This post was updated May 5 at 11:37 p.m.
Students could pay $55 quarterly to fund on-campus diversity centers and initiatives starting next fall if one of the costliest referendums in Undergraduate Students Association Council election history passes.
The Student Success Referendum, if passed during the May 8-15 USAC election, would fund on-campus diversity initiatives, including resource centers for veterans, transfers, students of color and students who identify as LGBTQ+. The referendum, sponsored by USAC Internal Vice President Tommy Contreras, would require a majority of voting students and at least 20% turnout from the undergraduate student body to pass.
If passed, the fee would be the second-most expensive referendum fee on students’ BruinBills, behind the general USA fee, which funds the council’s activities and stipends. In compliance with UC policy, 25% of the funds generated from the referendum will go toward financial aid for UCLA undergraduates.
The fee would also be subject to inflation adjustments every academic year beginning in the fall of 2029, according to the referendum language.
Evan Salazar, a candidate for USAC general representative, said the referendum will alleviate financial pressure on the resource centers. Salazar, the IVP office’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, added that the referendum is not meant to be a permanent fix and will, instead, serve as temporary relief for the programs.
The fee will buy USAC time to advocate for UCLA administrators to fund the programs, Salazar said.
“It should not be up to individual students to pay for their own support,” said Salazar, a first-year political science student.
UCLA announced in March 2025 that it would implement cost-cutting measures across campus in response to its budget deficit – including a 10% budget cut for administrative units, a hiring review process and limits on travel expenditures. UCLA cut the budget of the Division of Undergraduate Education, which leads the Academic Advancement Program – a center that the fee would fund and which provides support to students from underrepresented backgrounds – to pause programs and reduce its staff starting July 1, 2025.
A spokesperson for UCLA Student Affairs said in an emailed statement that the university did not sponsor the measure and decisions on its funding structure are still in development.
“Because the measure is still before students, it would be premature for UCLA to speak to specific program-level allocations or how individual centers would use potential funding,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
Contreras said the referendum’s funding would be integral to campus initiatives such as the Latinx Student Center, which a grant helped establish in 2025. The center is still in need of permanent funding, Contreras added.
Salazar said he believes it is important to fund these programs because they help students become comfortable on campus.
“We want Bruins to feel they have a place here on campus and feel supported, especially in academic settings that the resources provide,” he said.
Jackie Chen, a student staff member at the Veteran Resource Center, said he hopes the referendum will provide funding to fix understaffing at the center.
The VRC would receive $3.50 per student per quarter if the referendum passed, amounting to $117,369 total per quarter. The referendum language does not detail how each center and program can use the funding.
Chen, the president of the Student Veterans of America at UCLA, said that, per the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, there should be one School Certifying Official – an employee of a university who certifies veteran or military-connected student enrollment and acts as a liaison between the school and VA – per 125 students. However, the university enrolled more than 1,000 military-connected students as of 2023 but only has two full-time SCOs, added Chen, a fourth-year geophysics student.
“A hard part of the unique experience of being a veteran is that you are in the later stages of your life,” Chen said. “It makes some of the veterans a little harder for them to connect with younger students, and there’s a space for them to be able to gather and meet each other.”
When asked about the center’s understaffing, UCLA Media Relations responded with the same emailed statement attributed to Student Affairs about its inability to speak prematurely about the referendum.
Chen said he understands why students are being asked to pay for the referendum but added that he believes the burden of providing institutional support for resource centers on campus should fall on the university.
“I unfortunately feel like, because this is needed money, I would vote yes,” Chen said. “But, it’s like making a deal with the devil, almost like forcing students to pay for something even though it’s something they’re not using.”
Molly Melia, a second-year business economics student, said she is willing to pay the $55 quarterly fee if it means providing other students with services.
“They’re (USAC is) pretty good about advocating for what’s right,” Melia said.
Representatives from the other resource centers the referendum would fund did not respond in time to a request to comment on the referendum and its potential impact.
Contreras, a fourth-year political science and public affairs student, said students should vote in favor of the referendum to strengthen the student body’s access to resources.
“When all students are succeeding on this campus, we succeed as well,” Contreras said. “This referendum is really about community and about recognizing that our success is interconnected. Investing in these resources is investing in the strength of the entire UCLA student body.”
Contributing reports from Victor Simoes, Daily Bruin reporter.
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