What is the Referendum?

The Blue & Gold Fee Referendum is a ballot measure that implements a small campuswide mandatory student fee per semester to benefit the Blue & Gold Yearbook. In return, all graduating seniors who take their senior portrait will be entitled to a complimentary copy of the Blue & Gold yearbook.

Why are you doing this?

The Blue & Gold serves the Berkeley campus as its official historical record. We believe that we have an obligation to provide the best coverage of your years here at Cal, and would like to make our publication as affordable as possible so that everyone may enjoy it.

If I pay $1.50 per semester and graduate in 4 years, that means I will only pay you $12. I thought yearbooks cost $80? How can you give me a yearbook for only $12?

Yearbook printing costs realize significant economies of scale. Much of the cost of a yearbook is incurred setting up the presses, and this cost is the same if 10 copies or 10,000 copies are being printed. The proceeds from the fee will cover these setup costs, and the revenue we receive when you take your senior portrait will pay for the paper and ink needed to print your copy of the Blue & Gold.

Why don't you just lower the price of the Blue & Gold to $12?

This is a good idea in theory; however, the Blue & Gold Yearbook does not receive annual funding from any entity and therefore we need to ensure that the amount of revenue we collect from book sales meets or exceeds production costs for the book. Since the actual quantity of books sold varies from year to year, we cannot price the Blue & Gold at $12 and expect to break even. In contrast, the fee ensures we receive $12 per student, so we can effectively price the book at $12.

I like the concept of your fee referendum; however, I cannot support it because...

The exact text of our referendum may still be modified and we are open to suggestions. We would love to hear from you and incorporate your thoughts and ideas into the referendum. Please contact us.

I really want this to pass; how can I help?

The simplest way you can help is to vote in favor of the referendum during the ASUC election in April and encourage your friends to do the same. Additionally, during the spring semester, we will be working hard to publicize the referendum, and we would greatly appreciate your assistance in this effort. Please contact us to indicate your interest.