Wylie Fellows

The Wylie Fellowship is a full-time fellowship and provides you with full support for one semester (a $15,000 stipend, a credit for mandatory fees, tuition remission for 899, and a reimbursement for health insurance). 

The Wylie Fellowship provides full support in order to allow students to fully focus on writing. Therefore, Wylie Fellows cannot hold a GAship while on the fellowship. If you have a State of Maryland Employee health insurance plan through your GAship, then you will need to find new insurance.  If you have insurance through your GAship, the insurance will end on the last day of the month that your GAship ends. 

Some students ask if there is a way to keep the State of MD Employee insurance plan.  The only way to keep it would be to purchase it through COBRA, but this is a very expensive option.  A much more reasonably priced option is the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP). SHIP is a premium insurance plan and is compliant with the Affordable Care Act.  Other plans may be available to you, such as a spouse's plan or a plan through healthcare.gov.

The Grad School reimburses Wylie Fellows for the cost of an individual insurance plan while on the fellowship. Fall Wylies can request reimbursement for summer 2024 and fall 2024, and Spring Wylies can request a reimbursement for spring 2025 and summer 2025.  If enrolling in a plan outside of the university, the maximum reimbursement amount is the cost of an individual SHIP.  Here is the reimbursement form.

If you have a State of MD Employee insurance through your GAship, then you will need to find a new plan. 

If you have (or will have) insurance from an external source, you will need to submit a SHIP waiver along with all new and returning students (in August) in order to avoid being charged for SHIP on your student account. 

SHIP enrollment and SHIP waivers are done online through the Academic HealthPlans Website. 
 

FALL WYLIE FELLOWS (who have insurance through their GAship)

If your 9 1/2 month Graduate Assistantship ends in the Spring 2024 semester, your insurance will end as well. The State of MD Employee insurance will end on the last day of the month that your GAship ends. This means you will need to find insurance for Summer 2024 and Fall 2024. 

If your Graduate Assistantship continues through the summer, your State of MD Employee insurance will be active through the summer, but you will need to enroll in a new insurance plan for the fall. 

The Summer SHIP provides coverage through July 31, 2024. To enroll for the Summer 2024 SHIP, you can use the Qualifying Event process.  Be on the lookout for the end of the coverage letter from the State of Maryland Benefits Office (ebd.mail@maryland.gov /410-767-4775.) . You will need to use that letter to enroll in the SHIP with a qualifying event.  You have a 30 day window (after your insurance coverage ends) to enroll in SHIP using the qualifying event process.    

The Fall SHIP provides coverage from August 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024. To enroll for Fall 2024 SHIP, you will use the Open Enrollment Process (which takes place in August). 

The Grad School will reimburse Fall Wylies for the cost of individual plans for both Summer 2024 and Fall 2024.  The maximum reimbursement would be equal to the cost of the individual SHIP.

FALL WYLIE FELLOWS:  After the Fall Semester 

If you restart a GAship for Spring 2025, you will have a choice to re-enroll in a State of MD Employee insurance plan or to re-enroll in SHIP.  It is important to maintain continuous coverage, though. Try to get a GA start date in December so that you can re-enroll in the State of MD Employee insurance plan with an effective date of January 1, 2025.  If the GA start date is January, then you will not have continuous coverage for the month of January.  In this case, students often find that it is a better option to re-enroll in SHIP for a Spring/Summer plan.  By re-enrolling in SHIP for Spring/Summer, you would have insurance from January 1, 2025 -July 31, 2025 (even if you graduate in May 2025). 

If you are graduating in December 2024, you will no longer be eligible to enroll in SHIP. We may be able to offer a SHIP Bridge plan for SHIP enrollees for students graduating in December.  The SHIP Bridge plan would allow a current SHIP enrollee to extend the Fall SHIP for one month (January only) in order to assist with a transition to a plan outside of the university. 

SPRING WYLIE FELLOWS  (who have insurance through their GAship)

When you come off of your GAship in December, you can enroll in a Spring/Summer SHIP during the Winter Open enrollment.   

The Spring/Summer SHIP provides coverage from January 1, 2025 - July 31, 2025 (even if you graduate in May 2025).  

SPRING WYLIE FELLOWS: After the Spring Semester

If you are graduating in May 2025 or August 2025, you will no longer be eligible to re-enroll in SHIP.  We may be able to offer a SHIP Bridge plan for SHIP enrollees for graduating students. The SHIP Bridge plan would allow a current SHIP enrolled to extend the summer SHIP for one month (August only) in order to assist with a transition to a plan outside of the university. 

If you are still a student in Fall 2025, you would be eligible to enroll in SHIP again for Fall 2025.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?

Please reach out to Robyn Kotzker (rkotzker@umd.edu).