Academic Fees & Refund Policies

I am the father of a sophomore B - and just got ready to pay the term bill and was startled to see so many additional fees. There are new fees this year - health insurance (I waived off), honors college fee of $750, recreation fee of $75, student housing fee (in addition to room and board) $50, printing fee ($50), and new this year - college fee ($145), financial aid fee ($15) This does not include special academic fees which appear for 2 of his 5 classes.

Without parking - it looks like I have nearly $1,500 of fees that I don’t think were disclosed. It looks like all of these fees are non-refundable.

So my question is it seems useful to consider tuition insurance. My school didn’t offer it, but I did a search and found a policy for $2,500 for $29.95. That seems like a useful fee to pay. Does anyone have any experience with tuition insurance?

Look closely at what it covers. Quit or fail out? Too bad.

Allianz, one of the major tuition insurance providers, offers three different levels of plans. All of them cover existing medical conditions, says Joe Mason, Allianz chief marketing officer, but may pay out differently based on the type of claim. For instance, the company’s most popular plan – which costs $135 for every $10,000 in tuition coverage – pays out at 100 percent for injury or illness but 80 percent for a mental health disorder, which also requires proof of a hospital admission.

So your kid gets depressed but not hospitalized? Too bad.

We did buy tuition insurance for my youngest her freshman year because she is the one who got mono, got in a car accident. etc and just seemed unlucky. Last year she was in the hospital with a kidney infection for a week (but was able to return to school).

I found the same company - looks like they work with GradGuard - where I found it. I just purchased the minimum amount. I son is healthy but like you suggest you neer know.

Dewar’s is good.

Is the total amount about the same as last year? I notice a new fee (academic counseling?) on my daugther’s COA, but not an increase on the bill. I think it is now just broken out as a line item on the calculation of the COA but is not an actual increase. She’s a senior so if it is a new fee, not much we can do about it.