Health Insurance for Select Doctoral Students and Post-Doctoral Scholars

In order to recruit the highest quality doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars to support our significant and growing research enterprise, East Carolina University offers health insurance to all post-doctoral scholars and selected doctoral students that meet the following two conditions:

The doctoral student must:

• be a full-time student (i.e., registered for and complete nine or more credits) in each semester in which health insurance is provided, and
• be supported on a full-time assistantship (i.e., at least 20 hours/week) in each semester in which health insurance is provided.

Note – there is an explicit expectation that the student or scholar will be providing full-time service to ECU in exchange for the health insurance benefit. If the status of the student or scholar drops below full-time during the term of the health insurance, the benefit will be rescinded and the individual will be responsible for the premium. If an extreme circumstance necessitates the change in status to less than full time, the student or scholar may petition the Dean of Graduate Studies/ Director of Post-doctoral Scholar Affairs for an exception.

For both doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars, the source of funding for the insurance premium will follow the source of support funding for the individual. In other words, for doctoral students whose assistantship is provided by institutional state funds (e.g., teaching assistants), the Graduate School will pay the premium. If, for example, the student is supported by an NIH or NSF grant, then the project supporting the individual will be expected to cover the insurance premium. Since post-doctoral scholars will almost always be supported by external funds, it is unlikely that the Graduate School will cover any of their premiums. If the student or scholar is supported by a combination of sources, then the insurance premium will be shared proportionately between the funding sources.