USAC awards book money
By Jae Yang
Jan. 4, 2009 10:27 p.m.
Thirty lucky undergraduates were awarded $250 textbook scholarships Friday as the first recipients of a fund created by the undergraduate student government.
Financial Support Commissioner Elaine Reodica ““ whose office has spearheaded the effort ““ and five other organizers dipped their hands into a gold bingo cage to draw the names of the beneficiaries of the scholarship, after 522 names on business-card-sized tags swirled.
Among the 30 chosen for the winter were second-years Vennela Reddy and Sampaguita Iaquinto and third-years Lucine Torosian and Tuyen Bui.
None of the recipients were present at the drawing but are expected to appear at the official presentation scheduled today.
The scholarships will be given as credit at the textbook store on the second floor of Ackerman Union.
“Textbook costs are a universal issue that all students face,” Reodica said. “We’re starting off small, and from it we’ll have a base on which to get bigger.”
The Undergraduate Students Association Council unanimously approved its first-ever textbook scholarship in September, and $20,000 in leftover programming funds was pooled toward winter and spring quarter allotments.
The publicity effort during the third through ninth weeks of fall quarter netted close to 1,000 applicants.
Reodica said the Financial Aid Office then whittled the applicants to 522 based on an expected family contribution of $10,000 or less found on the financial-aid form.
Neil Yamaguchi, academic support director for the UCLA Store, said the textbook stipends were the latest idea in a string of textbook initiatives, including reduced prices and textbook rentals, implemented by the store’s parent enterprise Associated Students UCLA.
Asha Bell, a second-year sociology and geography and environmental studies student, anticipates her textbooks to cost upward of $150 this quarter.
She said Financial Supports Commission staff encouraged her to apply while walking to Covel Commons, and that she was elated when her name was drawn. She said she finances her education through a job and “desperately needed the money.”
“Anything is helpful,” she said.
But while the seeds of good news are planted, Reodica said the drawing was a “bittersweet” realization of a campaign promise she classified as her number-one priority.
Undocumented students were not included in the pool because they are ineligible to receive financial aid or public funds based on California law. This included Assembly Bill 540 students who pay in-state tuition fees.
Reodica said she was exploring alternative options to include “every student with needs.” This includes legal council with the university and a possible resignation from USAC to solicit private donations through private organizations.
“As much as I’m celebrating today, I won’t consider this a done platform until every student with needs is eligible,” Reodica said.
As part of the contractual agreement, recipients are required to return the textbooks at the end of the quarter. Refunds will go back into the scholarship fund. Thirty-eight scholarships are expected in the spring.
