STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS will now be billed for renting facilities and equipment for their non-academic, income-generating activities.
The new rental and reservation rates, ranging from P7 a day for a monoblock chair to P3000 an hour for the Leong Hall Auditorium, were announced in a general assembly (GA) held May 17 by the Office of Administrative Services (OAS).
The rates will apply to the following activities:
a) non-academic, income-generating activities
b) University-wide / Loyola Schools office / department-sponsored, organized activities that collect fees from participants
c) activities on Sundays and holidays
d) non-Loyola Schools activities
Only academic activities, activities for charity, and activities with a socially-oriented cause are exempted from the rates, though they may be charged with overtime fees if applicable. Org general assemblies and training days, unless these collect fees from participants, are also exempted from the rates, OAS Director Marie Joy Salita said.
Since the 90’s
“For the record, we are not establishing the rates for implementation just for this year,” Salita said in an interview with The GUIDON. “We have been charging for used cost of space over time throughout the year, since time immemorial.”
Salita said the rates have been around for 15 to 20 years.
Mike Canlas, assistant to the director for Physical Plant, said there are new rates because of an “exponential increase in utilities’ rates, and due to the standardization across university units.”
The exponential increase in utilities’ rates, or operational costs, covers a specific venue’s expenses for electricity, water, and the like.
Rental rates all over the University also needed to be standardized, said Salita, because “we have different units in the university and it’s high time to standardize.”
“We gathered all the documents pertaining to how other units charge for their facilities,” she added. They used these documents to align the new rates with all University rental rates.
The funds from the rates then will provide for the utilities cost and the used cost of space, Canlas said.
Used cost of space, Salita said, is “where we get the money so we can maintain the venues…and for emergency repairs.”
“Expensive”
Halima Lyssa Al-Taie (II AB Comm), a representative from the Ateneo Association of Communication Majors, said she understands the rates, but finds them expensive. “It’s a little bit heavy on the budget…but it’s a good thing they also have classifications [where] there are exceptions [so] you don’t have to pay.”
Celadon President Angela Eliza Lim (IV BS CTM) said the rates discourage Ateneo orgs from flourishing. “What becomes of the smaller orgs if they do not have enough funds to pay their rent and host their events?”
Sponsorship guidelines
In a separate GA held May 10, the Office of Student Activities (OSA) announced that franchising and selling of a sponsor’s goods will not be allowed for any organization.
Only product sampling, media exposure and demonstrations will be allowed by the OSA. “Students are highly encouraged to be entrepreneurial, both for food and non-food sponsorships,” OSA Director Christopher Fernando Castillo said.
Lim said she appreciates OSA’s thrust on entrepreneurship, but thinks it will affect the orgs’ niches.
“Not all orgs are geared towards entrepreneurship, so it’s really… a waste of time for many to exert so much energy and effort in learning the tools of the entrepreneurial trade,” she said.
Lim said that the OSA has improved on its systems. “I just wished they implemented those policies or at least announced them before most of the orgs started with their planning during the summer,” she added.
OSA’s new policies include submitting a document of goals, with pre-approved projects already indicated, at the beginning of the school year. Last school year, orgs submitted one project proposal per project.
