Dear Graduate Students:

We hope your semester is ending well and that you have the opportunity to begin to reunite with friends and family members this summer. If you haven’t done so yet, we encourage you to receive your COVID-19 vaccine either at the walk-up vaccine clinic or by making an appointment at UT Health Austin.

We wanted to provide additional information on health insurance changes for graduate student academic employees (TAs and AIs) and steps the Graduate School is taking to ensure salaries for these positions are raised in accordance with the Graduate Education Task Force recommendations. Starting in the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters, academic employees in many areas where salaries have been lower will see increases.

Health Insurance

As announced in an April 2 email to campus, the university is changing the default provider of health insurance for part-time graduate student employees from UT Select to Academic Blue in accordance with the recommendations of the Graduate Education Task Force.

The university was charged with finding a health insurance provider that addresses many of the problems students experience on UT Select—including loss of coverage and gaps in coverage, expensive dependent coverage and the lack of free vision and dental plans. Academic Blue provides the best solution for addressing these issues while providing quality coverage for graduate students using the same network of providers.

The Graduate School and Human Resources have been working with the campus to address questions surrounding plan details of Academic Blue. We wanted to share resources that may be helpful for students in this topic. The Graduate School has pubished an overview page on its website that provides background and quick links to more information.

VIEW HEALTH INSURANCE WEBSITE

Additionally, the Human Resources website continues to have the most-comprehensive and up-to-date information on this topic, including updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

We understand that changes in health insurance raise many questions among graduate students, and health care policy and plan details are very complicated and can lead to speculation. The best source of information continues to be the websites listed above. Additionally, the Graduate School will continue to answer questions about the change and to meet with programs across campus to provide more detailed information. Please contact the Graduate School with questions or to inquire about an information session.

Quality and Cost

Among the questions we’ve received from students about the change is how Academic Blue compares to UT Select in terms of quality and cost.

Academic Blue provides gold-level rated health insurance according to the Affordable Care Act—the same rating as UT Select. There are differences between the plans—they are designed for different age groups and needs—and there are many ways in which Academic Blue provides better access to care at lower costs.

For example, students on Academic Blue have the same network of providers as UT Select, and students on Academic Blue may access services provided by University Health Services (UHS) with no out-of-pocket costs or co-pays (unlike students on UT Select). Subscribers may also add dependents at lower costs and use the state’s premium-sharing contribution to receive free dental and vision care (also unavailable to students on UT Select).

Based on the university’s analysis of plan differences and health data provided by UT System, most students will pay less in out-of-pocket costs on Academic Blue than UT Select. However, there are many variables, and this likely will not be the case for a small number of students.

The Graduate School is working on plans to offer financial support to eligible students impacted by transitioning from UT Select who experience higher costs under Academic Blue. Detailed information about this transition fund will be provided later this summer.

Salary Increases & Fellowships

The Graduate Education Task Force determined that there are differences in the pay rates of academic employees across campus and recommended strategic investments to address the discrepancies.

The university has approved significant investments in graduate salaries as a result of the task force findings. The Graduate School is working with colleges and schools across campus to provide increases in pay to TAs and AIs in programs with lower salaries starting in the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters. The Graduate School will also be increasing fellowship support in other units to help students complete more of their coursework during the first year.

The arrangements are still being finalized with units across campus, and we look forward to providing more details this summer and fall.

Please know that the health and wellbeing of graduate students is of great importance to the university and will continue to guide our decisions.

Sincerely,

MARK J. T. SMITH

Dean of the Graduate School

Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

The University of Texas at Austin

MARIA JUENGER

Associate Dean for Graduate Education Transformation

The Graduate School

The University of Texas at Austin

GREGORIO PONTI
Ph.D. Candidate and Teaching Assistant | Department of Physics
Former President of the Graduate Student Assembly

The University of Texas at Austin

ADRIENNE HOWARTH-MOORE

Associate Vice President for Human Resources

The University of Texas at Austin

This communication is from Graduate Students – Official.
View this email online.

The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | 78712 US