Students should be aware and careful with their financial bills because the university has a slick way of making money. This is a warning for students to pay special attention of a hidden fee. Students do not understand that they are allowing the university to take their money without authorization.
This issue is critical in relation to health insurance. Rather than requesting insurance, the university puts the onus on the student to opt out of having health insurance specifically provided by the university. This burden and confusion can cause unnecessary debt of hundreds of dollars for the student.
In all fairness, the university policy should be that students opt in to the insurance, not the current policy of requiring students to opt out. This is especially crucial for freshmen and transfer students who have stacks of paperwork to fill out and could easily miss the requirement that they sign a waiver in order to relieve the pain of paying unnecessary health insurance for another plan when they are already covered by their parents’.
This mandatory health insurance fee may be just another way for the university to take an unnecessary amount of money away from the students who are already overburdened by the tuition increase. Even in the event of a human or technological error, no help is provided to give the student his or her money back once the University has taken it.
Ivor F. Benci-Woodward, Jr.
Senior film & media studies major, education minor
