Beginning in July, the University Student Union (USU) will institute a new fee structure allowing sponsors of any event with CSULB students as its intended audience to reserve a space in the facility for free. If the sponsor of the event is a student group, department, or faculty/staff member on campus, they will not be charged a fee.

“I am very excited about this change,” said USU Director Dave Edwards. “It is yet another example of improvements that will continue over time as we give the USU back to the students.”

Edwards said the notion of eliminating such fees moves the facility rental structure philosophy more in line with the philosophy behind the mandatory union fee. Currently, all students pay the union fee but only events sponsored by student organizations receive a subsidized rental rate for rooms in the USU.

“In theory, if every student pays the union fee every semester, then shouldn't every student be able to enjoy the subsidized rental fee structure?” asked Edwards.

He said that after much debate over the philosophical shift, staff and students in the USU decided that the elimination of rental fees was a good move for the USU, despite the loss of potential revenue.

“It's a small price to pay in comparison to the great relationships we hope to build and maintain with the CSULB community,” said USU Assistant Director Lisa de la Loza.

De la Loza said that the USU hopes to recover from those resulting losses over the next four to five years by recruiting off-campus clients to use the facility during the summer. The union also anticipates that additional foot traffic from increased programming throughout the school year will bolster vendor sales and offset some of the income loss. Until then, de la Loza said the union would focus on enhancing its relationships with the CSULB community by implementing the new fee structure.

“We all have the same interest of providing services to the students and the university as a whole. This adjustment falls right into our philosophy of providing wonderful programs for students and bettering relations with the university,” she said.

“I think this will make a lot of people happy,” agreed Edwards. “I believe that over time it will improve the USU in ways we have not even imagined.”