Summary: If you have or had an appointment or fellowship this spring or summer, you probably qualify to have 87% of your insurance costs and many of your fees waived for the summer! You may need to enroll in a class over the summer to receive the waiver (0 credit hour classes count).

There are three main ways to get healthcare over the summer without having to pay the full price out of pocket:

1. You have an assistantship and are registered for summer classes;
2. You have an assistantship but aren’t registered for summer classes; or
3. You don’t have an assistantship, but you qualify for the summer automatic waiver.

Below you will find information on what you need to do for each of those categories. Please keep an eye out for any emails sent by the Student Health Insurance Office. If you have any questions, please email grievance@uigeo.org.

1. You have an assistantship and are registered for summer classes: You don’t need to do anything because the process should happen automatically and you should be assessed the appropriate fees and waivers.

2. You have an assistantship but aren’t registered for summer classes: You have to sign up for summer health insurance. You have to purchase an extension, so you will see the fee (same as the previous semester) applied to your student account, but then the 87% fee waiver should be applied. You should see the waivers applied to your account within 10 business days. The enrollment period for summer health insurance begins on May 17th and the link can be found on the Student Health Insurance website when the enrollment period opens.

3. You don’t have an assistantship, but you qualify for the summer automatic waiver.

• What is the summer automatic waiver and how does that relate to healthcare?
  • The summer automatic waiver is for graduate students who hold a waiver-generating appointment in the Spring semester but don’t have an appointment in the summer. It includes a tuition waiver as well as the following fee waivers: 87% waiver of the Health Insurance Fee, Service Fee, Academic Facility Maintenance Fund Assessment (AFMFA) Fee, Library/Technology Fee, and Health Service Fee.
  • The Transportation Fee and the International Student Fee are also waived and included as part of the summer automatic waiver.
  • It is through this that grad workers are able to access healthcare over the summer. For more information on what the summer automatic waiver is, visit the UIUC Student Code. This is not the same as purchasing an extension or a continuation!
• Who is eligible?
  • Any grad worker that held a tuition waiver-generating appointment in Spring 2025, such as a Teaching Assistantship (TA), Graduate Assistantship (GA), Research Assistantship (RA), or Pre-Professional Graduate Assistantship (PGA).
  • If you have a waiver-generating fellowship in Spring 2025 (comes with tuition and fee waivers) you are eligible for the summer automatic waiver.
  • If someone has above a 67% appointment (no waivers) for the summer but had a RA, TA, GA, PGA or fellowship (appointments with tuition waivers and fee waivers) in Spring 2025, they are eligible for the summer automatic waiver.
• How do I access my summer health care through the summer automatic waiver?
  • You have to enroll in summer courses. It can be a 0 credit hour course, but you still must enroll. You can either do the full Summer, Summer 1 (SU1 starting on May 19th to June 13th), or Summer 2 (SU2 starting on June 16th to August 7th). We highly recommend signing up for SU1 or full Summer so you’re closer to the deadline of the start of enrollment on May 19th.

Instructions on How to Register for Zero Credit Hours

1. Ask your department for a CRN for a zero credit hour class; it may be attached to a particular professor. If your department says there is not a zero credit hour class available, insist that you have the right to enroll in zero credit hours to access your health insurance waiver and contact your departmental steward or the Stewards' Council at sc@uigeo.org.
2. Once you have your CRN, access the Student, Faculty and Staff Self-Service site. You’ll need your Net ID and secondary authentication to log in, so make sure your phone is near you!
3. From the main menu, click on the “Registration and Record” tab. From the list below, you can click either “Enhanced Registration” or “Classic Registration” to sign up for classes. (Some folks find “Classic Registration” easier to use.)
4. If using “Classic Registration,” it’ll give a prompt for which term. Make sure your ticket is open to add a course and that you have chosen the “Summer 2024” term.
5. On the “Registration” page, click on “Add/Drop Classes.” After you click “Agree” to the Registration Agreement, it’ll take you to two sections: “Current Schedule” and “Add Classes Worksheet.”
6. Below the “Add Classes Worksheet,” there is a heading of “CRNs.” Type your approved CRN in the submission box.
7. After you submit your CRN, click on the “Submit Changes” button below.
8. Make sure the “Cred” field says “0.00” If it does not, click the number, change it to 0.00, then click “Submit Changes.” Voila! You’ve signed up for summer zero-credit hours!

What about grad students who are graduating?

First, congratulations!!! Graduated students can purchase insurance and McKinley access for one semester after they graduate, but they will not receive any waivers.

The Student Health Insurance website outlines what you need to do for health insurance over the summer. Because you won't be a student, you can’t register for summer classes to receive the summer automatic waiver. You will have to purchase a continuation of coverage, which should cost $260 per month for up to 3 months. For dental and vision coverage, you will continue to have that over the summer. You can also extend your access to McKinley Health Center for one semester by paying the extension fee.