The Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center’s
funding could be cut by as much as 25 percent due to the recent
state budget crisis, but nothing will be certain until July.
“We are optimistic that it won’t be that large. But
it’s impossible to have a 25 percent cut and have the same
level of staff and services,” said Albert Setton, deputy
assistant vice chancellor for student development and health.
The Ashe Center has two general ideas about how it will deal
with the inevitable budget cut.
One is to generate income, most likely through increasing
student fees for certain services, said Michelle Pearson, the
administrative liaison for the Student Health Advisory
Committee.
Some services fees that might be raised by the end of summer are
fees for pharmaceuticals, laboratory work, immunization and
orthopedic devices, according to Pearson.
“We may have to adjust user fees for insurance … but we
are very sensitive to students because of the increased
registration fees, and we do not want to further penalize
them,” Pearson said.
The decision has been made to protect and keep patient services,
Pearson said.
“We want to maintain the services that most students want
and need and use. If we set priorities, we will do what benefits
the most people,” Setton said.
The second option is to minimize staff members at the Ashe
Center.
This will be achieved by leaving positions open if and when
staff members voluntarily choose to leave. Faculty members who
decide to stay will be protected, and their presence will be
unaffected by the budget cut, Setton said.
Students have mixed feelings about the possible changes to the
Ashe Center.
“You don’t really want them to change the way they
are now, but as long as the quality stays the same, it’s
OK,” said third-year political science student Kristy
Giraud.
“Even if Ashe makes these changes, it wouldn’t make
much of a difference. It’d still be very convenient, right on
campus and relatively cheaper,” said second-year business
economics student Fay Sun.
The Ashe Center learned that it had a 94 percent satisfaction
rate with students through an e-mail survey given over the last few
months, Setton said.
“Our problem is to find how to keep that going while
dealing with the difficult task of maintaining our budget,”
Setton said.
Budget cuts of this magnitude are not a new experience for the
Ashe Center. In the 1989-1990 school year, the Ashe Center went
through a similar downsizing.
“We were successful in getting through that situation. We
survived and we’re actually a better service today than we
were then. We want to think carefully about what we’re doing
and come out stronger,” Setton said.