Ten years ago, when a college student was diagnosed with HIV, they often pushed aside plans for an education and they certainly weren’t expected to live long, healthy lives.

“A lot of people who were diagnosed with HIV at the time weren’t then entering the university,” said Michael Ritter, coordinator of prevention education programs at SF State. “People were dropping out or staying (at SF State) because it was a stable place, but not thinking future.”

Now, with better medications and a greater understanding of the disease, college students living with HIV are not only encouraged to pursue their goals, but they are being considered for awards such as the Robert Westwood Scholarship, offered to HIV-positive students who have plans to make a contribution to communities affected by the disease.

Robert Westwood was a long-time employee of SF State, working primarily in student affairs, who retired in 2000 because of disability brought on by HIV. He now lives with his partner in Palm Springs where he volunteers with the Desert AIDS Project, a non-profit medical care and comprehensive support program.

The scholarship application requirements are simple: a grade point average of 3.0, a letter of diagnosis from a physician, a brief description of the student’s plans to put their education to good use in the HIV community, and two letters of recommendation.

Last school year, the award money came at just the right time for Brian Basinger, a graduate student working towards a degree in public administration with a concentration in urban housing and non-profit development.

Basinger, retired from his job with a telecommunications company since 2000 due to HIV disability, was being evicted from his residence of 14 years by a real estate agent who was converting the property into condominiums for sale.

“It was really nice to have that money to help sort of provide a cushion during the transition,” said Basinger, 39.

In response to his eviction and similar tenant expulsions taking place throughout San Francisco, Basinger started the AIDS Housing Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping HIV-positive tenants with housing issues and to promoting public policy to increase housing opportunities.

“I am passionately committed to this work and to really addressing the AIDS housing crisis in San Francisco,” said Basinger, who earned his bachelor’s degree from SF State in the early 1990s, right around the same time he tested HIV-positive. “Housing is the number one unmet need of people with AIDS in San Francisco and it’s been that way for 15 years.”

Also available to HIV-positive SF State students is money from the Cindy Kolb AIDS Fund, which was originally set up as an emergency fund in 1990 to assist students who were trying to maintain a good quality of life while their health declined.

“As things shifted and people started getting healthier living with HIV, suddenly we went from getting requests like ‘I want $200 to have a little gathering with my friends’ to ‘I need help paying for books’ or ‘My meds went up and I have this deduction I can’t afford’ or ‘I just moved to a new place and I need help with the deposit,’” said Ritter, who also works on the SF State AIDS Coordinating Committee.

Kolb was the director of disabled student services until her death in 1989 and the fund is named after her in recognition of being one of the group of people on campus who initially saw the need to address HIV/AIDS during the onset of the disease in the 1980s.

“(HIV/AIDS) has not disappeared. Just because there aren’t people dropping around you, doesn’t mean it’s not still a huge issue. On our campus over the years, there has been a huge impact from HIV on faculty, staff, administrators, and students,” said Ritter, who has been working at SF State since 1984. “We’re in a much, much, much better place, but I think it’s fallen off people’s radar.”

The deadline to apply for the $3,000 Spring 2006 Robert Westwood Scholarship is Thursday, November 17. Application info can be found at www.sfsu.edu/~dprc/scholarship/westwood.html.