Payphones may return to San Jose City College.

A 500 signature petition was collected by the Associated Student Government in support of reinstalling payphones on campus.

The ASG approved $650 for a payphone on April 17, $250 of which would go for installation and the monthly maintenance fee of $75.

After all the money is spent on the installation of the phone, the bill will be left to the Facilities Committee if it is approved by the Board of Trustees.

“Even if they don’t make a profit, they provide them as a service. Every service does not need to pay for itself. This is why we have public money,” Mike Casas, 42, president of the Associated Student Government said.

The SJCC campus is used on some weekends for activities that include youth and people from the community.

Maria Lagare, 40, nursing major said “It’s practical for the school to make a payphone available to students because sometimes cellphones are not entirely reliable or some students cannot afford a cellphone.”

The campus had three payphones that were removed last year because of budget cuts and decaying conditions. The payphone by the Technology Center and the payphone between the Student Center and the parking garage were removed on April 2012.

The last payphone to be taken out was the one outside the library on November.

“I think it’s really important to have a payphone on campus by the library, ” Tevory Nhieu, 41 said. “Cellphone batteries die sometimes, and it’s just better to put money into a payphone to make a phone call when that happens.”