<p>Hey, I have several questions about the bruin direct/insurance letters that were sent home:</p>
<li><p>Do we need insurance from UCLA if we already have it? I don’t really understand what it says about the insurance…</p></li>
<li><p>The letter says “Follow the instructions to complete the bruin direct and privacy waivers and return them in the yellow return envelope.” I didn’t see any yellow envelope. Did anyone else receive one?</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve read on this board that you get whatever leftover money their is from financial aid in your bruin direct. What if you’re not getting any financial aid, or barely any at all anyway? What is the Bruin Direct for then? What is the difference between BAR and Bruin Direct? thanks</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) if your existing insurance meets the following requirements, then you can (and should) waive it.
[quote]
1. Be written by a US owned and based company
2. Have no more than $5000 in out of pocket expenses. (To calculate this multiply your co-insurance if you are hospitalized, e.g. 20%, by $10,000, then add the amount of your annual deductible.)
3. Have at least $100,000 in lifetime benefits.
4. Have a facility (hospital) within 25 miles of UCLA where you can receive full services.
[/quote]
if you're not sure, ask your parents and/or call and ask your insurance company.</p>
<p>2) i remember my envelope was green last year. if no envelope was included with those forms, there should be an address on the papers saying where to mail them to.</p>
<p>3) BAR is the student billing account where all your fees (except charging) are charged to. even if you print at the library or something, the 10 cents a page gets charged on there. you have to check that every month and pay by the 20th. </p>
<p>bruin direct is just direct deposit (if you know what that is) so if your financial aid money is more than your fees, the leftover will automatically be transferred to your bank account instead of them mailing you a paper check. if you're not getting financial aid, then bruin direct serves no purpose. but doesnt harm anything to sign up for it, its just one form and a voided check...theres no fees or anything like that.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, BAR is your billing account that gets billed for all school related charges except for housing.</p>
<p>VTEC, what do you mean by "except for charging?"</p>
<p>oops how did that happen? must have been right before i took my nap ;).</p>
<p>i meant except for HOUSING. i'll edit the original post.</p>
<p>EDIT: nevermind, too late to edit. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>wait a minute....if BAR is what they bill your school related charges (im assuming fee is included in this) then shouldn't we be giving our parents' account? i accidentally gave them my bank account info!!!????</p>
<p>you pay BAR with credit card.</p>
<p>i meant my credit card info...so what do I do now?</p>
<p>bruinboy, i'm not sure i understand what you're saying. did you give your credit card info for the bruin direct? if so, you are fine. they never take money OUT of your personal bank account - only put money in. however, if you don't want your refund to go into your account you can still change it.</p>
<p>ahh ic thanks ckings. I thought they bill you tuition fees and other EXPENSES to the account. I didn't know they just put $$ in. thanks again that clears it all up.</p>
<p>so all bruindirect is is that it's something that transfers the financial aid (fafsa) money and loans into one of your bank accounts or something so then the school will know where to take the money???</p>
<p>no. after financial aid is used to pay your fees, any EXTRA money is put into your bank account by bruin direct.</p>
<p>lets say you have $5000 in aid and your fees total $3000. $2000 will be left over after paying the fees, so then the $2000 will be transferred to your bank account automatically.</p>
<p>however, if you have $1000 in aid and $3000 in fees, the balance you owe will be $2000. you have to pay this amount yourself using credit card, it is NOT automatically withdrawn from your bank account.</p>
<p>so if i get financial aid of 20k and i gotta pay 3k myself, does the financial aid automatically pay itself to ucla (loans, grants, etc) after i accept my eFAN and then i would then only need to pay 3k myself through credit card?</p>
<p>pretty much, except financial aid is automatically credited to your BAR account quarterly, not after you accept your eFAN. they pay out the financial aid like a week before the fees for that quarter are due. after that you can go ahead and pay the remaining balance with your credit card.</p>
<p>do we have to do anything with BAR account or is that automatically taken care of? also, if we pay quarterly, can my parents pay the fees with their cards from home?</p>
<p>the only thing you have to do with BAR is check it once a month to see if you have any fees charged to it, and pay what you owe. your parents can definitely pay from home, just give them your ID# and password to login when the bill is due.</p>
<p>Actually, you'll get an email at the beginning of the month if there are charges.</p>
<p>Oh and uhhhh... it'd be easier if you get the card number, name, exp. date, and secuity code and do it yourself. :)</p>