Technician
thursday march
11
2009
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Insurance mandate to impact college cost Beginning fall 2010, students must provide proof of insurance or opt for University plan Jessica Neville Science & Tech Editor
The UNC System Board of Governors passed a unanimous resolution in August 2009 that requires all students to provide proof of health insurance or enroll in a system-wide plan beginning this fall for all students who meet a three-fold criterion. The criterion states that a student enrolled in a degree-seeking program with a minimum of six credit hours eligible to pay the campus student health fee will be required to have health insurance this fall. Rob Hayford, associate director of Student Health Services and coordinator of the insurance requirement implementation team, said approximately 10 percent of University students are without health insurance. The BOG plan gives students the option to obtain health insurance from Pearce & Pearce at the rate of $372 a semester or $744 a year. “The University’s current plan gives students the option of obtaining health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield,” Hayford said. “That plan’s cost is 38 percent higher than what is being offered to students from Pearce & Pearce.” According to Hayford, Pearce & Pearce is a vendor for Med Cost insurance company, a nationwide company that has been in business for over 40 years. The company’s insurance is already being used at other universities in the UNC School system. N.C. State is one of the last four institutions to require health insurance for all students.
Hayford said even though the decision was made by the BOG and the University had no input, the University administrators and Student Health support this decision. Rishawnda Thompson, a freshman in textile engineering, said she felt conflicted over whether the policy was a good or bad idea. “It’s good that students will have the option to have insurance from the University, and that students who have financial aid will have their insurance paid for,” Thompson said. “But I don’t think students who simply don’t want to pay for health insurance should have the extra burden of another fee.” Jeanne Chen, a senior in biochemistry and student senator, said the Student Health Committee has been discussing the issue for a number of years. “In the past we have been very opposed to the idea because Erskine Bowles wanted to require students to have insurance comparable to the insurance being offered by the UNC system,” Chen said. “We didn’t think that was fair, with the number of students our University has.” Chen said the current plan does not require students to have a comparable insurance plan, just some kind of health insurance. “I can’t say my committee supports the decision, but if we have to have a mandatory health insurance policy I think this is a good option,” she said. Chen said the decision to implement this health insurance came from the BOG and had no involvement from Student Senate or the University as a whole. Students who do not wish to pay for the system-wide plan must opt via the website www.studentinsurance.com If not, the charge is automatically applied along with tuition
Who has to have it?
What if I don’t want it?
The criterion states that a student enrolled in a degree-seeking program with a minimum of six credit hours eligible to pay the campus student health fee will be required to have health insurance this fall. The Board of Governors plan gives students the option to obtain health insurance from Pearce & Pearce at the rate of $372 a semester or $744 a year.
Students who do not wish to pay for the system-wide plan must opt via the Web site www.studentinsurance.com. If not, the charge is automatically applied along with tuition and student fees. This website can be accessed beginning Monday. Waivers submitted between March 15 and May 31 will be reviewed by the company and verified on June 1.
Source: UNC Board of Governors
and student fees. This Web site can be accessed beginning Monday. Hayford said Pearce and Pearce would verify whether a student’s insurance is deemed “creditable” or not. Waivers submitted between March 15 and May 31 will be reviewed by the company and verified on June 1. Both Hayford and Chen said the systemwide plan is a bargain compared to other insurance premiums and encourage students to look at the details of the plan, whether they have insurance or not. “We are not in the insurance business and recognize that students have every right to choose their own insurance company,” Hayford said. “They may look at this plan, however, and realize its affordability and decide to switch even if they already have health insurance.” Hayford said students who qualify for financial aid will have the cost of health insurance included in their financial aid package. Students who do not qualify for aid and do not have their own health insurance will be required to pay for the system-wide plan.
