NIU requirement of insurance on-campus Favorite 

For a class project at Northern Illinois University, we were tasked with performing an act of artistic activism on campus. We choose to raise awareness about the student health insurance policy. The policy at NIU states that if you do not have your own form of insurance, you are automatically charged for the university’s insurance plan, which costs $1,224 per semester.

We looked up other universities in Illinois to see if they also required insurance and what the cost of their plans was. A majority of schools required some form of insurance, but the costs for their plans varied. Several universities, including Illinois State University, University of Illinois, and DePaul, required insurance, but their plans were less expensive. Other schools, including Northwestern University, had comparable or slightly more expensive plans.

We thought that it seems unfair that NIU will automatically charge this relatively high amount of money for their plan if you cannot provide outside insurance, so we wanted to quiz some fellow students on the topic and ask for their opinions on the matter. We went around campus and asked four questions to see how aware the students are and if the price of the plan surprises them.

We are looking into the requirement of insurance on-campus. If students do not have insurance of their own, they are required to pay for the on-campus insurance. This comes out to over $2000 for the year at NIU. We want our activism to look into this requirement. Even if it is required, it should not be a financial burden to students. Our project deals with student financials and the fairness surrounding student insurance, especially when comparing it with other college insurance.

https://youtu.be/EdcK5t3YJMI