Paying for protection: the price of birth control is going up for college students.

Schools that used to get a discount on birth control products, will no longer be able to give students a deal. Drug makers are discontinuing a practice that used to give students a reduced rate on hormonal contraceptions, like the pill, the patch, and the Nuva ring. The change is due to new federal regulations that took effect in January.

At RPI, for example:

• A 28-day cycle pack of "Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo" used to sell for five-dollars at the Student Health Center.
  
  
• Now, that same pack will cost 20-dollars under the student insurance program.
  
  
• And under a private health plan, it would cost a whopping 40-dollars.

NEWS10's Latricia Thomas has more on what the change will mean for students trying to prevent pregnancies.

The Student Health Center on the campus of RPI handed out more than three-thousand packs of birth control last year - students usually walking away with a month's supply, for only five-dollars.

"Having it be convenient, accessible and affordable is very important to them here," says nurse practitioner, Kris Newman, with the RPI Student Health Center.

The college or university health clinic is a popular choice for young women for birth control, often because they are living away from home, far from their regular doctor and without a surplus of extra money.

"You don't have to get your parents involved if you don't want to, because it is tough during college age to make sure you're safe and healthy," grad student, Rachel Selsky says.

And that choice is exactly what Newman worries will be taken away from some students, as the price they pay for birth control, in some cases, multiplies eight-times over.

"Some of the students, if it were going to be charged on their student account, they perhaps would not choose to get a pill - because then, perhaps, you know because of confidentiality, their parent may be aware of that," says Newman.

The change took place in January, but many students will be forced to face the spike for the first time this semester, when health care center's supplies have just been renewed.

"I anticipate that we will have some problems," Newman says.