Source: studentinsurance.com
As a student, Chen said she feels more secure knowing she has her own health insurance and recognizes that it takes a burden off of students when they don’t have to worry about medical costs. “I was in a car accident last year, and I don’t know how I would’ve paid for the medical bills if I didn’t have insurance,” Chen said. “An accident can happen to anyone at anytime.” According to Hayford, it is in the University’s best interest to have all of its students insured. “If a student is sick and not able to come to class, that affects their education,” Hayford said. The UNC system-wide plan includes 100 percent coverage of services at the University Student Health Center, a $150 deductible, 80 percent coinsurance of PPO allowance, an unlimited major medical lifetime maximum, a $500 wellness benefit, a vision care plan, and intercollegiate sports coverage up to $7,500. In addition, the plan includes an unlimited
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Technician seeks restructuring Committee charged with ensuring student newspaper’s long-term survival Nick Tran News Editor
Kimberly Rochester/Technician
Maryam Mazloumpour, a graduate student in fiber and polymer science, talks about her research to fellow graduate students at the Graduate Student Research Symposium on Wednesday. Her research was on a plasma process that alters surfaces and as medical applications. The Symposium had 161 poster presentations representing research from 60 graduate programs from all N.C. State colleges.
Symposium showcases research Graduate students show off original research, compete for cash prizes at the fifth annual Graduate Research Symposium Rachel Port Staff Writer
Graduate students representing every academic department on campus presented 189 examples of original research at the fifth annual Graduate Research Symposium at McKimmon Center Wednesday afternoon. According to David Shafer, assistant dean of the graduate school, the purpose of the symposium was to showcase the diversity and quality of graduate-level research at N.C. State. It was also a unique opportunity for graduate students to learn about cutting-edge research in fields other than their own. “We really want students exposed to cross-discipline research,” he said.
“To see this kind of research lets Shafer said the event was an important professional practice in commu- us know financial support from the General Assembly is impornication for graduate students. “Students have to be able to talk tant,” Berger said. “Even in tough about their research to people in other budget times, it is important to invest in redisciplines,” Shasearch that fer said. ma kes us The symposium attractive to was a competition businesses where graduate which will research in differcreate job ent categories was opportunijudged by Univerties.” sity faculty and, Queen for the first time, David Shafer, assistant dean said he by represent awould contives from various tinue to advocate for funding of North Carolina industries. State senators Doug Berger and Joe research. “It is impressive to see the output Sam Queen, and Wake County representatives Rosa Gill, Chris Heagarty of the combined efforts of NCSU’s and Deborah Ross arrived to inspect graduate students on the f loor the winning posters and congratulate the graduate students on their hard graduate continued page 3 work.
“We really want students exposed to cross-disciple research.”
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Students on campus may have noticed a change in Technician during the past semester. There have been criticisms of poor coverage and content with little value to the University. Wednesday, Technician’s editorial board wrote to the campus community, soliciting help for and referring to events which have led to a decline in the quality of the publication. Students and alumni were uncertain as to how to respond, in large part because they were never informed on what actually occurred. Problems within Technician likely began during the 2009 fall semester when Ty Johnson, the previous editorin-chief, was managing a largely understaffed publication. While there were sufficient writers to keep the paper writing, a number of leadership positions were left empty and Johnson took the additional responsibilities of managing or contributing to the news and featuressections as well as writing stories for the paper. Mike Alston, general manager of WKNC, said this situation already posed a problem for Technician. “The biggest concern was the editorin-chief was writing stories,” he said. “Ty [Johnson] seemed overworked and overwhelmed. The structure was bad then and it’s gotten worse now.” Johnson represented a large portion
insidetechnician
of the senior staff up to the end of the semester, committing much time and effort to the paper. Because of this, Johnson’s grades suffered and fell below the requirement for senior leaders of the Student Media Association. Tyler Dukes, Technician editor-inchief for 2006 to 2007, said this is not an individual specific fault, but something which has always been an issue. “There’s something that can never be fixed,” Dukes said. “That’s getting enough people who can balance Technician and academics well. We’ve always struggled with that and it’s the same at any student paper.” Johnson was suspended by the SMA coordinator for his GPA falling below the requirement despite already having submitted to an academic plan to bring it up. “Running Technician is always a challenge,” Dukes said. “It’s a lot of work.” After Johnson left Technician, the position of editor-in-chief, along with the other responsibilities Johnson took onto himself, were vacated and the paper’s leadership left in disarray. The lack of senior organization drove many of the writing staff to leave as well. While the remaining staff members did what they could to salvage the publication, Technician was left without much of its leadership and greatly understaffed. This is when the noticeable decline in quality began. “I’ve noticed there haven’t been as many big stories in the paper,” Dukes
tech continued page 3
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