BruinView’s availability to alumni. Their acceptance was beneficial and resulted in the current system of paid access for six months. But after 10 years, making change will further advance the matter of access to job security for alumni.

The post-graduation path today is very different from what it was 10 years ago. Now, students take on limited-time internships or volunteer trips, unpaid internships and jobs that provide a stepping stone into their preferred field or any job available in order to have financial stability. For a few years after graduation, alumni will still need a career resource that can provide thousands of job listings, and UCLA should provide that sort of support.

Current students should recognize that their support of a resource like this only benefits themselves in the long run. Every current Bruin aims to eventually hold a degree from UCLA, and by advocating for this sort of cause, students will gain benefits for their future.

The cost of BruinView for alumni, along with the time limit, are debilitating to alumni who either can’t afford the membership or find no success within the first six months of job searching. There is also no fee waiver for alumni who can’t afford this fee.

While waiving the fee for alumni with financial issues should be considered, the potential to provide career help for all UCLA alumni will solve the greater issue of access for all UCLA degree holders.

College students are straddling the fence between reality and the bubble of UCLA. If the Career Center manages to waive this fee and extend this time allotment, there will be a hand to help guide you to a more financially secure future.

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Shani Shahmoon | Opinion columnist
Shani Shahmoon is an opinion columnist and a member of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. She writes about student activism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mental health issues.
Shani Shahmoon is an opinion columnist and a member of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. She writes about student activism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mental health issues.
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