College students play a necessary role in the plasma donation industry

College students today face significant costs associated with attending school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, for the academic year 2021–2022, the average total cost of attending degree-granting public 4-year institutions for first-time, full-time undergraduate students who live off-campus is $26,800, while the average total cost of attending private 4-year institutions is $56,100. Tuition combined with housing costs and personal expenses has forced students to find alternative ways to make extra money.

One solution that some students, like Braulio Luna, have found is donating their plasma to blood donation centers.

For about two years now, Luna, a fourth-year business administration student at Cal State San Bernardino, has donated plasma to help supplement his income while attending school. The whole process, from arrival to the plasma being collected, takes around one to three hours depending on how busy the center is or how many staff members are present. While the process is lengthy, Luna keeps donating because he needs the money and the process is dependable.

Plasma is the single largest component of human blood that acts as a transporting medium for cells. It can also be helpful with tetanus treatment and rabies treatment: when people who are immunized against these diseases donate plasma, the antibodies in it can help save other people’s lives.

The US represents two-thirds of global plasma donations. In the world, only five countries permit individuals to sell their plasma for cash. The US stands out for having the most lenient policy on how often it can be done. For instance, while Germany permits plasma donations up to 50 times annually, in the US, individuals can donate up to 104 times a year, and the compensation offered by clinics encourages frequent donations.

Despite the frequent donations allowable, demand for plasma is still rising. During COVID-19, U.S. plasma collection fell drastically primarily due to concerns from donors about coming to collection centers, which makes every donation even more critical in recent years.

Matthew Hotchko, the President of the Marketing Research Bureau who conducts market research about the plasma industry, said that plasma donation is vital for the pharmaceutical industry as it serves as the primary raw material for various plasma-derived products used globally. It is quite unique compared to most other pharmaceutical and biotech products, which are made either in biotechnology processes or chemical processes. Without plasma donations, the production of these essential products would be impossible, highlighting the critical role donors play in healthcare systems worldwide. He further said that since the US stands at the forefront of the plasma industry, contributing the majority of the global source plasma, it underscores the importance of plasma donation in meeting the high demand for plasma-derived therapies, especially in regions where access to such treatments is limited.

Shifting to the student’s perspective, although the practice of donating plasma is fairly common in the United States, those who donate are more likely to start because they face financial difficulties or are classified as low-income.

Annalidi Sochoa is a Ph.D. candidate in social work and sociology at the University of Michigan. Her research published in 2021 revealed that the odds of a plasma center being located in a community are positively associated with educational attainment, after controlling for income-to-poverty and race and ethnicity. Specifically, the odds of finding a plasma center in areas where a greater proportion of the population has some college and a bachelor’s degree are greater when compared to the fraction with less than a high school degree. During the interview, she also mentioned that among the surveys and interviews that she did, many of the donors were college students. As Sochoa said, based on her observation, plasma donation seemed to be pretty common amongst students who are focusing on their education and don't have time to have a full-time job or often even a part-time job.

To find college students who have donated, we posted a survey at various college subreddits and plasma donation FaceBook groups to find out why students donate and how they feel about the process. Among 23 responses, over 16 of them said that they donate plasma for living necessities such as buying food and paying bills, and three students used the money to have fun or buy luxury. 13 students said that they had varying degrees of side effects after donation. Six of the students reported bruises and 3 reported feeling fatigued after donating.

When it comes to moral concerns, almost all the students we surveyed don’t perceive it as selling a piece of their body.

Luna expressed a nuanced perspective on the moral considerations surrounding plasma donation. While acknowledging a sense of morality, Luna emphasized the tangible impact of his donation in aiding others, likening it to organ donation. He acknowledged feeling a slight discomfort at the idea of bodily components being extracted but ultimately viewed the act as a positive contribution, dismissing concerns over selling a part of his body and highlighting the potential for regeneration.

“I do feel I am helping others through donating. There’s plenty of other ways you could make extra income, and this is just the one that I was fine with and comfortable with,” said Roy Harper, a student plasma donor from California State University, Sacramento.