If you are on your parents' insurance plan, you are exempted from the USHIP plan. You just have to apply for a waiver online. You can also be exempted from the USHIP plan if you can find a comparable plan from any private insurers, and get the waiver.
As for the Student Life Fee, I do not think you can get out of that one, unless the following scenario applies to you.
Quote:
The Student Life Fee will be waived only for those students who live and study over 100 miles from campus and who will not be on campus during the academic year. Students need to petition their area Dean of Students (Office of the Vice-President and Dean of Students in the University) to receive this waiver. There are no other grounds for waiving this mandatory fee.
That was the one thing that really turned us off to Chicago when my son was accepted as an undergraduate. the Aetna insurance was SOOOO much more expensive than at other colleges. I cant believe they would charge grad students the same rate as UG students. DS pays only $384/ yr for graduate medical coverage at Cal Tech!! and both are provided by Aetna.
I think you need to look closer. I'll bet your graduate medical insurance is subsidized by Chicago. It is at CalTech. Better ask though.
Our insurance does not have medical coverage in IL, so we compared the UShip insurance with other insurance policies on the market(about 50 of them), actually, if you compare feature by feature, Uship is not that expensive, especially it will cover overseas traveling medical needs.
Yeah - the acceptance letter to the PhD program did say that it's all subsidized by Chicago. I'm just wondering what it's useful for, and why the health service fee is separate from the health insurance plan.
except that as a grad student the amount they have to pay, vrs what Chicago picks up as part of a grad student stipend, is far less than what UG's pay. sucks for UG's, I know.
PHD grad students receive a stipend from Chigago and a reduction in the cost of health insurance in exchange for 4-6 years work as a underpaid researcher.
Is it a reduction or a complete waiver? I think I'm still covered under my parents' insurance, but I have a feeling that my parents' insurance is localized to the Northwest.
I dont know specifically but I suspect it will be a reduction. thats how it works at CalTech. And both have similar UG policies/costs for coverage from Aetna. So you will probably be charged a LOT less per qtr and it probably will be deducted from your stipend. Usually the graduate student handbooks have all the information and facts you need.
