A Couple of Important ‘Must Know’s

In this Issue:

• Health Insurance charges on your student’s account (if they did not waive insurance)
• Things you should be considering if your student is talking about signing a lease for an off-campus residence their senior year
• Fire alarms and building updates
• 9/11 thoughts

Today there are a couple of important news items upfront, and some thoughts on 9/11 at the end.

Health Insurance charges on your student’s account (if they did not waive insurance)

I was talking to my colleagues in the Student Health Insurance program and they tell me there are still a significant number of students who have not completed the waiver process for insurance. Here is what families need to know:

• Your student’s account has been charged $1,379 for our Student Blue health insurance program if they have not submitted a waiver
• If your student does NOT need our health insurance, they must go through the waiver process ASAP. Waivers are due September 15.
• If your student does not waive by September 15, they will be automatically enrolled in our insurance (even if you have coverage for them!) and you will have to pay that $1,379 charge. 
• Students must enroll or waive EVERY year, not just their first year. 

Of course, if you do want them to be enrolled in our Student Blue health insurance program, you do not need to take any action, as they will be autoenrolled on September 15.

We want to be sure families do not have any unhappy financial surprises – so please be sure to talk to your student and/or check their student account to ensure you aren’t paying for insurance if you could waive it.

Things you should be considering if your student is talking about signing a lease for an off-campus residence their senior year

Wake Forest has a six-semester residency requirement, which means students must live in University housing for six semesters before being eligible to move off campus – typically for their senior year. Most of our students can choose to live on or off campus during their final year, and my colleagues in the Office of Residence Life and Housing wanted to talk about some of the considerations that your student (and by extension, you!) might want to consider.

A trend we have seen in recent years is students feeling pressure (real or imagined) to line up their senior year off-campus housing during their sophomore year – or earlier. So some students lock in leases to live in a specific rental property with a specific group of friends. And that may work beautifully for them….or it may not.

Before a student in 2024 should enter a binding lease agreement with an off-campus property for 2026, they ought to think about some of the following questions:

Where do they intend to live? 

• Have they been in this house or apartment before? 
• Are they familiar with any of the pros (or cons) of the property?
• How safe is the neighborhood? They might want to look at the Crimemapping website or other sources to get a sense of the area.
• Would they feel safer in an apartment (where there might be a wide range of residents) vs. in a neighborhood of single family homes occupied mostly by other students?
• Are they moving into a ‘party house’ for their student organization? If so:
  • Are they willing to take on liability that might come with a party being ‘busted?’ In other words, students are still accountable to the Student Code of Conduct even when living off campus; in addition, off campus students have to navigate interactions with the Winston-Salem Police Department, not University Police. 
  • Will this be a loud living environment and it could be difficult to get enough sleep?
• What if better housing options become available? Developers are regularly looking to build or improve properties in the area. Would they rather live in a newer property? 

Who do they intend to live with? 

• How strong are the bonds of friendship with their proposed apartment/housemate(s) ? 
• If they are interested in signing a lease based on membership in a student organization, what would happen if they decided to leave that organization?
• Have all the apartment/housemate(s) talked about their lifestyles and preferences in terms of things like cleanliness, quiet/study time, etc.? Sometimes living with your best friends does not equal compatible lifestyles. 
• By extension, how likely might it be that the roommate(s) might not like each other by senior year and won’t want to live together?
• What if you/your chosen apartment/housemate(s) decide to transfer or if any of you take a leave of absence and are ineligible to live off-campus (if you have not fulfilled the residency requirement)? How would you fill that vacancy?

What might they be giving up by living off campus?

• There are a very limited number of on-campus parking spaces for commuters. Most likely, you will be in a commuter parking lot and walking/shuttling to campus. 
• Some amenities like road clearings during snowstorms, and/or power (we typically have superior plow capabilities on campus and are on a different power grid, so historically we are less impacted by power outages during storms).
• They will lose being close to their classes. Their travel time will increase, so your student will have to build extra time into their schedules to make it to class on time.

Have they considered the more technical aspects of moving off campus?

• Leases – whether an off-campus lease or the on-campus Housing and Dining Agreement for University housing – are binding contracts. 
• Students need to be very clear that if they sign a lease now, they cannot change their mind later. 

There is no right or wrong, just what is right for each individual student. But before your student takes the plunge and secures an off-campus lease for senior year, they ought to have thought through all of these sorts of questions. 

Fire alarms and building updates

The Office of Residence Life and Housing sent this message about fire alarms and other building updates.

9/11 thoughts

Today is a somber day for so many Americans, the anniversary of 9/11. I was 31 years old and had been working at Wake for just a couple of years when it happened. Even though I was an adult (and nowhere near danger), I remember feeling the need to call my parents to let them know I was OK. And I remember feeling sorry for our students, because it was such a scary time and they were away from their parents and loved ones.

What I remember most, though, is how well we cared for each other on campus. There were vigils and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to come together to grieve, to pray, to be in community with each other. Our president at the time became a sort of “Dad in Chief” to everyone and provided wisdom and comfort in remarks he made in Wait Chapel.

A few days after 9/11, staff in my division gathered phones and got a room in Benson to make calls to alumni in the NYC area, just to check in to let them know we hoped they were OK, and that their Wake family was thinking of them. We listened to their stories. That was some of the most meaningful work we have ever done. Here’s a pic from that effort.

That spirit of caring for each other has not changed, and remains one of the things I love most about Wake Forest. In times of trouble, there are no other people I’d want by my side than Wake Foresters.

You can see a video from the Climb to Remember this morning. However you may be observing today’s anniversary, may you find comfort and peace.