*****,

NAGICO jacking up their premiums to $750 per person is ridiculous, given the previous information posted elsewhere on this forum. How are you managing this important ( and necessary) new financial development with limited student loans/financial resources? Are the loans you & your wife getting able to cover all of your expenses thusfar? In any event, my wife & I will definitely NOT consider NAGICO in the future. Is anyone at AUC/MEIO aware of these changes and can't anything be done about it? It seems to me that there should be some reputable health insurance company that would have a contract with the University to offer coverage to all students at a reasonable/manageable rate.

Aloha,

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Pathology
PGY-1.75

MEIO doesn't care. They came to the school this semester and when students went in to tell them that the financial aid we are getting is insufficient, they actually rolled their eyes at them, then told them things like, "You don't need a car on this island." Odd, though, they were here for a week and they had rental cars.... I wonder why they can't get by for a week without a car, but they think students here don't need them....

Like I said... MEIO doesn't care.

They DID get our financial aid raised, but then AUC decided to jack tuition high enough that the raise is pretty much negated, from my understanding. Starting in Sept., tuition will be $9000 for sems 1-4, then $9500 after that. Just a heads-up so people won't be surprised.

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bleh

Here are the FACTS. I received an email from Financial Aid (first hand info) and they informed me that they gave us a $1700 per semester cost of living increase. Then when the tuition was raised, they gave us an ADDITIONAL $1000 to cover the tuition increase. Thus the raise was NOT NEGATED, but the increase was made to accomodate the tuition adjustment.

there are plenty of people down here with not just spouses but two or more kids and they say they do fine. they just can't eat out often and get by without some creature comforts like cable. one person sleeps with his kids on the same room at night so only one a/c runs so people do different things to save. the most expensive time will be set up plan on at least 3,000 to get settled before classes start. so heres a basic break down of what i've picked up so far:

health insurance: get it in the states if you can since the majority of people say the policy here is on paper only.

car insurance: they offer third party which pays for the other person's car and you are out of luck and it's about $240. granted it's the same company that does the health insurance so who knows

cars: you can buy an island car for anywhere from $1300 to 7000 depending on wether you want a roof, bumpers, and a/c. there are also a few lease companies some island based but i chose alamo. they rent cars here but also lease a few to students. i put a $500 deposit and its 290 per month which includes insurance, yearly road taxes, inspections, and mechanical breakdown. so basicaly i am throwing away 6,000 but i don't have to worry about anything but gas and flat tires. also when you buy a car you need to go to four places to have it inspected, insured, tag issued, and re-inspected evry year at a cost of an xtra $600 per year. from what i hear it isn't a pleasant experience. i just signed and drove away. each has its ups and downs so do what works for you but i would rather have no more worries other than trotz biochem, colborn anatomy, and hiroshima biostats (school joke).

housing: from my view and my view alone the dorms are a rip off. they come bare and you get booted after first semester. they are very nice though and you can walk to school. as far as acrs you probably don't need one if you stay on campus but it is very very very difficult to get around with out one. i wasn't planning on getting one and i got one my throd day here so plan that out. there are PLENTY of apartments all over the place so if you get here a week early and rent a car for a few days you will find a place just don't take the first one you see and ask around. every single last student that i've run into has been very helpfull and gives tons of info so just make it on campus and ask away.

other things: we had orientation today and the dean seems like a real butt kicker. he came from tulane university and was at ross for a bit. he just sounds like he gets things done so it is a very good time to be here. they are working along with SGA on group insurance, evacuation insurance and other things. as far as recreation there is evrything but snow boarding here so it seems easy to get distracted. if you like to drink or gamble or hit the strip clubs go to ross. people say that eveb very smart people fail b/c they get distracted and every single year 33% fail. take that for what it's worth but that's what they say. fact is there have even been people with master and PhD's in each subject fail b/c they got distracted. there is also an informal scuba club that puts trips together every week, each dive is $25 which you can't beat. one guy has friends at a med school in LA and he said they talk about the same subjects and discuss same test questions so i am confident in my choice of schools.

other than that school starts tomorrow so i doubt i will have much more time to waste away on forum but i'll check back every couple of weeks if i can. good luck to all