A workshop offered on campus could save a pack-a-day smoker close to $3,000 a year.

“It”s expensive,” Frank Moullet, student senate president and smoker, said. “The money part of it is a huge deal.”

The Become Smoke Free workshop offered by Student Health Services runs every semester for students who want to quit smoking.

The workshop is set up to encourage and support students who smoke to quit. Jean Schlueter, a registered nurse for SHS, leads the workshop.

“By having this class, we can better arm smokers to be prepared for quitting so that they are more likely to be successful,” Schlueter said.

The new budget means that a pack-a-day smoker will pay $365 more a year in cigarette taxes.

“It can cost me anywhere between $1,500 to $3,000, usually closer to $3,000 a year,” Moullet said, prior to the budget being passed. He said that if cigarette taxes were to rise in the state of Wisconsin, it would give him a reason to quit.

Richard Egley, dean of students, said he would stop smoking too with the $1 tax increase.

“It would motivate me to become an inactive smoker,” Egley said. He said he smokes about five to six cartons a month.

When first hired at UW-Platteville, Egley said that the atmosphere about smoking was different. Someone who smoked was allowed to smoke anywhere on campus.

Since 1965, the amount of adult smokers has decreased by almost half, according to the National Institutes of Health Web site, nih.gov.

People shouldn”t start smoking because it is addictive and if you already do, you should find ways to quit, Moullet said.

“Quit now, quit fast,” Moullet said.

People who complete the course and quit smoking are asked to pay $15. If you are interested in learning more about the Become Smoke Free course, please contact Jean Schlueter at 342-1891.