Take the loan and call Agnes Scott’s financial aid office/ Explain that you have financial hardships and ask if they can give your daughter a little more so that she can attend and focus on her education. It is a shame their insurance is so expensive.
First of all, your daughter sounds like a great kid, and there’s no stupidity reigning here–just a complicated situation that many of us have been through.
I realize that the following information might not be helpful in this situation (I didn’t see anywhere in this thread what kind of need-based aid your daughter might be receiving from Agnes Scott), but perhaps this could help someone else in the future. Our family has a similar story as yours in that we own a small business, earn a very modest income, and the ACA saved us in that my husband and I have affordable, very good health insurance now, and our daughter was on our state’s CHIP (free) insurance through age 19.
She was accepted to a college last year known for its very generous financial aid, and received a great package that will allow her to graduate college debt-free. However, we then got the bill for the mandatory health insurance and because her college is in another state, she couldn’t apply for their cheaper in-state option, and her coverage here in Oregon wouldn’t be sufficient for the college’s requirement for local coverage. I was very stressed out about it, even though I know how fortunate we are for her to get the package that she received. The challenge for us was that, unlike the rest of the tuition/room and board bill that could be spread out over the year with payments, the health insurance was billed as a one-time up-front fee. It was an unexpected $2,000 that we owed and couldn’t use her (small) 529 plan for.
So, after exhausting all of our options, I emailed the registrar’s office to see if they would bill us for the health insurance monthly so that we could pay $200/mo. rather than all at once. This still would have been a stretch for us, but it seemed the best option. I received a quick response back, and was referred to the financial aid department where I requested the same thing. The next thing I know, our billing statement had been updated, and the college had increased our daughter’s financial aid to cover the full amount of the health insurance! I was shocked to say the least.
I’ve wanted to share this story because it’s just an example of always asking for the extra help when needed from financial aid offices. Again, I know that we are very lucky to have received so much help, and the college she attends is well-endowed and generous, but I was still so surprised by the extra generosity. Never hurts to ask! Good luck with this all.
I know I complained above about dealing with insurance every year, but I’d really not let that stop you from picking Agnes Scott. Can you clarify (didn’t see, but maybe I missed it) if she is already planning to take her federal loans to cover tuition/room/board? Because if not, I would recommend she take the loans to cover insurance. She could take the subsidized, and possibly only part of the unsubsized as needed to cover that expense. She can’t take those loans for the German option. I assume, so I assume you’d have a gap trying to cover the cost of that plus travel.
Bard Berlin says US students may apply federal funding towards their degree in Germany. I am assuming that covers Stafford loans?
I think that the salient point about the German program, even if finances and insurance were to work out in its favour, is whether she really wants to go? It’s tiny, just 270 students, and a lot of them appears to be year abroad kids. She could concentrate in economics for her BA, which I assume is no better nor worse as job preparation than most liberal arts degrees she could get from a relatively unknown small LAC in the US (not talking about Bard in Annandale on Hudson here, rather the equivalent of “tiny college I’ve never heard of, but I guess it’s accredited by a US body”) but the experience is very different from what either a US college or a German university would have been.
Clearly, she’s not a kid who has ever had or expected conventional educational experiences. Maybe she’d want somewhat more standardised credentials for her job search or grad school apps.
If your family is eligible for premium subsidies now, your daughter will still be eligible for premium subsidies in Georgia.
https://www.healthcare.gov/young-adults/college-students/
Moving to Georgia for school would be a “qualifying event” allowing her to enroll in an ACA insurance plan potentially with subsidies. She would apply for health insurance in Georgia, saying that she is your dependent and using your family income as the income.
CHIP insurance runs out when she turns 19 if she stays home.
I’m going to present my opinion.
Your daughter is healthy until she is NOT. The yearly cost for her college plan is well worth taking a Direct Loan to pay if there is no other way to cover it. Think of it this way…if she needs surgery, or gets in some kind of accident, the cost of that insurance will seem like a song compared to the costs of her care. Ask me how I know.
OP, you’ve said that you didn’t go to college yourself, and that some of these dreams of things like visiting schools and decorating dorm rooms were as much or more YOUR dreams and aspirations as hers. I understand this - I went through it myself, albeit for different reasons.
But the question now is - What is most important for your D? Not some idealized imagining of what she (or you) THINKS she wants or needs, but REALITY. Is getting out of the South the top priority? Atlanta is a very big city, with people from all over the country - does that compensate for not leaving the South? Is a woman’s college really that important? Why or why not? More important than leaving the South? The school seems to have offered you enough aid to make it feasible, I wouldn’t let $3300 stand in the way. Are you sure that isn’t just a straw you are grasping for as an excuse not to let go? or an excuse to allow her to decline? Cold feet? You need to clear all this dross out of your head and get down to brass tacks. There are still other options.
Not anymore. Individual plans are not purchased directly from the companies…my kids both had BC/BS and had to purchase on the exchange…no subsidy but that’s where they bought.
UNTIL BC/BS pulled out of both of their markets…but that’s another story.
The school plan really is the way to go.
We have an individual policy through Anthem Blue Cross, brought directly from them. It probably varies from state to state. We couldn’t get one from them the last couple of years, because they’d pulled out of Maine. Now they’re back, thank goodness. Much more affordable than Harvard Pilgrim, the only other viable option.
@sylvan8798, a women’s college was important but she obviously also applied co-ed if they were also liberal (Reed, Oberlin, Minerva, Bard Berlin, Sarah Lawrence) so it wasn’t THE main thing. I think the getting out of the south is probably her biggest thing…she wants far from here and closed minds (which is mostly what she comes up against daily). Not that any place will be free of racism, sexism, homophobia, but I guess in her mind out of the south would have to be better.
