Elon University will be crediting students for the required pre-semester COVID-19 tests. Upon filling out a form, all students are eligible to receive a $129 credit on their student account for the test they took prior to arriving on campus for the fall semester.
Students can receive credit on their student account for their mail-in LabCorp test or for tests they took with another provider, according to Jeff Stein chair of the Ready & Resilient committee.
Originally students would have to submit documentation of their health insurance to reimburse the cost of the test, or students with financial challenges could apply for a fee waiver from the university. Stein said there is now no criteria for the credit.
“So the idea is that this would be very simple, at a stressful time of year when you know everybody's struggling whether it's financial issues or other [things], for folks to request and receive the credit,” Stein said.
To receive the credit for the cost of the test, students can fill out a form that will be available on OnTrack Oct.19. That form will be open until Nov. 13.
According to Stein, the university expects the credit to be posted to student accounts by Dec. 18.
The university originally projected that students could request a reimbursement at the end of September. Stein said this process was delayed because the university redesigned the process.
After discussions with the university’s insurance consultant, Stein said it was “highly unlikely” that students would receive reimbursements from their own insurance companies, so the university decided to reimburse all requests from students.
“We realized that was just going to be a waste of everyone's time, and also would be delaying the process. And then by the time we got into, getting those replies and redesigning the process, we're now here in the middle of the semester,” Stein said. “We didn't want to be so much but that really led us to this simpler process without having to upload extra documents and just really request and receive the credit.”