Bachelor of Health Science online students can now access AMS and university resources.
Queen’s Bachelor of Health Sciences students online were informed they were given access to the AMS fee slate, Health Sciences Society (HSS) Faculty Society fee, and AMS Health and Dental fees in an email sent to students on Sept. 8.
The AMS fee slate is $821.89, with an additional $328.86 for health and dental coverage. The fees cover students’ expenses for the ARC, Kingston Bus Transit, and allows students to apply for certain on-campus jobs and opportunities.
In-person students are automatically charged for the AMS fee slate, with HSS online students now able to opt-in with the caveat that online students opt-in to all services.
“Online students are not paying less, or paying more if they decide to opt-in,” said Jonathan Tung, online representative of HSS, in an interview with The Journal.
All students can choose to waive the health and dental insurance if they prove to have insurance. In past years, online students weren’t allowed to opt-in to any of the student fees, restricting students from accessing services their in-person peers enjoyed.
“The health and dental fee is a very equitable fee that has been added for students, so it is a fundamental human right, and also includes things like mental health services, which you can access through Queen’s,” said Sara Pollanen, HSS president, in an interview with The Journal.
BHSc online students have the option to enroll in up to three in-person courses. However, Pollanen pointed out students who took full advantage of these courses still couldn’t access any services or join clubs.
“It was really unfortunate because they weren’t part of the student body,” Pollanen added.
To be eligible for online BHSc program enrolment, students must be enrolled in at least one in-person course, either during the fall or winter semesters, or full academic year. HSS will contact eligible students on Sept. 18 with more information on how to opt-in to these services. The deadline for opting-in is Sept. 30.
“The barrier would be that there’s still work to be done in the future for other online students who aren’t able to access these wonderful AMS opportunities,” Pollanen said.
While full-time students are automatically included in fee slates, and part-time students manually choose to pay student fees, Bader College students are only eligible for health and dental coverage.
“It’s still an avid fight that we’re going to keep going for, and just because we’ve gotten this far doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop here,” Pollanen said.
According to AMS President Kate McCuaig, HSS students who choose to pay the AMS fee slate must be manually inputted into the system by the Queen’s Registrar. Since the Registrar can’t charge student fees, HSS is attempting to develop its own fee slate to cover its students’ specific needs.
Tags
AMS, fee, health sciences online, hss
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