I have no cold feet about either of her choices, I just want her to find her place where she can be herself which she has had to tamp down for so long here. I promise it’s not me hanging on or me wanting a different thing for her. I just want her to make the right choice for her without thinking she has to make the best choice for US - she doesn’t want to be a hardship on us. (I woke up to a text at 1:45 this morning from her, asking if she can work more to pay for the insurance herself.) . I’ve even stepped completely away this week and had her talk to other adults not blood related that don’t have skin in the game so she can get outside opinions with no other motive than to help her see the way (I’m saying that wrong so I hope it makes sense).
I promise I’m not making excuses to find a way out of it. I’m trying to make an option work!
@thumper1 That decision is made by individual Blue Cross Blue Shield companies. I used to work for one, and insured my kid through them as well. Just because they don’t sell on the state exchange (some don’t), also does not mean that the companies don’t sell individual plans. In recent years, some Blues have dropped individual plans altogether. Some sell them, but they don’t all have access to the nationwide network. And some still have both. The OP can only tell by researching in both their home state and the state where the college is located.
Hello. I have not read all the posts but some. Let her get out of there! If any of the suggestions for finding cheaper insurance work, great. If not she should find a way to work or take a small loan for the insurance and either you or she or both should try to pay it off quickly one way or another. But don’t start re-looking at schools. Let her get out of there and go to that small women’s college she wants to attend. Cause if she doesn’t, ends up staying in the state and hates it, and if things are bad for her in school she may always resent that decision.
One lesson my dad always drilled into me was to always have health insurance, even if it meant living in my car. We have a deductible that doesn’t pay anything until we pay $7000 OOP. My very healthy 22 year old wrapped her car around a pole during a rain storm, ambulance and 3 hours at a level 1 trauma center was over $10,000, bumps and bruises. One son broke his ankle at a soccer game which needed 2 surgeries, same kid had his appendix rupture last year and was hospitalized for 4 days. With all of the kids, I’m guessing our insurance paid out 6 figures over the past few years (my appendix also went 2 years ago).
She can do much better than the college plan, for insurance. Catastrophic insurance for an 18-year-old in Atlanta is $153/month even without subsidies. Or you could buy her a Bronze or Silver plan with the subsidy she will be entitled to.
You have to make sure the college will accept the insurance as a substitute for their plan, though. The catastrophic plan might not. But I agree, OP should shop for options.
Someone said above that the kid might not be eligible for a subsidy — can anyone with knowledge help clarify that?
Be sure and check with college requirements. For some colleges the health insurance is a mandatory charge UNLESS you can prove that your own policy has all the same components of school policy (has to meet ACA standards). So buying just catastrophic coverage policy may not help you. I remember having to submit our policy to school in order for school insurance charge to be waived.
If your D had gotten into other schools this would still likely be an issue.
Most Us won’t let you enroll unless you have insurance that meets their criteria or their policy. I’d make sure to find out what the U’s requirements for “satisfactory insurance coverage” is before you twist yourself into a knot looking at alternatives to the policy offered by the U. Often U policies are anywhere from pretty decent to excellent and they can reject other policies they consider inferior and not offering sufficient coverage.
Our kids’ U did require proof of insurance or you had to buy their policy. They specified clearly what the minimum requirements they would accept and you have to send a document to them to approve before the specified date, before you were allowed to opt out of their insurance policy and enroll in classes.
@2ndMom what a great story! Thank you for sharing that! Yeah, I had thought I would get extra work and pay the $279 payment a month until I read that it’s automatically billed in two large lump sums twice a year, which means credit cards for me. I only wish hers was $2000 instead of $3350!!
I have emailed to ask and her AO has been very kind and helpful so we shall see.
FYI: This is the college’s criteria for insurance:
My plan is provided by a company licensed to do business in the United States.
My plan provides major medical benefits with at a minimum of 70% of the preferred allowance with no maximum benefit.
My plan’s total out-of-pocket costs do not exceed $7,150 (U.S.) per policy year. (Out of Pocket Costs is the total amount the insured pays for deductibles and coinsurance, in-network per policy year. This information will be listed in your policy. If you cannot locate the benefit in your policy, please contact your provider).
My plan has an Individual Annual Deductible of $2,500 or less OR my plan has an HSA (Health Savings Account) which applies funds toward making the Annual Individual Deductible $2,500 or less.
My plan covers pre-existing conditions with no limits.
My plan provides prescription drug coverage at a minimum of 70% of the preferred allowance with no maximum benefit.
My plan provides in-patient care and outpatient care (including office visits and behavioral health care) within a 50-mile radius of the Decatur Georgia area. (If your plan covers emergency care only or is a Medicaid program from outside of Georgia, it does not meet this requirement and you must answer no to this question).
My insurance plan covers inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment, treatment for substance abuse (both alcohol and drug abuse, and treatment related to suicide or attempted suicide).
My coverage will remain in effect for all semesters in which I am enrolled for the 2019-2020 academic year.
I agree that I will be held financially responsible for payment of all charges not covered by my health insurance plan.
I dont even think the lower tier ACA plans will work as they are usually quite high deductible.
We did find one of our kid’s colleges had a little wriggle room on those requirements, though. So if you have a plan that is close, ask the college. Like one year we had a plan with a deductible higher than the college wanted (like, $1,000 higher). We assured the college we could cover that deductible if needed, and they gave us the waiver. So it is worth asking if you find a plan fairly close to the requirements.