Understanding the Student Health Fee, your health insurance plan, and how they work together to provide coverage for your access to health care.
The Student Health Fee (SHF) is the funding source for all health programs available to USC students. This participation fee is required for all on-campus students (undergraduate and graduate) enrolled in 6 credits or more. Online program students are not required to participate.
Insurance for health care is required for all students enrolled in 6 or more credits. You choose to stay enrolled in the program that USC offers to students (SHIP/Aetna), or waive it and use your existing coverage if you have a plan with comparable coverage in the United States.
Accessing all the services in Student Health is made possible through the SHF: this includes seeing medical providers, short-term mental health care, specialized care for survivors of sexual assault, and all prevention, skill-building, and public health programs for a healthy campus. Your health insurance coverage supplements this care with prescription coverage, vision, coverage for surgeries, longer-term therapies, hospitalizations, and other health care needs you may have during the course of your years of study.