Budget wounds

Health Center wants to increase student health fee

MAJA LOSINSKA Reporter @RoundupNews

In 1998, gas was $1.06 a gallon and the student health fee was $11. Gas today is around $4 a gallon, but the student health fee remains the same.

Director of the Health Center

Beth Benne wants to raise the health fee to provide better services to students.

“Going 21 yers without raising the budget for the Health Center is doing nothing but hurting the health care we can provide. I don’t know how we are going to survive the rest of this year,” Benne said. “It’s very frustrating because I can’t service our students like I want to.”

According to Benne, increasing the student health fee will increase operating hours and provide a fulltime psychologist.

“We still need to find time for more hours because the demand is just so great. Sometimes we are booked out two-to-three weeks in advance,” Benne said. “We need more room and we need a full-time psychologist.”

Vice Chancellor of Educational Programs and Institutional Effectiveness Ryan Cornner wrote in an email that the fee needed to be increased, although he also outlined the potential costs of such a fee.

“This is not a student established fee the way ASO and transportation fees are. The health fee is established by the [LACCD] Board district wide and there has to be a full analysis to bring to Board,” Cornner wrote. “As the proposed fee increase represents

Niaz Khani in spring 2019. However, Benne said that a fourth mental provider is still needed.

“It’s exhausting to us as providers,” Benne said. “I spoke to the board on September 4 and at that time we had 25 new clients and I think we had three or four crises.

It’s kind of mind-boggling.”