To: MOU Financial Leads, University Business Managers, Human Resource Officers and Secondary Contacts
From: Brooke O’Neal, Interim GSHIP Administrator
Date: May 6, 2016
REMINDER: Departments will continue to incur charges for insurance for graduate students not removed from Graduate Student Health Insurance (GSHIP). Please forward this email to the appropriate personnel in your area to ensure these actions are completed.
Graduate students who will be graduating at the end of Spring Semester 2016 this month must be removed from the Graduate Student Health Insurance Program effective May 31, 2016.
To do this, go to GSHIP Enrollment (under the ConnectCarolina Student Admin GradStar Menu) and select the name of the student graduating. Change the Enrollment Status to “Pending Graduation.” In the Reason field, please indicate the date of 5/31/2016. Once you have made the changes, email Cash Management (cash_management@unc.edu) with your list of student names, PIDs and effective termination dates so that we can approve the update in ConnectCarolina.
Students who graduate in May 2016 are covered by the graduate insurance until May 31, 2016. Action to remove them from GSHIP must be done *NO LATER THAN Friday, May 27, 2016*. Once a student has graduated, they are no longer eligible for the Graduate Student Health Insurance program. Blue Cross Blue Shield will notify each student by letter to inform them of this change.
Please remember that effective July 31, 2014, COBRA is no longer offered as part of GSHIP. All students terminating their insurance will need to obtain outside insurance once their coverage with GSHIP ends. Graduation is considered a qualifying event. One option is to contact Student Blue at 888-351-8283 for questions on future insurance options. Students have 30 days from May 31 to enroll in another policy to ensure no lapse in coverage.
See Policy 1112 – Graduate Student Health Insurance Policy (https://policies.unc.edu/TDClient/2833/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=131385) – Other Provisions for information about coverage during summer for non-graduating students.
Please contact cash_management@unc.edu if you have any questions about changes to enrollment status in ConnectCarolina.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.