Sharon77 Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I got a mailing from my dd's school about tuition reimbursement insurance. It is offered through another company, but her school mails out the letters. We are paying a significant amount of her tuition and I do think about if she were to get sick or hurt and couldn't finish the semester, we would lose a great deal of money. It will refund 80% of her tuition for any medical reason, including mental health. Does anyone here have any experience with something like this? Opinions? Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) How much do they charge for the insurance? How sick does the student have to be? Does the student have to be in academically good standing before withdrawing for medical reasons, or would they cover if the medical condition caused the student to underperform first and then withdraw from failing status? I would suspect they rule out the latter because that opens the door to a lot of abuse, but it is actually the more likely scenario for the student, since in most cases the student would try to push through and recover grades until persisting illness makes it not feasible anymore. What are the school's own reimbursement policies? What are the school's poclicies for medical leave/Incomplete? I never heard of such an insurance. I would investigate further if I had a student with chronic illness or mental health issues that would make it likely that the student could not finish a semester. For an otherwise healthy student, I would be inclined not to purchase the insurance. Schools offer partial reimbursements until a few weeks in, and offer the option to withdraw with an Incomplete if a student cannot complete the semester for medical reasons starting several weeks before the end of the semester (and the course could be completed free of charge within a semester or year) - so this leaves a window of a few weeks for serious conditions to strike that would force the student to withdraw. In addition, it would have to be a devastating medical disaster; I routinely have students who finish semesters despite mono, broken legs, abdominal surgery, or mid-semster delivery. I have extremely rarely had a student withdraw entirely. Edited July 8, 2016 by regentrude 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) I never heard of such an insurance. I would investigate further if I had a student with chronic illness or mental health issues that would make it likely that the student could not finish a semester. For an otherwise healthy student, I would be inclined not to purchase the insurance. Schools offer partial reimbursements until a few weeks in, and offer the option to withdraw with an Incomplete if a student cannot complete the semester for medical reasons starting several weeks before the end of the semester (and the course could be completed free of charge within a semester or year) - so this leaves a window of a few weeks for serious conditions to strike that would force the student to withdraw. In addition, it would have to be a devastating medical disaster; I routinely have students who finish semesters despite mono, broken legs, abdominal surgery, or mid-semster delivery. I have extremely rarely had a student withdraw entirely. My thoughts exactly. I teach within the state community college system, but 18 years of teaching, I've only had two students withdraw for medical reasons. One was a life-altering motorcycle accident, and the other was for cancer that required very aggressive treatment. In the first case I know that his wife appealed for a tuition refund because it was just a few days after the refund date, and they granted it. My own son had emergency surgery in the fall for an injury, four months of PT, and then another surgery with two months of PT. Thankfully he's in college locally so he had family support, but he pulled all A's with a heavy course load and had professors that were accommodating because he was determined to keep up. Edited July 8, 2016 by G5052 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebbS Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I've never heard of it. I would look carefully at the fine print with various circumstances in mind and see what it would actually cover and whether it is worth the cost. Alongside of this, I'd learn about the university policies concerning such unforeseen circumstances and how they handle appeals based on special situations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) It is common around here for private high schools and college prep schools where full payment of the tuition costs is required whether your child finishes the school year or not. The insurance is not cheap. However, I have never heard of anyone using it at the college level. Myra Edited July 8, 2016 by Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 How much do they charge for the insurance? How sick does the student have to be? Does the student have to be in academically good standing before withdrawing for medical reasons, or would they cover if the medical condition caused the student to underperform first and then withdraw from failing status? I would suspect they rule out the latter because that opens the door to a lot of abuse, but it is actually the more likely scenario for the student, since in most cases the student would try to push through and recover grades until persisting illness makes it not feasible anymore. What are the school's own reimbursement policies? What are the school's poclicies for medical leave/Incomplete? I never heard of such an insurance. I would investigate further if I had a student with chronic illness or mental health issues that would make it likely that the student could not finish a semester. For an otherwise healthy student, I would be inclined not to purchase the