The New School's Aetna Student Health Insurance Plan plays a vital role in fulfilling the university's commitment to student health and well-being. The SHIP provides comprehensive coverage for preventive and routine care, injury and illness, urgent and emergency services, hospitalization and diagnostics, mental health and substance use care, gender-affirming care, prescriptions, and specialty and nationwide provider access, as well as dental care, vision care, wellness resources, and travel assistance.
The student health insurance plan is available to:
- Degree students (including online-only students)
- Visiting and mobility (study abroad) students
- Maintenance-of-status students
- ESL+ certificate students
- Graduate credit certificate students
- Undergraduate and graduate non-matriculating students enrolled in credit-bearing courses
Students enrolled in Continuing and Professional Education are not eligible and are not charged for the health plan.
How Student Health Insurance Works
- All students must have health insurance that provides comprehensive coverage where they are located. Insurance can be U.S.-based or international; it does not need to be ACA-compliant.
- All eligible students are charged for student health insurance automatically upon registration but must submit an enrollment form to be enrolled in the SHIP.
- We recommend submitting the enrollment form at least two weeks before the date coverage begins, to ensure that your member ID card is available when coverage begins.
- Fall coverage continues automatically in the spring semester, provided you are registered for spring classes. Delays with spring registration can delay spring health insurance enrollment.
- Students with their own health insurance coverage must submit a waiver form if they do not wish to be enrolled in the plan.
- Students need to submit a waiver form once every academic year. Waivers submitted in the fall apply to both the fall and the spring semesters.
- If no action is taken, students are enrolled by default in the student health insurance plan after the waiver deadline and are responsible for the health insurance fee.
2026–2027 Health Insurance Plan
- For the 2026–2027 academic year, The New School will continue to partner with Aetna Student Health to provide student health insurance coverage.
- Enrollment and waiver forms will be available at universityhealthplans.com/tns in late April 2026.
- The waiver deadline is September 8, 2026. All new and continuing students with their own insurance coverage must submit a waiver form by that date.
- The annual premium and summary of benefits will be posted once the final review is completed by New York State.
2025–2026 Health Insurance Plan
- The annual premium is $4,310, which is divided into two payments:
- Fall 2025 premium: $1,748 (coverage period August 20, 2025, through January 14, 2026).
- Spring 2026 premium: $2,562 (coverage period January 15 through August 19, 2026).
- Health insurance provider: Aetna Student Health, which administers the insurance plan and pays the claims.
- Plan type: Aetna Open Choice PPO.
- Broker: University Health Plans, which handles enrollment and waivers, including dependent and OPT enrollment.
- Health insurance card: View or print on the Aetna Student Health website.
- Dental and vision benefits are included for all enrolled students.
- The fall 2025 waiver deadline was September 30, 2025 (extended from September 9). The spring 2026 waiver deadline was February 28, 2026 (extended from February 3).
Medical benefits:
Dental benefits:
Vision benefits: