<p>I really need some help with this.
As an international student, I am quite ignorant about this plan. Can anyone tell me exactly how the plan works and what's it for? I got full ride so all I have to pay is just insurance, books and travel expense. Thus, do I need to participate in this plan? I read the leaflet but still have no idea about this. And can you tell me how much does it usually cost? I can't find it anywhere in the leaflet.</p>
<p>I don't think you need it. I don't know the terms of your specific policy -- and maybe there's a policy geared for full scholarship/aid students -- but I can't even imagine why you would pay even $1 for a voluntary tuition refund plan...because if boarding school doesn't work out for you, you won't suffer a loss of anything that can be repaid under a typical policy: tuition and possibly boarding costs.</p>
<p>But this is an excellent topic. And there are two other threads on it from last year that we can now have combined here (with the hopes that this thread remains the one active one, and those remain archived resources):</p>
<p>At my D's school it is required but it is set at 10% of net tuition, so 10% of 0 would be $0.</p>
<p>Same here, it is required - but it is net tuition (not including fees or deposit) and it is only on the balance not paid by 7/1. Also, anyone paid in full is automatically enrolled for free. Our contract said we would be billed for it along with the fees, which I expect will arrive soon.</p>
<p>I think it is probably worth it for the first year. However, my reading of FA is that it is only good if you are enrolled. If you drop out, the FA stops and you are still obligated for the full remaining tuition.</p>
<p>I think you should talk to the school.</p>
<p>The school sent me some papers about The Student injury and sickness insurance plan and The tuition refund plan. It is required to buy the first one. I still can't make head nor tail of the tuition refund plan. It is said "The cost of the tuition refund plan is included in the accompanying material. Written notification of enrollment in the plan must me made by the first day. Premium payment is due within 10 days after the first day of academic year"->????</p>
<p>Btw, is there anything else I should return to the school besides the signed contracts and signed insurance plan? How about the insurance fees?</p>
<p>I would NOT commit to the insurance plan until you confirm that it is mandatory. It is typically required for people who use a payment plan to protect the school. But if you've got a full ride, you will be paid in full. That means there's no benefit that is available to you if your child should leave the school before the end of the school year. You don't need to recover money that you didn't lose. So this may be something the school wants or needs...but I don't see how you could want it at any price.</p>
<p>The best advice here is to ask the school -- speak to the business office. They can address the specific plan used by the school, cover the school's policy as to whether it's mandatory, and even help address this vis-a-vis your specific situation. There's a small chance that they'll want you to buy the plan so they get their kickba...I mean commission...but I tend to find that people would rather be helpful than slimeballs.</p>
<p>I would not let this hold up your return of other, time-sensitive materials.</p>
<p>Oh, and congratulations on the offer of admission PLUS the full ride!</p>
<p>you have gotten some good advice -- but it is just that, advice. What you need are some very specific answers from the school where you plan on attending.</p>
<p>I would advise you to email the school with you questions -- because you are an international student, the school will need to help you secure your visa. There are mandatory fees required for that visa and I also believe that you are required to pay for the health insurance as part of that visa agreement.</p>
<p>I am sure that the school is used to dealing with financial aid, visas and international students and will be able to give you the best answers.</p>
<p>Congrats from me, also. For future reference, would you mind letting us know the school you will be attending and what country you are from? We have many international kids interested in boarding school and it would help them for next year.</p>
<p>D'er,</p>
<p>The FA packages I have seen do not cover you if you withdraw - you are then obligated to pay $. </p>
<p>All are not the same, however; so I agree with you and hsmom, I would check with the school.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot D'yer Maker, Princess'Dad and hsmomstef. I checked with the school and they said "just throw it away". Haha. What a relief!</p>
<p>hummm i've never heard of the tuition refund plan....sounds interesting</p>
<p>We have always purchased the tuition refund insurance and I would encourage others to consider it as well. If your child gets sick, hates the school or flunks out you will still still be liable for tuition. I do know of several peers of my sons who had to leave school and their parents had to continue to pay the full tuition. It does happen more often then you might think</p>
<p>There are reasons to do it...and I think it's typically mandatory if you're on a payment plan. But if you have already paid the tuition up front...the value is not that tremendous, unless your plan is to have a child enroll in a private school for the rest of the year and the refund is needed to pay for the rest of the year's tuition.</p>
<p>And if your child has been attending boarding school for a year, I think it would not be a very good investment at all. The risk of homesickness -- the biggest risk, I think -- is practically nil after a year.</p>
<p>Not only is the risk minimal; the payout falls short under the plans I've seen. It's not even like you get a full refund. Not even close. And the exclusions are typically broad. And the price is fairly high relative to the cost...sort of like an extended warranty on electronics.</p>
<p>Policies differ and there may be some decent plans available, but if it's not mandatory I would look very carefully before paying for this and I would pay attention to why you would need financial protection from the risks that are covered. And compare the value to self-insuring (saving that premium and covering any payments yourself).</p>
<p>Unlike most insurance policies that protect against a catastrophic, unexpected loss, these plans do nothing but ease your landing from an already budgeted expense. Those remaining tuition payments -- or the lump sum you paid in July -- are not a surprise that you can't recover from just because Junior isn't at school. You wouldn't buy insurance -- no matter how cheap -- to cover that NFL Season Pass you purchased on DirecTV in case your favorite team's star player gets injured a few weeks into the season and you're not going to watch much football. Or how about that HomeFlex Gym you bought? You have just 12 payments of $800 each...but if you realize that you're not going to use it, you'll wish you didn't have to keep paying for it -- but would you wish that you had been offered insurance to cover those remaining payments? If a salesman had offered you that kind of insurance, you'd tell him to fly a kite! (And that's a situation where the likelihood of collecting is pretty high.)</p>
<p>Sure, it would hurt to write a check knowing that there's no value being returned. But it's like buying insurance against a partial subsidy towards your remaining car payments on your auto loan if, for some reason, you can't drive anymore. If it was a lease, it would pay a portion of your remaining rent payments for the year if it turns out that you need to live in a tent for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Only in the rarest of cases will you need the tuition returned to cover a replacement expense for the rest of the year. More typically, your child is out of a tuition-paying situation for the remainder of the year. Your budget is unaffected by the withdrawal of a student. So why buy insurance? An expense that you have already incurred -- or have budgeted for -- is a great time to self-insure.</p>
<p>Every school contract that we looked at required the tuition refund plan unless you paid your bill in full by a certain date. for some schools, that was august 1st -- and for others you could pay two payments, one in august and one in december. I didn't realize it was voluntary at any schools.</p>
<p>I thought so, too. I got the impression, from Post #13, above, that it was optional for people who were on installments. Obviously, if you're paying installments and it's mandatory, there's nothing to say. And if you've already paid the tuition up front...then it's really tough to say that you can't afford the cost if your child leaves. What I'd want insurance for is the cost of travel and other expenses when they call to say, "Pick up your child and all his belongings in 24 hours." Maybe for a decent criminal lawyer to defend him, too. If it's illness-related, it's medical insurance you want, not tuition insurance. For pre-paid tuition, this product is not so much insurance as it is a salve against having paid for something you wind up not using to its fullest.</p>
<p>There is one scenario where I think it would apply: if your child leaves the school and misses enough school that s/he'll have to repeat the year...at that school or another tuition-charging school. In that case there'd be an unexpected expense that you might want to insure against. It would hurt, and I'd probably have to improvise to avoid that situation, but I wouldn't feel a need to insure against it.</p>