You are forced to pay over $700 a year to a $16 million bureaucracy. The A.S. establishment is now illegally blocking your right to vote on it.
It's time to Reform A.S.
Join the MovementWe're fighting for a spot on the ballot. Join the thousands of students demanding a vote.
Every UCSB undergraduate is forced to pay a mandatory fee of $237.29 per quarter. That's over $711 per year (or $948 for four quarters) of your money.
This fee funds a massive $16 million Associated Students (A.S.) organization. Where does all that money go? Much of it is lost to bureaucratic waste, inefficient programs, and political infighting, with little to no transparency.
While students are struggling with tuition hikes and the high cost of living, A.S. is sitting on a guaranteed, mandatory budget, accountable to no one.
Our proposal is simple:
Convert the mandatory A.S. fee into an optional 'opt-in' checkbox during registration.
This puts the power back in your hands. It forces A.S. to be transparent, reduce waste, and prioritize the services students actually want in order to earn your support.
You decide if A.S. is worth your money.
Keep over $700 a year in your own pocket.
A.S. will finally have to answer to the students.
When we filed our 'Student Choice' initiative, the A.S. Elections Board illegally blocked it. They refused to let students even vote on the issue, claiming it was 'unconstitutional' without citing a single law.
Our Action:
We have filed a formal petition with the A.S. Judicial Council to force the Elections Board to follow the law and let the students decide. The A.S. establishment is terrified of giving you a choice. We are fighting for your right to vote.
They'll try to scare you. Here's the truth behind their arguments.
This is a scare tactic. We believe food security is a basic right that should be funded by the university's main budget, not a volatile student fee.
Our initiative does two things: First, it gives students the choice to fund A.S. If A.S. believes the Food Bank is its top priority, they should fund it first. Second, it pressures the UCSB Administration to take food security seriously and fund it directly, just like they fund classrooms and labs.
If the IVTU is as essential as they say—and we believe it is—then students will gladly choose to fund it. Our 'opt-in' model is the best way to prove a service is valuable. If A.S. is worried, they should make the IVTU a centerpiece of their funding campaign. If A.S. can't convince students to pay for it, that's an A.S. problem, not a student choice problem.
This initiative forces A.S. to be accountable. For decades, A.S. has spent student money with no transparency. An 'opt-in' system forces A.S. to prove its value.
If A.S. wants to fund clubs, it must cut its own bureaucratic waste first and prioritize the services students actually want. Students who are in those clubs will be the first to opt-in, proving the model works.
That's not how freedom of choice works. We don't force people to buy a product. If A.S. provides services that are truly valuable, they can and should charge for them.
If the Program Board runs a great concert, they can sell tickets to students who haven't opted-in. This 'fair share' argument is just a way to justify mandatory, guaranteed funding for an organization that hasn't earned it.
A.S.'s power shouldn't come from a mandatory $16 million budget; it should come from the active support of the student body. An A.S. that has to earn the support of 20,000 students every year will be a far more powerful and legitimate voice than one that simply cashes their checks automatically.
Services like the Food Bank, Legal Aid, and IVTU are TOO ESSENTIAL to be held hostage by a volatile, political student government.
We agree that it would be morally wrong to deny a student in crisis legal aid or access to a food pantry. That is exactly why these critical, safety-net services should NOT be funded by A.S.
We are fighting to have the UCSB Administration fund these essential services directly, just as they fund CAPS, academic advising, and other non-negotiable student needs.
Reform A.S. believes in liberating these services, not eliminating them.
The A.S. establishment is counting on you to be apathetic. Don't be. Sign up for updates on our Judicial Council case and join the fight for a more accountable student government.