GSHIP enrollment and billing process
GSHIP enrollment
The policy year for GSHIP is from August 1 – July 31. The table below details the steps and timeline of the enrollment process.
| Timeframe | Responsible party | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Early May | BCBS | Sets insurance premium |
| Mid-May/EarlyJune | Campus Health Services, Graduate School |
Sends annual memo to campus units with policy information and instructions |
| June 15 | Graduate School, ITS |
The Graduate School opens GSHIP enrollment,
sends communication to campus, ITS ensures processes are in place |
| Throughout the summer | Departments | Enroll students – this determines the receipt of insurance cards (with member ID numbers) |
| September 10 | Departments, Students |
FALL Enrollment deadline FALL Waive out deadline |
| January 31 | Departments, Students |
SPRING Enrollment deadline SPRING Waive out deadline |
During enrollment timeframe:
- ConnectCarolina system sends enrollment files at 8:00 a.m. every week to BCBS with names of students who have been enrolled by department; Files are sent twice a week in August and September for the Fall semester, and twice a week in January and February for the Spring semester, and then monthly thereafter (on the 5th business day of the month).
- BCBS takes 2-3 days to process the file. BCBS Customer Service sees the files 1 day later in their system.
- BCBS mails insurance cards to new enrollees within a week of enrollment; it takes 10 days to 2 weeks for students to receive their card.
GSHIP billing
The University sends a list of enrolled students to Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) each month, and BCBS bills for the premium amount based on this list. The Graduate School pays the full amount of the monthly invoice to BCBS and departmental chartfield strings associated with students' stipends are charged for the premiums using the journal process.
The chartfields used for this journal default to the chartfields of a student's stipend award(s) marked as 'Include' on the GradStar Maintenance page. GSHIP premiums for a student who does not have a stipend reflected on the GradStar Maintenance page will be charged to the student's academic unit default chartfield string (CFS). For these students, the CFS on the GSHIP Admin Premium Maintenance page will display: Fund 11111 - Source 11111 – Department (same as displaying on top of GSHIP Admin Premium Maintenace page) – Account 569220.
The window to adjust chartfields from the GSHIP Admin Premium Maintenance page opens when the premium file is loaded in the first week of the month. The last day to make changes from the GSHIP Admin Premium page is 3 business days before the end of the month. A chartfield change made on this page will continue going forward through the policy year. After the journal is posted, departments must enter a correcting journal entry to move incorrect chartfield charges.
Departments must ensure the accuracy of their chartfields and that budget exists each month. Chartfields for summer charges are based on Spring stipends.
To search for students on the GSHIP Administrative Premium Maintenance page, enter the PID, the aid year, and the GSHIP month:
Student Admin Menu > GradStar > GradStar GSHIP > GSHIP Admin Premium Maint
Depts may also use the NC_GSHIP_PREM_DIST_DETAILS query to identify students' monthly GSHIP charges and chartfields. For this query, August is Month 1 and should be entered in the query's month field as '01'. Depts may filter the query results by '11111' Fund and '11111' Source, to identify students whose GSHIP chartfield should be updated on the GSHIP Admin Premium page so the month's premium will not charge to the department's default account
| Time Frame | Responsible Party | Action |
|---|---|---|
| First day of the month | BCBS | Sends a premium file with premium amounts for all enrolled students for that month |
| During the first week of the month | ITS | Posts the monthly premium invoices in system for each enrolled student for the month |
| Fifth (5th) business day of the month | ITS | Sends BCBS a list of enrolled students |
| Each month | The Graduate School | Sends a memorandum to the GradStar listserv announcing that chartfields can be updated on the GSHIP Admin Premium page in ConnectCarolina |
| Towards the end of the month (minimum three business days required to clear budget checking) | ITS | Creates a journal file based on the students’ stipend sources in GradStar and sends the file to Accounting Services |
| Before the last business day for the month | ITS | Posts the journal to charge the departmental chartfield(s) |