While the Co-op does have its benefits, such as relatively lower rent and a built-in community, the work shifts are practically set in stone. If you do request a change in your shift your time is worth less (meaning you will be paid less = less credit = you must make up the time or pay a fine).

Also some of the rooms are like death traps! They can get way over heated and there’s practically no insulation between the walls. Bathrooms are shared and some people are sobs and don’t do a good job cleaning when it is their turn.

Furthermore, if you miss your meal time TOO BAD no food for you.

Good concept, still has flaws in execution.

What an utterly ill-informed and misguided article.

This spot highlights the most menial part of the co op and ignores one of the most amazing features. Regarding the chores, all we do is work four scheduled hours. Personally, I “serve” dinner at the cafeteria for four hours, which means I stand there with a spoon like a lunch lady and do nothing else. That’s it. Saying that “in addition to the everyday chores of cleaning and maintaining the building, the tenants cook for each other” is SOOOOO incorrect, it’s not even funny. I’m sure Kendall Rogers would have caught that if she took proper notes and maybe came at a time where (despite her convenience) the building was alive and filled with interaction.

Second, the beauty of the co op is the celebration of diversity and intermingling of traditions and cultures. If this article was going to be half a page on the front cover (next to news about AmeriCorps, happenings in Egypt, and graduation news, mind you) it should have been an exploration of culture and community.

This article focused on making the co op sound like a sweat shop when the chores are the stupidest and most ignored part of living here.

Honestly, all we do here is drink, smoke, and party in a million different languages and colors. And the Daily Bruin decided to write about the four hours out of the week we do every work in the kitchen.

I’ve always wanted a journalist to come and explore this underrated spot of Westwood, but wow. I regret that sentiment entirely now.

I spent a great summer between my soph and junior years at UCLA at a coop. Met students from everywhere. Facilities were primitive, but the price was right and the food was great. I did breakfast from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesdays.

We had a hired chef then who looked like Henry VIII in his latter life stages, had a world class porn photo collection, and turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. So we had some extra excitement. Lots of engineering students bailed after finding that out for fear it might affect their security clearances when they went looking for defense industry jobs.

It remains one of my fondest residential memories of UCLA. One night, I went with my two roomies, both engineering students, to the Pantages in Hollywood for a midnight screening of the very recently released film “2001.” We were awed, and on the way back, stopped at Pickwick Books on Hollywood and VIne, bought the novel, and as we returned to Westwood at around 3 a.m. someone had the Jose Feliciano version of “Light My Fire” blaring across the whole area. It was cool! We stayed up the rest of the night reading the book out loud to each other a chapter at a time, and staggered into our morning summer school classes that day, happy as could be.

The critics here are way too spoiled. I would do the coop again in a nanosecond. It brought friendship, pride, and a sense of responsibility, and bonded all of us more closely to UCLA.

Of course, I am a VERY old alum now. But hey, I still read the DB online. Because I am still a very LOYAL and GRATEFUL alum.

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ucha—-university-cooperative-housing-association-los-angeles

The Co-op member in the picture is not even smiling. Such a good representative of life at this place.

Oh God.
I lived here for one summer session and absolutely hated it. The community was fun, everyone (except my roommate) was nice and very friendly, but the rules and systems were ridiculous. As someone else said, don’t expect to change your work shift, ever. The people working in the office don’t know very much, and gave me false info a couple of times about when I could move in/out, without telling me that there would be big fees tacked on. The cooking for each other thing is partly false- the article makes it sound like this chick does it singlehandedly once a month, whereas the real story is that you do what the cook tells you to do (usually chopping vegetables) every week.

Furthermore, the entire place was filthy. Each morning all the tables would be covered in spilled beer and empty bottles, and no matter how many times I vacuumed my carpet in a row, the vacuum still made that sucking-up-sand sound. I lived in the building next door to the high-rise, and always walked through a cloud of flies coming from the dumpsters to get to my room. The halls smelled bad, the furniture was old and gross, and the whole place had a creepy air- my parents and friends hated it from the moment they stepped in. I’m not saying it’s not a good place for some people, but you have to make sure you’re prepared to deal with the worse sides to get the lower rent and good social atmosphere.

There’s a lot of info on the internet about peoples’ bad experiences. I lived there for a month and absolutely hated it, although I did make some friends and generally liked the people. Anyone thinking about living here, please see the links in the post on this page: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-los-angeles/330801-ucha-co-op.html#post11944032
Living there was such an awful time.

Bitter? Complaining? Hah! There was a murder of an ex-felon at the Co-op and you think the place is fine? Silence is the sort of thing that allows that sort of stuff to happen. It is even worse when stuff is still happening and nobody talks about it until 20 years have passed. Living in Westwood Village should be the time of your life (or youth) not a Nietzchean existentialist experience as described by one of the people reviewing the Co-op on Yelp. I encourage people to speak out about their positive, neutral, or negative experiences with the Co-op. It is important for the community to learn about their neighbors.

Bitter. Negative. Paranoid. Jealous. Psycho. Stop using this name-calling to silence your critics. This is America. Freedom of speech, baby! Freedom of expression!

I think it really says something when you live at a place and you have to constantly defend your decision to live there to other people. Yikes! Does that happen at a normal apartment building?

The UCHA is not owned by UCLA. I think UCLA ought to do something to accommodate students who are not able to afford a typical dorm but the UCHA is not the solution to this problem. Perhaps UCLA could annex UCHA and build some cheaper dorms on the land.

Okay, I guess the comment accusing Co-op critics of being bitter and complaining about nothing may have been deleted or moderated. However, it was a pretty good example of the Co-op’s attitude toward any criticism and the normal people in the outside world.

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/02/criminal-record-of-christopher-e.html

Check this out! You will not regret it.

I like the Co-op, in fact, I love the Co-op.
In the three quarters I’ve lived here, I’ve met people from countries all over the world. Dinner conversations commonly take place in three or four languages. The coop is beautifully multicultural; this is one of the most interesting things about it.
Over dinner, I can hear many more interesting coop related stories than the one that appeared in this article; the fact that most foreign exchange students choose to room here, as well as the rumors of asbestos, are far more interesting journalistic fodder than the story that was published. If more time had been spent at the coop and more effort had been put into interviewing the sources, perhaps a more representative article would have resulted.
It is regrettable that the article chose to use the one picture I was frowning in to depict my entire coop experience; my time here has been nothing but good. Also, the quotes, direct and indirect of all of the interviewees are a misrepresentation of their views, and as such, represent a violation of journalistic integrity: Aishia NEVER said she cooked for 400 people, I spoke with her the next day about that. Arusha told me he NEVER told the reporter he was one of 12 directors, because he is the ONLY director, and I did not exactly say that the bathroom was occupied at inopportune times. The reporter asked me if the bathroom got busy a lot, and I said maybe once in a blue moon, and if that was the case, I would simply walk to the next hall (about ten paces away), or wait.

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/02/los-angeles-county-department-of-public.html

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/01/links-about-co-op.html

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/02/linkedin-and-urban-dictionary.html

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/02/rape.html

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-agenda.html

http://uchanearucla.blogspot.com/2011/02/criminal-record-of-nick-h.html

Hi There,im thinking of staying at Co-op as its cheap but ive got second thoughts about the system there.I was wondering if theres any other cheap way to live in Westwood area as a student apart of renting a house with a coupla ppl like me coz ı need to know ppl there first to do that.I looked into those sorority houses there too but there r way too expensive.Please help..
TX!