August 1st, 2011

Audit finds UCLA misused $23 million in student fees

A state audit released last week says UCLA wrongfully designated $23 million in student fees to pay for two projects that were not included in the original fee referendum approved by student voters in 2000. 

The finding was part of a 15-month audit [PDF] that concluded the University of California system needed to improve transparency in the way it handles its finances. The report also questioned the unequal distribution of funds to the system’s 10 campuses.

The fee started at $84 per year, and wasscheduled to begin in the 2004-05 academic year. It was slated to increase over time to adjust for inflation.

Read full story.

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June 22nd, 2011

UCLA to start charging fee on credit card payments

UCLA students who use credit cards to pay their university bills better brace themselves: The university will start charging a 2.75 percent credit card processing fee this fall.

It’s an example of how universities are passing certain costs along to students amid a statewide budget crunch.

Administrators say the move allows the university to stop absorbing the cost of processing credit card transactions – fees that credit card companies charge. Transferring that cost to the credit card-swiping students will save UCLA more than $6.5 million a year, they say. Read more

If you’re a student, how do you pay your fees? And are you aware of these charges? Answer our brief query!

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May 3rd, 2011
UCLA undergrads were not far off in their prediction of where Osama bin Laden was hiding out. Two years ago, a class of UCLA undergrads pretty accurately predicted the the location where Osama Bin Laden was hiding out. The students, working under UCLA geography professors Thomas Gillespie and John Agnew, used geographical theories and GIS software to home in on the world’s most wanted fugitive. Science Insider explains: According to a probabilistic model they created, there was an 89.9% chance that bin Laden was hiding out in a city less than 300 km from his last known location in Tora Bora: a region that included Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed last night. On top of this, they identified 26 “city islands” that they considered to be the highest probability hideouts. To be clear: the class identified the nearby city of Parachinar as being the most likely hideout. (via Ecosystem Geographers Predict Bin Laden’s Hideout - Politics - GOOD)

UCLA undergrads were not far off in their prediction of where Osama bin Laden was hiding out.

Two years ago, a class of UCLA undergrads pretty accurately predicted the the location where Osama Bin Laden was hiding out. The students, working under UCLA geography professors Thomas Gillespie and John Agnew, used geographical theories and GIS software to home in on the world’s most wanted fugitive.

Science Insider explains:

According to a probabilistic model they created, there was an 89.9% chance that bin Laden was hiding out in a city less than 300 km from his last known location in Tora Bora: a region that included Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed last night.

On top of this, they identified 26 “city islands” that they considered to be the highest probability hideouts. To be clear: the class identified the nearby city of Parachinar as being the most likely hideout.

(via Ecosystem Geographers Predict Bin Laden’s Hideout - Politics - GOOD)

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California Watch, the largest investigative journalism team operating in the state, was launched in 2009 by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Investigative Reporting. Areas of coverage include education, health and welfare, public safety, the environment and the influence of money on the political and regulatory process.

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