We have all had those days. You are up all night at College Library hammering out that term paper worth 60 percent of your grade and then a day later, bam. You cannot seem to get out of bed. Your body aches, your limbs appear to have lost all strength and you are pretty sure your throat is going to swell shut. You turn over in your bed, prepared to skip your classes and sleep when you realize that you, in fact, have finals next week.

Say this awful head cold and sore throat situation turns out to be mononucleosis. How are you expected to finish your finals when you can barely open your eyes, let alone pour over the material you have been trying to memorize since the first day of class?

Students who suffer severe injuries or draining illnesses such as mono often cannot complete their course requirements and drop out, if only for the semester so that they can properly recover.

If a student cannot study or stay awake for his or her finals, it would appear logical to drop out as opposed to fail an entire semester. I know that it would take one hell of an illness to make me drop out to recover, but these viruses are certainly lurking out there. The decision to temporarily leave school is one with great weight.

In most cases, a student is covered by their parents' health insurance until they are no longer enrolled in an institution of higher education. A student also receives health coverage from the university, such as the Student Health Insurance Program here at the University of Wisconsin, if he or she cannot be covered by the family's insurance. But if a student drops out of college for medical reasons, technically he or she no longer meets the requirements necessary to qualify for the health insurance. Oh, the irony. Once you get really sick, the care you desperately need can no longer be provided.

This was the case for many students, until now.

On Wednesday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed Assembly Bill 280. The bill ensures that a student who must drop out of school due to medical reasons does not lose his or her health coverage. This is big.

According to the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment of fall 2006, 23.3 percent of the more than 23,000 students surveyed said that "cold/flu/sore throat" symptoms affected their academic performance to the point of lowering their exam grades. If a cold can knock you down a grade or two, just think of what mono could do to your GPA.

With the implementation of AB 280, students will be covered by their health insurance until it is determined that they will be returning to school or they will receive health insurance coverage from another source through means such as marriage or full-time employment. If the student does not meet either of these stipulations, the bill provides the student will have approximately one full year in order to recover and return to school, or acquire new health insurance before ceasing coverage.

A student will have to submit paperwork regarding the continuation of his or her health insurance, but this is only a small price to pay for a service that would otherwise be stripped from their hands.

I applaud the Wisconsin Legislature for finally stepping up and passing a bill that is geared toward the wellbeing of students. Around 25 percent of students surveyed in ACHA's health assessment said that stress affected academic performance as well. Perhaps it is time for a statewide college student mental health day. Just a thought.

Hannah Karns ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and international studies.