UCLA students may be able to vote on one of the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s costliest referendums this May.

USAC approved three referendums to appear on undergraduate students’ ballots in the May election – including the Bruin Success Referendum, Bruin Bash Referendum and Bruin Life and Undergraduate Experience Fee Referendum – at its Feb. 24 meeting. The Bruin Success Referendum could add an additional $55 to students’ quarterly fees, while Bruin Bash would be an extra $3.13 and BLUE Fee Referendum would charge $27.

The UC Office of the President and Chancellor Julio Frenk must approve the referendums before they can officially appear on the ballot for the undergraduate student body to vote on. Any campus-based student fee collected is required to have a 25% return-to-aid, meaning a quarter of the fee is returned to students who qualify for financial aid.

The council also rejected the BruinFresh Referendum – a proposed $9 quarterly fee that would have created a food benefit program for undocumented and international students experiencing food insecurity, as they are ineligible for existing resources such as CalFresh. Council members cited vague language in the referendum as rationale for its rejection, adding that they believe the UC Board of Regents should fund the program instead.

Internal Vice President Tommy Contreras sponsored BruinFresh and Bruin Success as one referendum and said they were the first referendums to be slated together on the ballot.

Bruin Success – which is one of the most expensive referenda ever proposed – will now run alone, if approved. It would provide funding for 10 different diversity programs and initiatives on campus, including the Latinx Success Center, the Academic Advancement Program, the Transfer Student Resource Center, the Veteran Student Resource Center, the LGBTQ Campus Resource Center, the UCLA Dashew Center, the Black Bruin Resource Center, the Center for Community College Partnerships, the American Indian Community Center and the Pacific Islander Resource Center.

That funding will go toward mentorship programs, academic and career development, clinical and wellness services, and student grants and stipends, according to the referendum.

“The proposed $55.00 per quarter student fee, beginning Fall 2026, will ensure long-term, reliable funding for these critical student support centers and programs, strengthening UCLA’s ability to support student success, equity, and community engagement,” the referendum said. “This referendum reflects the collective responsibility of the UCLA community to sustain student-advocated and student-centered support systems – by students, for students, ensuring that student support remains a permanent and evolving institutional priority.”

The referendum clarifies that the fee should supplement, rather than replace, current funding provided by the university.

The council also passed the Bruin Bash Referendum – which would raise the current Bruin Bash fee from $1.87 quarterly. The fee increase would allow USAC to fully fund the annual Welcome Week concert instead of relying on unstable supplemental funding, according to the referendum.

“Passage of this referendum would provide stable funding to sustain and strengthen Bruin Bash,” the referendum said. “It would allow the event to secure higher-profile talent, increase attendance, and make a return to the beloved Pauley Pavilion, accommodating approximately 2,500 additional students. Bruin Bash will be able to become a stronger and more enhanced student experience, reflecting the scale and energy of UCLA’s student body.”

The referendum added that the current fee only covers 40% of Bruin Bash’s funding and is not enough to pay for artist honorariums.

USAC also passed the BLUE Fee Referendum, which would provide additional funding for Associated Students UCLA programming, according to the referendum. Out of the $29 quarterly fee, $16 would help fund ASUCLA-operated student support services and centers such as Ackerman Union and Kerckhoff Hall, including a $1 per hour wage increase for ASUCLA student employees.

The referendum also allocates $6 to support identity-based Student Media publications and expand funding for collaborative programs between ASUCLA and registered campus organizations. The remaining $5 of the fee would create an Undergraduate Catering Event Fund so students can have free food at undergraduate events.

The Bruin Success Referendum is currently under investigation by the USA Elections Board, which claimed that Contreras’ office advocated for the referendum before the permitted online campaigning period, which starts April 8, according to a Feb. 25 Notice of Finding. The Elections Board alleged in the NOF that the IVP Office sent a Jan. 22 email to the Muslim Student Association in which the office said it hoped to “earn your support for its (the referendum’s) passage.”

The Elections Board mandated that Contreras’ office disclose the names of the organizations it contacted, as well as any referendum materials it gave to those organizations, by Feb. 27. It also ordered the office to stop all campaigning activities immediately.

Contreras said in a Feb. 26 statement that his office reached out to student organizations to receive input on the referendum from diverse groups on campus.

“We take full responsibility for any administrative missteps and are committed to complete transparency with the Elections Board,” he said in the statement. “Our actions were guided not by advocacy, but by a sincere commitment to ensuring that this historic referendum–one of the largest in UCLA’s history – truly reflects the voices, needs, and priorities of our student bodies.”

Contreras added in the statement that he hopes the Elections Board understands his office had good intentions and is lenient with its sanctions.

Multiple students gave public comment at the council’s meeting in support of the Bruin Success and BruinFresh Referendum.

Noor Baber, a third-year political science student, said at the meeting that as a first-generation student with disabilities who comes from a minority background, the Bruin Success Referendum would help students like her.

Evan Salazar, a first-year political science student, said he had personally benefited from two of the programs the referendum would fund.

“If it were not for the Resource Center such as AAP and the Latinx Success Center, I would not have the opportunity to speak at this very microphone today,” Salazar said. “These referendums ensure that Bruins in the future will have the same opportunity.”

Contreras said the BruinFresh Referendum was modeled after AggieFresh, a pilot supplemental nutrition program out of UC Davis that provides $298 monthly for students who do not qualify for CalFresh and do not have a meal plan.

“We’re really looking to expand and build on the successes of those to create a larger, sustainable model that also other campuses across not only the UC but across the nation, can look to and hopefully model their own programs after,” Contreras said.

Student Regent Sonya Brooks gave a presentation in support of BruinFresh at the council’s meeting.

“Some of our peers are quietly skipping meals, some are working two jobs and some are choosing between groceries and textbooks,” Brooks said. “BruinFresh is choosing to close that gap, especially between students who barely qualify for help.”

International Student Representative Keya Tanna said at the meeting that the BruinFresh Referendum did not clearly explain that it was designed to help international students, adding that it did not clearly outline how the program would function.

Agrin Khatami, a first-year international development studies and political science student, said at the meeting that undocumented and international students face anxiety about how they will afford their next meals because they are excluded from benefits that address food insecurity.

“College should not be a place where you have to decide whether you wake up in the morning and you’re able to be sustained or you go to class in survival mode,” Khatami said. “This referendum fills in the gaps for food access that many underrepresented students experience.”

The council recently advocated against tuition hikes approved by the UC Board of Regents in November.

[Related: UC Regents amend, renew progressive tuition increases for students]

Contreras said students should see the BruinFresh tuition increase differently than the UC Board of Regents’ hikes, because the money would go toward helping students and would not be as drastic.

“It is about keeping students here, retaining students, creating pathways to offer increasingly diverse populations to achieve higher education in the state of California,” he said. “We are looking to ultimately contribute to the expansion and reformation of retention support here at UCLA,” he said.