<p>Arizona State offers up to 80% tuition refunds for withdrawals for medical or compassionate reasons. The student needs to contact the college, and needs to receive approval for a refund within two years after the end of the semester in question. (I don’t know why they have a two-year limit.)</p>
<p>This seems better to me than the policies of many colleges, which have no refunds for medical withdrawals. If I were sending a S/D to Arizona State, I would not buy tuition insurance, given their policy.</p>
<p>I suppose one could run into problems with Arizona State’s policy in the event that the student contracted mono and withdrew, but Arizona State felt that the student should have toughed it out.</p>
<p>I guess the “up to 80%” (with emphasis on the “up to”) could also be a catch–they may pro-rate the refund according to the fraction of classes attended. So a student might not qualify for much of a refund, while not being able to complete the work to obtain credit. A related issue would be their policy for grades of “Deferred” or “Incomplete.”</p>
<p>I ignored the tuition refund insurance stuff this past year because money was really tight and I was like “Seriously? What a racket!” However, we faced a strong possibility of a medical withdrawal this term with Barnardgirl and I’ve changed my tune. I’ll be buying it from here on out. Thankfully it all worked out, but the outcome could have been very different. I am sufficiently scared now.</p>
<p>Well, we could have used it one term and bought it for our kid for the two subsequent terms. Self insured for both kids all the other years – private HS and college. Oh well! It’s always hindsight and we aren’t positive we would have gotten coverage of that awful term anyway.</p>
<p>Another year - another question. My S had a great year - though he became depressed he made it thru the year without having to withdraw for medical reasons. However, I was nervous and this year just received another reminder of the school refund policy. Any further views on this topic? </p>
<p>I wasn’t sure about purchasing it last year (freshman) because paying yet another $500 on top of $60k didn’t seem terribly appealing, but of my son’s twelve or so close high school friends, two had to withdraw for medical reasons. My son had walking pneumonia that was totally misdiagnosed by the health services and came home looking like a walking skeleton. Fortunately it was right before vacation, and he pushed through.</p>
<p>Based on these admittedly anecdotal experiences, I am purchasing the insurance again. If.my son was struggling with some mental health concerns, I would be even more inclined to do so. But we are full pay at an expensive institution. Maybe I would feel differently if he was at a state school. </p>
<p>For DS1 we have continued to purchase the insurance, and have never needed to make a claim, though at one point there was a chance he would need to take a leave, and it was nice to be able to tell him that it wouldn’t cost us anything if he did. </p>
<p>For DS2, he has more ongoing medical issues that make it more likely that he will need to take a leave, but he’s on a full-tuition scholarship, so we’re only on the hook for a semester at a time of room and board, so I’m not so sure. The price of the insurance is based on how much you’re insuring, so we might, but probably we’ll just self-insure for that amount. The main issue would be “using up” a semester of his scholarship without being able to get credit for the semester. I need to get a more firm answer on what happens when a scholarship student needs to take a medical leave. </p>