From KHN: A student from Mumbai with an interest in comedy discovers that college tuition, hospital bills, and psychiatric treatment are all very bad jokes in America.
(10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0015)
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Divya Singh, a student at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, sought counseling help after feeling panicked when she had trouble paying a big tuition bill. A weeklong stay in a psychiatric hospital followed along with a $3,413 bill. (Jackie Molloy for KHN)
Then the Hefty Hospital Bill Arrived!
Despite a lifelong struggle with panic attacks, Divya Singh made a brave move across the world last fall from her home in Mumbai, India. She enrolled at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, to study physics and explore an interest in standup comedy in Manhattan.
Arriving in the midst of the CIVID-19 pandemic and isolated in her dorm room, Singh’s anxiety ballooned when her family had trouble coming up with the money for a $16,000 tuition installment. Hofstra warned her she would have to vacate the dorm after the term ended if she was not paid up. At one point, she ran into obstacles transferring money onto her campus meal card.
A student sought counseling help after panicking over a tuition bill. A weeklong stay in a psychiatric hospital followed along with a $3,413 bill. The hospital soft-pedaled its charity care policy.