This semester, students visiting the Health and Counseling Center (HCC) will be charged a $5 office visit fee and a $25 no-show fee.

Although the HCC has previously offered these services for free, the recent charges have been enacted in order to increase student accountability and provide more resources, said Calvin Kelly, Director of the Health and Counseling Center.

“The goal of the fee is to collect nothing,” Kelly said. 

The no-show fee is avoidable if appointments are cancelled far enough in advance. If patients cancel four hours prior to a medical appointment and 24 hours before a counseling appointment, no fee will apply.

All registered students who attend St. Edward’s University are required to be enrolled in a health insurance policy, according to the university’s website.

Students may provide their own health insurance or choose to enroll in the student health insurance program provided by SEU.

Insurance requirements are more difficult and more expensive for international students because they need a policy that is compatible with the Affordable Care Act and includes medical evacuation and repatriation coverage, according to the university’s website.

Christine Trinidad, interim director of the Office of International Education, says that the fees also apply to international students, but that could change in the future.

“This is something that the health center let us know about when it started and they just want to see how it works in the first year,” Trinidad said. “It’s something they are flexible about and if students stop going, then it may change.”

International student, Jacques Mercier des Rochettest from France, thinks that the new fees could be beneficial because the HCC will be less overbooked.

“It could promote more responsible behaviors on the student’s part, who could otherwise take too much advantage of a system that does not require them to be preventively attentive to their health and to use the HCC staff only when needed,” Mercier des Rochettest said.