ASUU has turned the production of free student planners over to a private company, University Directories, to save the student body $8,000 to $9,000 a year. The company will make the planners themselves and sell ad space inside to turn a profit.
The daily planners are given away by ASUU to help students work out schedules and to have a reference for important campus information.
Next year the planners will have the same great stuff at the same great price (nothing), but will contain ads, which will save ASUU thousands of dollars.
The new deal with University Directories was sealed by last year’s administration which was famous for pinching pennies. Ideas like this one are proof that ASUU can operate for less money and still provide the same services.
These planners are a great service. Along with a calendar for the year, it will also contain pages to write down important phone numbers and addresses, an academic calendar with important dates for students to remember, schedules for athletic events, contact information for ASUU officials and several student groups, space for recording class schedules and homework assignments, and important campus rules and policies.
Everything a student needs to keep up with their class work and be involved on campus is available-for free!
The addition of ads will be annoying, especially for students familiar with previous planners, but it’s a worthwhile sacrifice.
Today’s youth are used to every corporation in the world trying to swindle our limited funds away in exchange for some fleeting pleasure. If it results in U students getting free planners and ASUU saving money, who are we to complain?
Besides, if local businesses advertise in the planners, it could be mutually beneficial. When ads on campus inspire students to patronize local businesses, the businesses become more interested in advertising on campus, which generates money for the U.
Also, increased patronage of local businesses could inspire more of them to accept the UCard as a form of payment. When businesses allow students to pay with UCards, the transaction fee goes to the U and can subsidize tuition costs, student fees or even scholarships.
The only way that this new idea could have been even better is if it was ASUU making a profit off the ad sales. It may take awhile for ASUU to reach that point, but it’s something to shoot for.