We have itemized health insurance for grad students as fringe.

----- Original Message -----
| From: "Sharon McCarl" <xxxxxx@ANDREW.CMU.EDU>
| To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
| Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 11:15:40 AM
| Subject: [RESADM-L] NSF Grad Research Fellowship Program
| I would like to know if health insurance is treated as a fee at your
| institutions and covered under the institutional allowance on your NSF
| Grad
| Research Fellowships. We have never considered health insurance a fee.
| Students are required to have insurance but they can be covered by
| their
| parents or can purchase it on their own. If they don't have coverage,
| they
| must purchase it either through the university or on their own.
|
| We asked NSF and were told that it should be covered with the
| allowance. We
| are very reluctant to do this as most of our research assistantships
| and
| teaching assistantship programs cover tuition and fees. If we call
| health
| insurance a fee for one group, are we opening ourselves to a claim
| from all
| of our students that we should cover their health insurance as well?
|
| We did check the guide and it seems to have seemingly conflicting
| statements:
|
| "The actual use of the cost-of-education allowance is at the
| discretion of
| the affiliated institution."
|
| "While on fellowship tenure status, Fellows will be exempt from paying
| required tuition and fees normally charged to students of similar
| academic
| standing."
|
| Unlike tuition and fees that are paid to the university, health
| insurance
| premiums are paid to an outside vendor. The allowance falls far short
| of
| covering our tuition and fees. We accept that we will receive reduced
| income when a student has one of these fellowships. Paying health
| insurance
| would not just be a reduction in income, it would be an expense that
| we
| would have to cover.
|
| I'd like to know how others are handling this.
|
| Sharon
|
|
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--
Gina Betcher
Program Officer
Research and Sponsored Programs
Western Michigan University
240-W Walwood Hall MS 5456
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5456
Tel: 269-387-8204
Cell: 269-806-7540
Email: xxxxxx@wmich.edu

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