Students can now charge condoms and cold medicine to their student identification cards in vending machines outside of Topside.
The items are currently available at no cost at Health Services' cold clinic at Dick's House. But rising costs will force Dick's House to abandon the free distribution within the month, Director of Health Services Dr. John Turco said.
Turco said free medicines and condoms will stop as soon a vending machine is installed in the basement of Dick's House.
Turco said the prices of the medicines and condoms will still be cheaper than purchasing similar products over-the-counter.
Rising costs forced Health Services to abandon free distribution. The cost of supplying the cold clinic was $30,000 to $40,000 annually, Turco said.
"We needed to cut about $30,000 from out budget," Turco said, "and we figured this was probably the place that would have the least impact on students."
The condoms and cold medicines were placed in the Topside machines late Spring term and then removed for part of Summer term, Director of College Dining Services Pete Napolitano said.
Napolitano said the items returned later in Summer term. "We were loading it up for cold and flu season," he said.
A visit to the vending machines last night showed there was Tylenol, nasal decongestant and Ibuprofen but condoms were out of stock.
Condom machines were also added to the bathrooms in the basement of Thayer Dining Hall, Napolitano said. Condoms in the bathroom sell for 50 cents each.
By comparison, the cheapest brand of condoms at Purity Supermarket in West Lebanon, N.H., cost $1.59 for three condoms, or 53 cents each.
He said students are not happy about paying for items they previously received for free.
"There are always negative student responses when you take something away," he said, but "at some point the freebies are going to dry up."
