Washington, D.C. ? The estimated 39 percent of American college women who use birth control pills could enjoy relief from big price increases over the last two years thanks to a provision in the budget bill signed by President Barack Obama.

Students had seen prices for oral contraceptives at college health clinics shoot up two- and threefold — the apparently unintended consequence of a deficit-reduction provision that went into effect in January 2007.

The bill Obama signed Wednesday restores an incentive for drug-makers to offer discounts for the pills, although it doesn’t guarantee they will do so.

Still, college health officials were celebrating the news.

“It’s been something that all of the members of the American College Health Association have been watching very closely,” said Dr. Gregory Moore, director of the health service at the University of Kentucky. “There was a great deal of celebrating I’m sure.”