None of us wants to go back to a time when women could not control their bodies or their finances. Sometimes, though, its tempting to suggest that young women consider the modesty and restraint in sexual matters that prevailed back in the day.

Its a matter of personal, not public, responsibility.

I read a wire story last week that provoked the above-mentioned temptation.

The gist of it is that women in college who rely on student health services for cheap contraceptives are in for some sticker shock. In some cases, the contraceptives that once cost $10 to $15 a month may triple in price.

As usual, a government and greedy pharmaceutical companies are at the root of this change that could affect a substantial number of students. According to the AP, an American College Health Association survey reports 39 percent of undergraduate women use oral contraceptives.

This deep discount dilemma occurred after Congress passed the 2005 deficit reduction bill that targeted Medicaid, which offers health care for the poor. Before the bill, drug companies sold contraceptives at bargain-basement prices to big health care providers, including college clinics. The reason drug companies did this is the discounts did not count against them in the formula they used to calculate rebates they owed states to participate in Medicaid. Also, discount contraceptives helped the companies woo lifelong consumers for their reproductive lifetimes anyway.

Now if drug makers discount drugs to colleges, they have to increase their Medicaid participation payments. Cant have that, can we?

If the AP story is any indicator, students will find a way to pay whatever the contraceptives cost. Its college health care officials who worry about whether students can take another hit to the pocketbook, living as many do on limited incomes.

Some of us can remember when pregnancy outside wedlock was more costly than just a bigger bite into the budget. Some of us can remember when pregnant students were not allowed to attend college classes, much less high school. Heck, some of us can remember when pregnant married women could not attend classes.

I dont advocate a return to those times. But I do wonder whether we have gotten so accepting of childbearing before marriage that we have eliminated any sense of personal responsibility in weighing lifetstyle choices.

These days colleges not only provide contraceptives at their clinics, they provide cut-rate day care to accommodate student-parents. I dont have a philosophical problem with either.

However, I view them as benefits, not entitlements.

If contraceptives at the college clinic cost more, then students I would include male partners here also have decisions to make.

They can absorb the cost, which could mean cutting back on something else.

Or they can change their behavior. I wont elaborate on this one. Anyone whos in college should be able to figure it out. Its a three syllable word beginning with A.