Health fee hike endorsed

The Associated Students Senate voted 15-3 to support a proposed $10 increase in student health fees Wednesday.

The next step for the proposed increase is a review and vote by the Academic Senate. If approved there, it goes to the administration.

Cal State Long Beach students now pay $25 per semester in health fees.

Jone Levis, director of Student Health Services, and Doug Robinson, vice president of Student Services, said even with the increase, students at CSULB have one of the best health-service bargains in the California State University system.

"I've seen the health centers [at other campuses]," Levis said at an Oct. 23 A.S. Senate meeting. "They don't compare to ours."

Robinson said the money will be spent to reinstate of three professional positions, a psychiatrist, orthopedic specialist and nurse-practitioner.

The increase is necessary, Robinson said, because he's had to take more than $600,000 from other student services to make up for cuts in the center's budget.

Robinson said some money would also go to advertising Student Health Services. He said many students probably don't even know the facility exists.

Some students who do know about Health Services say they're willing to part with the money.

Family-consumer services major Erica Wyllie, 25, has used the center for minor ailments such as colds and allergies. She said she would be willing to support the extra money for the specialists.

Wyllie said students should vote on such issues.

But 18-year-old freshman Ajeenah Abdus-Samad disagreed.

"I think they should take it from somewhere else," she said. "I don't even think a psychiatrist is that necessary. Or maybe we should pay if we just see him."

Abdus-Samad has used the health center, for shoulder and knee ailments. However, she said if she ever needs to see an orthopedic specialist, she wouldn't mind paying a one-time fee in the neighborhood of $5.