insurance. Schools offer partial reimbursements until a few weeks in, and offer the option to withdraw with an Incomplete if a student cannot complete the semester for medical reasons starting several weeks before the end of the semester (and the course could be completed free of charge within a semester or year) - so this leaves a window of a few weeks for serious conditions to strike that would force the student to withdraw. In addition, it would have to be a devastating medical disaster; I routinely have students who finish semesters despite mono, broken legs, abdominal surgery, or mid-semster delivery. I have extremely rarely had a student withdraw entirely. :iagree: with Regentrude, as usual. I had never actually heard of this insurance before. I suppose it is like trip insurance but a lot less likely to be used. With my kid with mental illness, something like this would have come in handy, provided that the fine print didn't exclude the very reasons we would have needed it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Due to our experience, I would get it. It wasn't very much and we could have used it. Ds1 had to leave for illness about 6 weeks into the semester. The school really worked with us, but we were still out several thousand. You would be surprised how many kids use it. Mono, appendicitis, bike accident..there are many ways a semester could be interrupted. Definitely check the fine print. For us, he had to be in good standing and eligible for a medical withdrawal. That was much better than the extremely low grades that would have resulted if he tried to come back after a few weeks. We purchased it this year. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) One of our dds has a chronic illness, and many families in our support group have purchased and benefited from similar policies. I'm hoping that having the policy in place will help her feel like she has the freedom to do what she needs to do for her health, rather than powering through, which could have drastic consequences. It's one of those things you don't want to have to use, but it's really good to have when you need it. Edited March 11, 2017 by Elise 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 :iagree: with Regentrude, as usual. I had never actually heard of this insurance before. I suppose it is like trip insurance but a lot less likely to be used. With my kid with mental illness, something like this would have come in handy, provided that the fine print didn't exclude the very reasons we would have needed it. Good point. We always buy trip insurance for our Caribbean vacations because a family member has significant medical issues that could require a pricey air ambulance (no doctors at all where we go), and we go to an area with significant hurricane activity. For trips in the U.S., we've never bought it. I think you have to look carefully at the whole picture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I'm a big fan of tuition insurance. My dd lasted 6 weeks at a private school, and we were able to recoup 50% of our tuition for the year. Without it we'd have been on the hook for an entire year. Getting our money back was no problem, no hassle, just a couple of emails to the school and our check arrived in the mail. I would take advantage if you are unsure about whether the school is a good fit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon77 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 Due to our experience, I would get it. It wasn't very much and we could have used it. Ds1 had to leave for illness about 6 weeks into the semester. The school really worked with us, but we were still out several thousand. You would be surprised how many kids use it. Mono, appendicitis, bike accident..there are many ways a semester could be interrupted. Definitely check the fine print. For us, he had to be in good standing and eligible for a medical withdrawal. That was much better than the extremely low grades that would have resulted if he tried to come back after a few weeks. We purchased it this year. The coverage seems good. As long as there is doctor documentation, it's covered. Dd has a chronic illness, and many families in our support group have purchased and benefited from similar policies. We haven't purchased it for our oldest, but we will be purchasing it for her. I'm hoping that having the policy in place will help her feel like she has the freedom to do what she needs to do for her health, rather than powering through, which could have drastic consequences. It's one of those things you don't want to have to use, but it's really good to have when you need it. Yes, that is what I was thinking. I'm a big fan of tuition insurance. My dd lasted 6 weeks at a private school, and we were able to recoup 50% of our tuition for the year. Without it we'd have been on the hook for an entire year. Getting our money back was no problem, no hassle, just a couple of emails to the school and our check arrived in the mail. I would take advantage if you are unsure about whether the school is a good fit. I'm glad you were able to get some money back. This ins. will give me 80% back starting week 3 till the end of the semester. They are charging me $220 per semester. Considering that each semester is costing 30K, I started to think that it wasn't a bad deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) The insurance company was Dewar. It was offered through the school; we didn't purchase it independently. In fact, I believe it was required and included with tuition. I believe that if dd had been expelled, we would have received more money, so we briefly conspired with dd to do something really horrid, lol! Edited July 8, 2016 by daijobu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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