Boston University officials say they will offer additional HIV testing as early as next semester after students were turned away from a popular three-day free testing program last week.

“We didn’t plan to be able to test everyone who needed a test, but the response confirmed my impression that there is a need,” SHS Director Dr. David McBride said.

About 20 students were tested during the three-day period, which coincided with World AIDS Day last Friday. “Quite a few” students had to be turned away, McBride said, though he said he does not know exactly how many.

“Students were disappointed that there were a limited number of tests,” he said.

Only a few students could be tested because each appointment includes counseling before and after the test.

“It’s hard, because each appointment takes an hour,” event organizer Anni Baker said, “so even when [a trained clinician administering tests] comes for a full day, they can only test five people.”

Though last week’s program was free, SHS will begin billing students’ insurance when it begins offering routine testing, McBride said.

“None of the universities in the Boston area offer routine free HIV testing,” he said. “We don’t get federal funding to do testing, which some community-based organizations who primarily serve underserved patients get.”

Project Hope, the Community Service Center’s HIV/AIDS awareness program, sponsored last week’s event along with Wellness and Residential Education office.

“It shows that changes are necessary in the student health care system,” Project Hope program manager Mark Foelster, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior, said. “The overwhelming turnout shows it is an issue students care about.”

Baker, last year’s Project Hope program manager, worked for two years to secure the event. Now a graduate student in the School of Public Health, she organized the testing as an intern at the university’s Wellness and Residential Education office.

“We were very encouraged by the success of this event, and hopefully, we will provide another week or two more weeks of free testing on campus in the future,” she said.

Baker said although SHS could not accommodate all the students who lined up for hours to get tested, many locations in the city already offer free testing.

“Everybody who was turned away was referred to three clinics that offer free and confidential counseling near campus,” she said.

ONE at BU Vice President Anika Gupta, whose student group advocates for AIDS awareness, said HIV testing on campus is long overdue.

“It’s not even about whether you have HIV or not,” the College of Communication senior said. “It’s more about sending out a statement suggesting how important getting tested regularly is to a thriving student body such as ours.”

Although Project Hope has no immediate plans to repeat the event, Foelster said his organization is interested in collaborating with SHS again to offer more testing.

“We would definitely be interested if we come upon the funds,” he said.