After a student attempted suicide on campus last year by jumping from Ballantine Hall, the University asked the Health Center to hire a second psychiatrist. \nBut costs for psychiatrists are rising industry-wide. Still the center plans to pay the added expenses by increasing students' mandatory health fee, even though less than 10 percent of students use the psychiatric services, according to Health Center reports. \nIt is not uncommon for student fees to fund services used by a small minority. Mandatory fees subsidize campus child care and student legal services, for example, even though a small minority of students use them each year.\nAssociate Dean of Students Damon Sims said it makes sense to spread the cost of some critical services across the entire student body to make them more affordable. \n"It's not just as simple as, 'We have to have 50 percent plus 1 students participating in this program for it to be meritorious of a mandatory fee,'" said Sims. "There are some very good things that need to be supported."\nAccording to a plan submitted by an appointed committee of students to the University before spring break, the Health Center, Student Legal Services and Campus Child Care all would receive fee increases next year.
HEALTH CENTER\nThe student who jumped last year from an eighth-floor window of Ballantine Hall survived. In the aftermath, University officials acknowledged that a second full-time psychiatrist was necessary to handle the growing number of students needing mental health services. \n"I can remember many years ago a physician commenting that no one under 40 gets depressed," Nancy Stockton, director of Counseling and Psychological Services, said. "We increasingly know that's not true."\nThe second psychiatrist is costing the Health Center an additional $143,553.\nThe center requested a $3.51 mandatory fee increase per student for next year to fund the position and its related insurance. It also planned to increase the user fee for psychiatric care from $14 to $36.\nHowever, students on the Committee for Fee Review proposed in their report an increase of $4.73 per student to keep the cost of psychiatric visits to just $16. \nDirector of the Health Center Hugh Jessop said student fees make mental health services at the Health Center significantly less expensive than at clinics around Bloomington. The cost of an initial psychiatric evaluation in the community ranges from $200 to $350, according to Health Center reports, and gaining an appointment slot can take up to 6 to 8 weeks. \nStudents who used the center's psychiatric services last year numbered 2,889, or about 8 percent of the student body. \nIn contrast, about 40 percent of students see at least one show at the IU Auditorium, and 85 percent of students are involved in activities with the Division of Recreational Sports. Both of these groups also receive mandatory student fees.\nStockton said there is a community benefit to funding psychological services.\n"In a closely knit, residential campus, if one student's depression is treated successfully, those around the student are also benefited," she said. "We may not all have children in public schools, but our society benefits from having a good public school system."
LEGAL SERVICES\nStudent Legal Services saved or recovered students more than $165,000 last year, according to its year-end report. Legal services helped students battle cell phone agencies, dog breeders, car dealerships and travel agencies. In one large case, legal services recovered more than $11,000 for a student who was injured when she fell on ice in front of her apartment.\nThe program serves about 2,000 students a year with a staff of five attorneys and 20 interns.\nDirector of Student Legal Services Paula Gordon said over the course of four years, about half of the students at IU take advantage of the legal counseling. \n"It's like a prepaid insurance," she said. "You hope you don't need it, but it's there if you do." \nAll students pay $9.61 per semester to support legal services. To present a problem to an attorney in town, students would pay between $125 and $150 an hour, Gordon said.\nUnlike the Health Center and Campus Child Care, Student Legal Services does not charge an additional user fee. The student fee covers all attorney costs. \nSLS requested that the Committee for Fee Review approve a $1 increase for its program. The committee approved a 28-cent increase, barely one-quarter of that request. \nGordon said SLS is tightly strapped for cash. It reduced its normal staff of 29 interns to 20, cancelled book subscriptions and told students to do their research online.\n"We have pared the budget down to the barest of bones," Gordon said. "You won't find any fluff."
CAMPUS CHILD CARE\nThe number of students enrolled in the Campus Child Care program has decreased this year because of cuts by the Bush administration to the federal Child Care Development Fund, said Assistant Dean of Affairs Carol McCord.\nWithout federal assistance, some students with children have found they can no longer afford the high price of both an education for themselves and day care for their kids. McCord said some student parents have been forced to drop out of school.\n"When we don't fund child care for undergraduates, we cut out part of the population, which leads to retention problems," McCord said. \nTraditionally, children of students account for 40 percent of the enrollment in Campus Child Care. This year that number is down to 37 percent. \nCampus Child Care asked the Committee for Fee Review to increase the mandatory student fee supporting child care by 10 cents to help offset the Bush administration's cuts and allow more student parents to obtain a college degree. \nThe committee proposed in its report that child care receive a 6-cent increase per student. \nAbout 80 children of students are enrolled in Campus Child Care, and many more are on the waiting list. About 130 nonstudent children are enrolled.\n"When we look at the type of community we want to develop for ourselves, we have to ask if we want a homogenous student body or do we value diversity," McCord said. "It benefits all of us when we can support people who bring a different set of experiences to the community." \nThe center supports itself almost entirely on its own, with 83 percent of its income raised from parent fees, which range from $200 a week for infants in the Campus View Child Care Center to $100 a month in the Sunflower Plant Day Care Cooperative. Parents at Sunflower receive a generous discount in exchange for working nine hours per week at the center.\n-- Contact General Assignments Editor Adam VanOsdol at avanosdo@indiana.edu.
