Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) FAQ

​We Care About Your Health, Too!

As voted in by students and passed by the UC Regents, the University requires that all students have major medical insurance, and provides the Berkeley Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) to meet this requirement. Students are automatically enrolled in SHIP and the premium is charged on the CalCentral account.

Students can choose to keep SHIP or waive enrollment if they have comparable coverage that meets the University’s criteria. Note: While all students are eligible to use services at the campus health center, the Tang Center will only accept SHIP insurance.

As part of the waiver decision making process, students should consider how maintaining and/or waiving out of SHIP can impact their financial aid offer. The information below will assist students and families in understanding how being granted a SHIP waiver and/or keeping the SHIP coverage may impact the financial aid budget and awards. Note: These are general guidelines and may not apply to all students or in all cases.

Please Note: UC Berkeley reserves the right to adjust awards to correct any awarding errors. Changes to qualifying information or revisions of federal, state or institutional policy may result in updates to aid eligibility and adjustments of financial aid awards. Information is subject to change.