Students may now have to pay more for a visit to the Student Health and Counseling Center.
The center raised the cost of some services because of reduced funding from the Student Fee Review Board.
SHAC director Beverly Kloeppel said rising health care costs also contributed to the fee hike.
"The reason why we're raising fees is because we are in a position where the amount of student fees we receive has not kept up with the increase in costs," she said. "My other option, rather than raising fees, is to reduce the services."
She said fees are now higher in specialty clinics such as dermatology, podiatry, chiropractics, psychiatry and surgery. Primary care, which accounts for the bulk of services, is not affected.
Kloeppel said 60 percent of the SHAC's costs are covered by student fees, apportioned by the SFRB.
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"The rest of it we have to generate through the fees that we charge students here at the health center," she said.
Kloeppel expects students without insurance to be hit hardest by the fee increase, as they have to pay out-of-pocket for any health care services they need.
She said the SHAC is trying to work with more insurance companies so a greater number of students can get health care on campus rather than going elsewhere.
ASUNM President Ashley Fate, who is on the SFRB, said the undergraduate student association is primarily concerned with keeping student fees low and was concerned the fees were getting too high.
She said the SHAC is the highest-funded entity on campus and had asked for a very large increase from the SFRB.
More funding could have gone to the center, but the board opted to allocate more money to funding for student employees instead, Fate said.
"As a board, one of the main issues that we looked at across the board for each department was whether or not we wanted to fund staff positions and whether or not to fund student employees instead," she said. "One of the decisions we made was to focus primarily on student employment rather than funding staff, which hurt the SHAC because they have primarily staff."
Fate said the board will reconsider the SHAC's request for increased funding at its next meeting.
GPSA Council Chairwoman Lissa Knudsen, also on the SFRB, said the center is one of many programs funded by the board every year.
Other groups that receive annual funding from the SFRB are Popejoy Hall and the athletics program, which got a financial bump from this year's student fee increase, she said.
"The discussion that occurred among the SFRB members included some reluctance, mostly from undergraduate members, based on the fact that they weren't able to use their health insurance at the SHAC," Knudsen said. "The board should be held accountable, and the money should be used to increase student success, diversity, recruitment and retention. I believe that fully funding the SHAC would achieve those ends."
Kloeppel said the SHAC plans to survey students to see if they would support a raise in student fees to support the center staying open until 6:30 p.m.
