LadyArdwyn my daughter was similar, exhausted from the constant string of events and meetings during her orientation. It was probably a very good thing overall, but she definitely needed some time to re-charge.
Mine was more tired during orientation too, she said by the end of several days of orientation that she was tired of being welcomed and was glad to begin classes. Now five weeks into classes she is in the full swing of things.
We were surprised with an additional $2500 health insurance bill. We have a BCBS HMO in TX and were told it wouldn’t suffice in MA as the primary doctor had to be within 30 minutes per Massachusetts Health Care and the new regulations in the ACA.
Was there a procedure to waive the health insurance that your kid’s school offered? We had to waive it and subtract the fee from the bill. No new bill was prepared once health insurance was waived. It stinks if you end up having to pay for that.
@bordertexan My daughter is also attending school in Massachusetts and she is out of state and not within 30 miles of her primary care physician. We were able to waive the insurance. The only requirement was that she have a comprehensive healthcare plan, which makes sense - I would want her to be able to get care, if needed, in Massachusetts. My daughter’s school charges $800 for students requiring insurance. Would your HMO cover your child in Massachusetts? $2300 is pretty steep.
I wonder if that has to do with a law in Massachusetts requiring students have insurance. We have two in college, in different states, and neither school requires health insurance they make available.
I remember reading a few other posts about issues with some health insurance plans not being valid across state lines. I don’t think it’s a widespread issue, but it’s certainly something to check into. I wonder if it’s more likely to be a problem if someone bought their insurance through a state-run marketplace? In any case, I think it’s worth a phone call to avoid any nasty surprises if an OOS kiddo has any health issues.
IIRC, for our kids we just had to provide the name and policy number for our health insurance. UMinn may have required an actual physical letter from the insurer, but I don’t recall for sure. Every school seems to handle this a little differently.
If you have Kaiser HMO and go to UCSB, you have to buy the school insurance because there is no provider to service that insurance nearby. In this case with Kaiser, it seemed to be an HMO service area problem.
@NorthernMom61 Yes, there was a procedure, but we were told our current insurance didn’t meet the MA requirement so we had to purchase the additional policy. If we changed our current policy to a PPO, it would end up costing the same, so we paid the premium. In Jan, we will probably drop kid from our health plan if it makes financial sense. The extended insurance through the school goes through August.
And current policy covers emergencies in MA but not routine care. Still confusing since the school covers routine care in the regular tuition. What we had to purchase was the extended care plan.
Would the Massachusetts plan cover her when she returns to Texas?
" Is there anything that three you for a loop financially now that your DC15s are settled into school?"
When we got our COAs and NPC results, we thought they would be “close” to what our real costs would be, and they were off by 10K. School only provided 75% of COA minus EFC, nowhere near what they said.
But the good news is that they do have a tuition payment plan, so the pain is a little bit less and pay as he goes.
Our BCBS is in the nationwide BCBS network. There is a minimal ($50 I think for the year) fee to use student health at all, and we saved $500 by being part of a national BCBS network. It’s probably because NJ is squished between several states and they have to provide OOS coverage for many people.
I can see that we are saving some money by not having our son at home. Our youngest ones are still in the “chicken nuggets or nothing” phase, so between that and some veggies, they don’t eat too complicated or expensive.
Yes. At this time, kid plans to staying in MA for the summer.
Our grocery bill is quite lower and we do less laundry. Also, no entry fees for weekly and bi-weekly runs. We’re also using less gas since there is less driving kid around. Kid didn’t drive on own very much and never after wrecking the car in the spring.
Grocery bill less, meals simpler, laundry less, a lot less driving/gas, evening walks with my husband, a nice long bike ride too. Those things are nice. I do miss the music. Daughter practiced several musical instruments daily, between three and four hours per day. I miss it. Though I am sure our neighbors don’t, lol. We live in an apartment.
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I’ve definitely noticed a decline in monthly expenses:. Water use way down; power down about 1/4 - 1/3 (it’s gotten cooler but not that much cooler!); no $$ for meals in between school and practices; no allowance; no gas on 3rd car; lower car insurance (but not that much lower); no immediate need for clothes, athletic shoes, a ball, a book, etc. I’m freaking out a bit because he’ll be home for fall break for a week in two weeks and I think it’s going to blow my budget!
I wonder if the HMO is a limiting factor - although they should have something in place for students who go out of state to college. My plan is a POS plan but they have something called PHCS which allows for coverage for out of network doctors whereever the college is located.
" Is there anything that three you for a loop financially now that your DC15s are settled into school?"
Well, she never accepted her subsidized loans, but she took care of it, finally! I feel guilty because I was ignoring calls from the Finaid office, but that’s because I thought it was a political party looking for donations or a telemarketer. Anyway, they called to tell me that if she doesn’t take care of it, my payment on October 1 will be significantly higher, so we got that settled.
At home, we’ve been going to the grocery store once a week to restock fruits and veggies, but our grocery bill has probably dropped to an average of $30 a week. I have been filling my car once every 8 days!
I checked our insurance plan and they have a network where D is in school, so we were able to decline the school insurance. We had to fill out forms that were on D’s accepted student portal before we could “decline” Also,D attended a pre-orientation trip that was extra money (~$400) and is going on another trip in October where the freshmen are introduced to different career options (~$300). Her semester books cost $400, outdoor club $40, but I think that is all so far. Her school doesn’t have rush until 2nd semester, so no costs associated with that. She is loving school and already is busy with extra curricular. She has a weekly radio show (!), is volunteering with the campus kitchen food program, and making the most of her opportunities.
Welcome new-to-the-group parents!
D was able to waive in Mass also, I had to make sure there were docs within 30 miles and there are. FWIW her college would have added the insurance cost to her FA pkg if we hadn’t been able to waive it, which is mighty nice of them.
The only cost that was higher than expected was books. Budget was $500 and she went over by $150. But next semester she will reuse two and can sell back the rest, so it should get better. Books are her cost so she is managing that herself.