A summary of the financial portion of this election because I want to procrastinate my work
Hello, last year I wrote a summary of last election's funding measure because I thought it was important that we, the students of the colleges of UCSC, understand what we would be paying for, and I was trying to procrastinate my work. Just like last year, I still think student's don't understand the measures and I really want to procrastinate this work, so I'm doing it again, so let's begin.
Measure 88: The Basic Needs Fee
Measure 88 seeks to establish a new fee for us all to pay to support the basic needs programs and increase diversity in the food they offer, support Calfresh, and support the Slug Support Emergency Fund, which is the emergency money fund students can get support from. This would be a new fee of $15.15 per student, per quarter, beginning Fall 2026 for a total of $45.45 a year. Because inflation is a thing, in order to keep pace with rising costs the fee will be adjusted annually by 3%. BUT, If the carryforward exceeds 10% of the permanent budget, no increase will be added until the carryforward is below 10%. Basically, if they have leftover money, they won't raise the fee for that year, but if not, they'll raise it. They also seek to establish a committee to oversee the fee that will be established.
According to the measure's backer, the estimated revenue for its first year alone will be about $906,182. That will be overseen by the "Basic Needs Fee Advisory Committee" which will be student majority and which will provide recommendations and feedback. Of that$900k, there is a Return‑to‑Aid (RTA) component of 33%, so 33% of the revenue will become need‑based financial aid, so a bit over $300k in aid.
I'll also note that the measure was endorsed by the SUA and the GSA so if you care what those orgs think, you can take that into consideration.
Measure 89: Learning Support Services Fee
Measure 89 is not a new fee, but rather an amendment to the current fee that funds LSS. As written, it will double the current fee of $12.00 per undergraduate per quarter (including summer sessions) for a total of $36.00 annually as set by Measure 63 by $12.00 so that it becomes $24.00 per undergraduate per quarter for a total of $72.00 annually. It will also make it so the fee increases every three years by $2.00. This will not happen until Fall 2029 though, and it will be suspended by carryforward exceeds 25% of the permanent budget. Also, this fee has no set end date.
The measure estimates it will raise $1,296,000 from the student population. Of that, 33% or $427,680 will go to needs based financial aid. The rest will go to running LSS, such as hiring tutors and other duties they have.
For the portion that will go to the running of LSS, LSS seeks to use the money to expand tutoring to humanities and social science classes and not just STEM courses as it historically has been, along with a substantial hiring campaign of students to serve as tutors, mentors and coaches so that there is supplemental assistance available to students as part of their courses. i.e more jobs for people to be hired in.
I will end by noting that the measure is supported by the SUA, and by including the reasoning LSS is asking for us to pass this fee.
"Why the fee is needed:
Due to a shortfall in funding, Learning Support Services is currently unable to offer tutoring for historically served courses (having to cut over 40 positions in Fall 2025). Furthermore, Learning Support Services is unable to place enough tutors in key courses to fulfill students’ and faculty’s demand for access to tutoring support. While LSS has tried to maintain support with our Study Hall program, students have expressed the want for a tutor assigned to their specific classes again. Beginning in Fall 2025, and for the first time since spring 2013 when Measure 30 was first amended, Learning Support Services was not financially able to meet the UCSC undergraduate student demand for tutoring and academic support. Moreover, tutor salaries have increased over 50% since 2015 when the first Measure 30 amendment passed - in 2015 tutors were earning $14.73/hr and $19.82/hr and now tutors are earning $22.14/hr and $28.52/hr. LSS projects an additional 10% increase in tutor salaries in the coming academic year with $1.00 increases to both rates each year after that.
This second amendment to the Measure 30 fee will ensure that tutoring is available to an increasing number of UCSC undergraduates who will benefit from access to academic support. Currently, LSS employs over 100 students each year. This increased funding will add over 100 student jobs for tutors, mentors and coaches. An increased number of UCSC students will have access to LSS academic support programs as they will be available for significantly more courses. If this fee does not pass, LSS will continue to cut tutoring positions. In 2023-2024, LSS had 400 student positions. In 2024-2025 LSS had 336 student positions. In 2025-2026 LSS only had 266 positions. It is estimated that tutoring positions will continue to decrease by 10-20% per year.
Additionally, the entire University community will benefit, because tutoring and academic success programs have been proven to increase student success, generating equal educational access to success, as well as more equitable academic outcomes for all students."
As you can see, if we don't pass it, there will job losses and less tutoring support.
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In total, there's about $2,202,182 at stake in this election. If you believe these measures should pass, remember that not only do you have to vote, but according to campus regulations, at least 20% of the student body must vote on these measures for them to be enacted, not even including the fact that the 20% or more must also vote to pass the measure. Currently, 4.2% of undergrads and 5.2% of grads have voted, so we gotta up those numbers in this racket.
Last time, I also included a section about voting for the SUA positions, but we're in a one party state this year and the winners have basically been determined so no point. Even still, you should vote.
I will just end this whole procrastination task by saying that it's important to vote, but also to vote in an informed manner, as an uniformed voter is just as bad as the one who doesn't vote. That's all, thanks for reading this, I'm going to stop procrastinating and do actual work.
Go Vote!