Distribution of funds questioned

Tuesday, February 3, 1998

Distribution of funds questioned

LAW SCHOOL Some suspect money never reached students; Bar
Association wants more control

By Emi Kojima

Daily Bruin Contributor

The Student Bar Association (SBA) passed a resolution Monday
that students should have more control of funds provided from their
tuition.

Law students are concerned that not all of the money allocated
to financial aid in the 1995-1996 budget went there.

"We oppose any reduction in the one-third of the differential
fees that normally goes to financial aid," said Peter Nguyen, SBA
president.

Law School administrators could not be reached for comment.

In 1995, the UC Regents voted to increase the differential fee
for students in professional schools – including the UCLA schools
of law, dentistry, business and medicine.

The regents planned to raise the fees every year by 10 percent,
for the next five years so that the costs of the UC professional
schools would be more comparable to similar institutions.

Since professional students’ education leads more directly to
higher income jobs, the 1995-1996 budget called for an increase in
the differential fees.

The regents, however, also said that one-third of differential
fee money would go toward scholarships and grants to alleviate the
financial stress on students with the rising costs to attend
professional school.

"Financial aid is especially important now that the new
admission system emphasis is socioeconomic (in light of Proposition
209)," Nguyen said.

Allegations that financial aid money went to other sources have
not been verified. One report claims that financial aid money went
toward construction fees for the law school’s new library.

Moreover, the chief financial and administrative officer of the
law school said that more financial aid was distributed this
year.

"This year more money was given out in financial aid because the
total amount of differential fees increased," John Powers said.

Nguyen and SBA treasurer Sarvando Sandoval met with law school
Dean Susan Prager on Monday to discuss their concerns.

According to Nguyen, if money was relocated from financial aid,
the administration replaced it with private donations.

Nguyen said that students cannot verify this claim, because the
law school accounting office handles all financial records and
students "can’t get any answers from them."

Whether the law school has complied with the regents original
recommendation is still unknown, but the SBA has shown that they
want to know exactly how all of their money is spent.

Their Resolution No. 4 states that allocations of financial aid
funds should not be reduced. Additionally, it suggests that the law
school administration maintain an independent financial aid office,
and that students be included in budgetary proceedings.

"The time is right to get a student representative in the
financial aid office," said Robert Garcia, SBA chief of staff.

He mentioned that having a student representative would be
beneficial with the ongoing reorganization of the financial aid
office and with the arrival of a new dean at the law school.