Submission: The 2017-18 FSC will focus on both programming and advocacy

When I ran for Undergraduate Students Association Council Financial Supports commissioner this year, I promised to expand the commission by taking it in a new direction, one that engages in both programming and advocacy.

For the past six years, the Financial Supports Commission has successfully sought to address issues of financial concern to the student body through research-based programming. There has always been a debate about whether FSC’s approach should center on programming or on advocacy.

However, this commission should never choose between programming and advocacy. At a time when tuition continues to rise at the University of California and the accessibility of our institution is being threatened by a lack of funding, FSC cannot afford to address student financial concerns solely through programming.

My office will be joining the fight for an affordable education through advocacy.

Traditionally, the FSC office has created resource guides and held town halls to help students navigate transportation, parking, on-campus jobs, health insurance, budgeting, rent, financial aid and everyday affordability. The FSC office has delivered students thousands of dollars in parking and textbook scholarships, our annual Financial Literacy Week has allowed students to learn about the importance of financial literacy and wellness with interactive workshops and our loaner libraries have given hundreds of students i>clickers, lab coats, calculators and phone chargers to rent free of charge every quarter.

This tradition of education and providing for students has demonstrated USAC’s ability to make a difference in affordability and accessibility at UCLA. I cannot help but to admire the work of our previous Financial Supports Commissioners to accomplish these goals.

But our office must do more. We cannot hope to accomplish our goal of fighting for affordability with programming alone. We must accompany our legacy of programming with support for student advocacy efforts.

My office will have two chiefs of staff this year: one dedicated to programming, Sara Zaghi, and one dedicated to advocacy, Emma Zawacki.

Zaghi and I will fight to continue and expand our resource guides, scholarships, discounts, on-campus programming and loaner libraries. We plan to bring a year-long video series about different personal finance topics to increase financial literacy on campus.

Zawacki and I will spearhead the FSC office’s advocacy efforts.

This upcoming year, we plan to advocate on two matters: First, we will bring quarterly, student-led campaigns on different affordability issues directly affecting students, such as access to Cal Grants and lack of state funding for the UC. Nine student leaders in my office will be dedicated to working together to pressure our state government to make higher education a priority at a time when students seem to be forgotten.

Second, my newly institutionalized Parking Advocacy Task Force will allow commuter students, a community historically underserved by administration and student government, to organize and fight for issues such as more affordable and accessible parking on campus and in Westwood Village. The task force will be co-chaired by two commuter students and will collaborate with the Bruin Resource Center and Transportation Services Advisory Board to achieve its goals.

It is feasible for a USAC office to engage in both programming and advocacy. This year’s Financial Supports Commission showed us so.

Twice this year, the office ventured into advocacy – both times with positive results. We worked closely with CALPIRG president Jamie Kennerk and lobbied for the institutionalization of open-source textbooks at meetings with administrators and faculty. Second, the commission worked with the USAC external vice president’s office with a letter-writing campaign and phone bank to fight against Measure S, which threatened students with rising housing costs. The measure failed, in part due to student efforts.

My vision for the incoming Financial Supports Commission is ambitious. Our office of forty student leaders will be tested as we attempt to take this commission to new heights. I hope students will keep up with our work through our social media and reach out to us to find out how they can help with our various campaigns.

We cannot afford to be complacent, and we cannot wait to get started.

Aaron Boudaie is a second-year political science student and the 2017-18 USAC Financial Supports commissioner.