Idan Ivri Ivri is a third-year political
science student just giving his opinion. E-mail him yours at
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On-campus housing at UCLA badly needs a new system of student
oversight. The continual price hikes for housing and the repeated
delays of the De Neve project are just symptoms of a bureaucracy
that has forgotten student needs.
To get an idea of the problem, let’s do some simple math
from UCLA’s point of view. Most freshman who live on campus
are assigned to one of the high rise residence halls, the most
economical choice in on-campus housing.
On average, a triple room costs each student approximately
$7,000 per academic year and a double room costs $8,000, varying by
meal plan. Divided by nine months of school, this comes to about
$777 (triple) or $888 (double) per month, per person for a room 180
square feet in size (60 square feet per person in a triple and 90
square feet per person in a double).
This means UCLA makes about a total of $1700 (double) and $2300
(triple) per month for every 180 square feet of living space in the
dorms! That is some expensive real estate.
The least economical choice in on-campus housing, Sunset
Village, can reach about $966 (triple) or $1,000 (double) per
month, varying by meal plan. For each one of the Sunset Village
rooms, which have 225 to 250 square feet of space, UCLA then makes
about $2,000 to $2,898 per month.
I challenge anyone to find an apartment where 180 square feet
costs $2,000.
Nobody can predict what prices apartment owners will charge in
Westwood each quarter, but from personal experience most students
know that studio apartments (invariably larger than any room in the
residence halls or Sunset) cost under $800 to $900 per month.
That’s with no roommates.
One-bedroom apartments, which dwarf on-campus rooms, can cost
from about $1100 to $1500 per month, with no roommates. Comparing
square footage, there can be no argument about economics: Living on
the campus of a public university has become more expensive than
living on the Westside of Los Angeles.
The On Campus Housing Council represents the most coordinated
student-led effort to reform housing policy, and it needs more
power.
Based on the minutes of the last three meetings posted on their
Web site, progress comes most easily to that organization when it
plans parties or sports events.
The minutes dated for Oct. 9, 16 and 23 show an impressive
planning effort for a carnival and Halloween festivities. Some
other business was discussed, such as increasing the number of ATMs
and providing more lighting near the dorms.
But during all three meetings (and several posted from last
year), the important business of living costs is often postponed.
Housing costs and policies are listed as “future”
topics of conversation several times.
The OCHC, as a student-led organization should be more than a
mere advisory representative to the UCLA Housing Administration (or
its proxy, the Office of Residential Life).
Admittedly, planning events is a great way to improve the
quality of life, but student representatives need some direct power
to influence decisions regarding housing and meal plan prices.
As it stands today, UCLA Housing can raise rates as it desires
with nothing to fear from the OCHC.
Apart from the OCHC, the Undergraduate Student Association
Council has some potential to affect housing policy. Under the USAC
bylaws Article III, Section B, No. 10: “The Internal
Vice-President shall be the primary representative “¦ to the
Housing Administration, in conjunction with the Financial Supports
and Facilities Commissioners, on all matters that specifically deal
with student housing issues.”
Besides that paragraph and a few other vague references, no
explicit mention is made in the USAC bylaws or Constitution about
direct student influence on bureaucratic decisions of the Housing
Administration or the ORL.
To change this, USAC should combine elements of the offices of
Internal Vice President, Student Welfare Commissioner and
Facilities Commissioner and petition the administration to create a
new office. This office needs to hold real power to affect the
Housing Administration beyond giving them non-binding advice.
Besides creating this type of elected position, we can lessen
the cost-of-living problem by forcing the Housing Administration to
make their room-pricing decisions common knowledge. Students
deserve the right to know how and why the housing bureaucracy
decided that a 180 square foot room should rake in $1700 to $2300
per month. Where does that figure come from?
Every year on-campus residents receive a thick handbook about
on-campus student conduct. The administration and ORL owes students
an equally thick book about its own conduct when it decided what
fees or regulations students have to accept.
On-campus housing needs to earn back the students’ trust,
and the quickest way to do that is through accountability and
openness. Right now, neither is happening.