My DD has visited the health center many times at her school. She is still covered under my health insurance so I do not have to pay the health insurance coverage cost the college offers. But she is never asked to pay a fee when she visits the college’s health center nor do these visits show up on my monthly claim statements.
Should colleges list this fee separately on their bill or are health center fees simply built into the cost of tuition?
It is usually part of the tuition and fees. My kids never were billed, and I wasn’t either back in the day.
Look at it this way: her being sick helps you get all of your money’s worth. Think of the parents of the kids who never get sick!
Some colleges let you go to the health center X number of times for free. Some let you go unlimited times for free. Some make you pay every time.
At my U, there is a student health fee which is billed to all students and is part of your regular bill. All clinic visits are free as part of that fee.
At my daughter’s college, every visit to the student health center is billed, either directly to the student or to the student’s insurance. Since we have a high deductible insurance policy and therefore our insurance company isn’t picking up any of the cost (we never hit our deductible, thank goodness), the full cost of a student health center visit goes onto my daughter’s student account for us to pay. We do not pay a student health fee as part of tuition and costs.
I have had 2 different experiences. Kid #1 at a private college: 2 visits to the health center over a 4 year period-- no cost to me. Kid # 2 at a state public-- he had to pay a co-pay. Bottom line:all schools are different.
@romanigypsyeyes I figured that this fee had to be built into the tuition cost. I just wondered why the cost of using the health center was not more transparent on the school’s bill.
No, you don’t understand. There is an ACTUAL student health fee which is explicitly labeled as such on the bill. Everyone pays the same fee regardless of how many times one uses a clinic.
if you remove the * from your brackets, it’ll actually quote.
Tuition is tuition. That’s not going to change. The fees on a bill might change though.
I looked at the school’s website and do not see a student health fee listed separately. I will look at the hard copy of the tuition bill I received last school year to see if this fee was listed separately. I will be very surprise if I missed this previously.
Thanks for the quote information.
Check the website for the university’s student health center. It should explain it there.
@brantly I looked and there is no health fee listed on the website.
@romanigypsyeyes I looked at my online bill from last school year and there is no actual student health fee listed.
Although I may get the same response as quoted on the school’s website, I am curious and will have to ask about this ‘free’ of charge visit to the health center.
@BLUEPH I’ll say it again… that is at MY university. I doubt we go to the same one :). Different schools do it different ways.
Your university is not going to raise your tuition because you’ve used the health service. I’ve never heard of a U that bills clinic visits to your student bill but I’m sure they exist. More than likely your U provides basic health care and that fee is built into some fee that is not listed as “student health fee”
Let me try to clarify what may have been misunderstood. I know that the tuition I pay is not increased by the amount of times my daughter visits the health center. I had done a little research and noticed that some schools list an ACTUAL cost for students using the health center and wondered why this was not done at my daughter’s school.
I then made the assumption that there had to be a fee built into the amount of money the school charges since no student pays to use the health center. I just wished this was more transparent.
Your D’s school only has tuition charged? No student fees?
@romanigypsyeyes There is a $280 fee listed for residential house and activities. Other than that fee, there is tuition, room and board. I am grateful that these 4 things the school lists is EXACTLY what is charged, thus, I do not worry about unexpected school-related costs. This ‘free’ health center issue just peaked my curiosity.
piqued
"done a little research and noticed that some schools list an ACTUAL cost for students using the health center and wondered why this was not done at my daughter’s school.
I then made the assumption that there had to be a fee built into the amount of money the school charges since no student pays to use the health center. I just wished this was more transparent."
I never had any fees broken out on my kid’s bill - except for health insurance if one chose to purchase the school’s plan. His school just doesn’t do that. It doesn’t even break it into Tuition and R&B. You just pay one flat fee. There were no meal plans, either. Everyone was on the same plan and the actual cost is unknown. Of course, some of the money we paid went to health services on campus, but what amount I have no idea. It’s not broken out on their website either. Just says something like - Tuition, R& B and Fees $xx,xxx.
Kid could go every day to the health center and never get billed for it.
@emilybee Just curious–do all students live on campus? Or on the website do they just have a lump fee listed for students living on campus and a lump fee listed for students living off campus (who would not need room and board)?
Almost all students live on campus all four years. A few move off their senior year, but it’s a very tiny number - maybe 30, if that, out of class of 400 or so. I don’t know how they bill it and I’m pretty sure the kids who move off campus stay on the meal plan part - as it’s unlimited.
There is nothing on the website which would tell someone what the cost would be if they move off campus.
This is what it looks like from their website:
Costs for 2015-16
Tuition, room, board and fees $62,540
Estimated costs for books, personal and travel $2,050
Total $64,590
“For this highly individualized educational experience, Bates charges a single fee that includes tuition, room, board and fees. The 2015-16 fee for attending Bates is $62,540. Costs for books, personal expenses and transportation are added to a student’s budget for the purpose of calculating financial need and awarding aid.”
My kids didn’t enroll in Cornell’s student health care (additional $2000). Every time they used the school’s health center I was charged. If they needed any test done, I was billed. I received monthly statement from the school. The statement included tuition, printing, additional food charges, sports tickets, medical, etc.
Blueph, my daughter also made pretty frequent use of the Williams health center without ever receiving a bill. The only thing that was ever billed was labwork being sent out to an outside lab. They do a great job too, good people.