Family Planning Access Care Treatment, a state administered program, now offers family planning services at the Klotz Student Health Center for low income students.
The Family PACT program at CSUN provides students with free or low cost services. Students who are enrolled in the program can gain confidential access to many types of sexual and reproductive services.
According to the Family PACT website, some of the services that are provided through the program are include emergency contraception, STI testing and treatment, pregnancy testing and counseling, sterilization, HIV testing, and health education and counseling services.
Sharon Aronoff, health educator, said most students at CSUN generally fall under the umbrella to receive the family planning services.
“It is designed for people who are uninsured, underinsured, or have barriers to sexual and reproductive services,” Aronoff said.
The program also targets students who feel unsafe or have privacy concerns about receiving sexual and reproductive services.
Aronoff said there are students who may be financially dependent on parent(s) and do not want to speak to their parent(s) about being tested or treated for a sexually transmitted disease, or about using a form of birth control.
For students to qualify for the program, they must reside in California, be under the age of 65, and have proof they cannot afford these health services on their own.
Ashlei Craig, child and adolescence development major, said she heard students in college have a high rate of STDs and finds it important for students to have access to these resources.
“Colleges need these services,” Craig said. “Students are getting the information they need to protect themselves.”
According to the Family PACT website, people who utilized the program in 2006-2007 fiscal year, took part in a number of services that include receiving contraceptives, testing for sexual transmitted infections, pregnancy tests and screenings for cervical cancer.
John Anderson, gender and womens studies major, said it is great that the student health center provides these services for the students.
He said it is good option for the students who do not have health insurance and cannot afford these services on their own.
The student health center also provides low cost services to currently enrolled students. In addition to sexual and reproductive, some of the other low cost health services provided include routine physicals, dental care, immunization, optometry, and flu care.
“What it does for our students that I am thrilled about, is that it extends the low cost services we already provide for our students,” Aronoff said. “This is just one more way for students to save money.”
