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Photo by Carol
Petersen UCLA Today
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Janina Montero said students
are now paying affordable fees for some services. |
tough task for new vice chancellor
Student services hit hard
BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff
As head of a large organization that was one of the hardest hit
by 2002-03 and 2003-04 budget cuts, UCLA’s new vice chancellor
of student affairs is well aware of what her area lost: $3.3 million
thus far. It is a 20% reduction in registration fees that is being
felt by nearly every unit that delivers services to students, from
medical care to career and financial aid counseling to mental health
and legal services.
What Janina Montero wants the campus to ponder is the human cost
— UCLA students unable to find campus or work-study jobs;
staff who are scrambling to do more after 20-25 positions have been
lost; thousands of Los Angeles students from educationally disadvantaged
high schools who may not become UC-eligible because outreach programs
are threatened.
“These grave circumstances have a very real, human and immediate
impact,” said Montero, who came to UCLA in July from Brown
University. “It’s crucial for all of us to recognize
that pain and also the extraordinary way people are extending themselves.
The staff are going way beyond the call of duty to make sure they
are serving students to the highest standards possible.”
Lean times are familiar to Montero. While working at Wesleyan
University, the campus was hit with a 20% cut.
“It was very difficult,” she recalled, “but
the question then was the same as now: Can we put together a process
that is strongly consultative, that identifies clearly what the
guiding principles are for making these cuts and specifies what
needs to be done to achieve them?”
It became clear this time that the Legislature’s and Office
of the President’s priority to protect the quality of the
instructional and academic program would leave student services,
supported by registration fees, vulnerable.
In allocating the cuts, “we wanted to maintain as much as
possible the scope and quality of direct services to students to
support their academic work,” Montero said. “We would
keep services affordable to students, and we would preserve as many
staff positions as possible.”
Asked by the chancellor for its recommendations, the Student Fee
Advisory Committee of representative students, administrators, faculty
and staff allocated the cuts, which were approved by the chancellor.
Since then, affordable fees have been levied for different services.
“While nobody likes it, students indicated they would rather
pay a small fee than not have the service at all,” Montero
said. “We’re still able to offer quality, accessibility
and affordability.” For example:
- Graduate students now pay fees to keep their credentials on
file at the Career Center, which has reduced its hours of operation;
- Students not on the Student Health Insurance Plan are paying
per-visit fees at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness
Center and Student Psychological Services;
- Counselors in Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools
are making fewer informational visits to high schools and community
colleges, which now are limited to campuses in the Los Angeles
basin;
- Departments and schools are sharing the cost of services offered
their international students by the Office of International Students
and Scholars.
The question still looming is what will happen to UCLA’s
Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) after outreach was cut 50%.
“This is where we are being devastated,” Montero said.
Its fate is still uncertain while the Office of the President decides
how much transitional funding it can provide, and EAOP seeks schools’
help.
Student Affairs is also working closely with the UCLA College
and the Alumni Association to explore how alumni can become involved.
Even though times are stressful, Montero said she is filled with
admiration for the campus community, which has welcomed her so generously.
“These are difficult times, yet I see such tremendous resilience
in the staff and an extraordinary sense of dedication to the work
we do and to the welfare of the larger university.”
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