Princeton University lowers costs of campus-based STD testing

The Health Services Department at Princeton University has announced that beginning this November, the school will reduce the cost of screenings for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Students with private insurance or those who preferred to pay themselves were previously charged $250 per test, but now individuals can get screened for these sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) for $14, according to The Daily Princetonian.

Because of the high risk of STDs among college students, health officials surveyed individuals about ways to get more of the student body to take advantage of this opportunity. By selecting to lower the cost, the university is helping students pay for the tests and keep these procedures and results private.

Irfan Kherani, a senior at Princeton and president of the Sexual Health Advisors, told the newspaper that "a huge part of our role as advocates for Princeton students is to find ways to make [these services] more readily available." He added that "it's an issue that we will never stop needing to deal with."

In 2008, more than 1.2 million people in the U.S. tested positive for chlamydia while approximately 336,000 cases of gonorrhea were diagnosed that same year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.