“Sorry, but I am a poor college student,” has become the mantra of many students while they focus their time on educational pursuits and have little time for money-making opportunities. Medical donations of sperm and eggs are lesser-known opportunities to earn some extra cash.

Men can make $30 per freezable sample of sperm, said Donna Ridder, lab supervisor for Cryobiology, a sperm bank.

Ohio Reproductive Medicine has upped the ante for women, offering $3,000 for a donated egg.

Donors will receive a 1099 tax form, as the money is considered income.

“We don’t pay donors for samples, but for their time,” Ridder said. Though each donor is paid the same amount per sample, they are technically not allowed to be paid for medical donations.

Although donations may be an easy way to gain some extra income, the process is selective for both men and women.

To screen for genetic problems, short interviews are required of the men, in which they are required to provide three generations of family medical history. Afterwards, the men must provide two semen samples.

This entire process generally takes four days, Ridder said.

The center tests the samples to see how well they freeze and thaw.

“This is the most critical part of the screening process,” Ridder said. “One thing to be aware of is sperm cells are not designed to go through freezing and thawing.”

A normal sperm count of 2 milliliters in volume with a cell density of 20 million sperm per milliliter is necessary. The normal count also requires 50 percent motility (forward movement) and a 50 percent cell survival rate.

The final part of the screening process includes an interview with a genetic counselor and a physical with a medical director.

“Once you’re accepted, you become a regular active donor,” Ridder said.

Blood tests are repeated monthly for those accepted into the program.

For the first six months, the sperm samples are put in to Cryobiology’s inventory for storage. In the seventh month, the samples are released from men whose blood tests came back clean.

“Because of that reason, we ask donors to stay in the program for nine months,” Ridder said. “We invest time and money into it, and we get no return on it until the seventh month.”

The acceptance rate into the program is only 10 percent. There are 95 donors available for sale, but only 18 that are actively donating samples, as many are at varying stages of the donation process, Ridder said.

Though the acceptance rate is low Cryobiology does not discriminate against ethnicities, intellectuality or education level.

“We don’t even ask for GPAs, SATs, or ACTs. We feel that ability to test well is environmental,” Ridder said.

Donors are required to donate a minimum of six times per month, although the center does not require the donor to abstain from outside activities, the nine months they are in the program.

“We try to make it as easy on our donors as possible,” Ridder said. “We ask that they have two days abstinence from any kind of sexual relations.”

Ohio Reproductive Medicine works in conjunction with Cryobiology, with the egg donor program.

Like the sperm donor program, a screening process determines good candidates. The process includes an orientation, blood work, psychological analysis and a physician appointment.

Women who are not pregnant or nursing, who have no recent history of STD’s or recent body piercings or tattoos are good candidates, said Robyn Morrison, registered nurse for Ohio Reproductive Medicine.

Once admitted into the program, women are required to have four ultrasounds.

“It’s a two-month process during which women have to give themselves hormone shots,” Morrison said.

“The last two weeks of the process they have three shots a day.”

The egg donation ends with an outpatient egg retrieval procedure, in which the donor receives a narcotic pain shot putting her in a state of conscious sedation.

There are 13 egg donors in the program. Each woman is limited to three donations, each requiring separate evaluations. In contrast, the men are limited only to 10 pregnancies in a geographic area.

Both the egg and sperm donations are completely anonymous, and donors will not be aware if a pregnancy ever resulted.

Some students have considered becoming donors but decided against it.

“It’s kind of scary,” said Jason Chabak, a junior in geography. “It would be different if I knew who I was doing it for.”

The topic of donation came up in class for Nikki Fluharty, a freshman in business.

“Most girls in the class were against it,” she said. “I would do it, though. Money plays a big role in it, but I would do it anyway.”

“If someone needs help, I would do it regardless of being paid,” said Anisha Joshi, a freshmen in animal science.