Graduation fills students with a sense of relief and accomplishment, but it also leads to questions about the future, including health care.
Many students who are still covered under a family member’s health insurance will lose their coverage once they are no longer enrolled full-time.
“I’m going to lose mine this fall,” PSUC senior James McHale said. “I talked to my dad about it in December; I’m hoping to have a job with health benefits by the time I graduate.”
A business management and marketing major, McHale said much of the work available to him in his field will be entry-level jobs.
“Some of the positions (will have benefits), some don’t,” he said. “Benefits are pretty important, but with the job market, people can’t pick and choose.”
Some students said they would take what they could get.
“I’m thinking of getting any job, even just a job in retail ’til I go back,” senior Cory Sullivan, a political science major, said.
“I don’t really know what I’m going to do,” Sullivan said. He plans to take time off after graduation before continuing with graduate school.
However, he is also considering signing up for classes at a local community college to keep a full-time student status, which would allow him to keep his health insurance until he is ready to go to graduate school.
As an alternative to furthering his education, Sullivan said he would consider a career in the military.
Graduate school is a popular option among students, including senior Kate Clear.
“I really value my education, so I want to get it done now and not wait,” she said.
PSUC alumnus Lucas Tooker graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and has stayed in Plattsburgh for greater job opportunities than in Saranac Lake, his hometown.
“I got tired of school and decided to take a break,” Tooker said. “I’m still weighing my options about going back to school — I want to go into teaching.”
Tooker’s family insurance policy allows for him to be covered until the age of 25.
“I have a hard enough (time) paying rent, let alone health insurance,” he said.
Some students, like Jeremy Desroches, already have a job with health benefits.
“I’m not like any normal student — I have the job I will have after I graduate,” said Desroches, who works at the wellness center and rehab facility at CVPH with a training license.
Desroches, a biology major at PSUC, was hired in January by CVPH under the obligation that he would continue to work at CVPH after graduation. Desroches said working at CVPH offers health benefits he’ll have to pay for out of his paychecks.
Other students are unsure of their post-graduate plans.
Allison Bergamo, like many of her peers, is choosing to attend graduate school following her graduation from PSUC.
“I’ve put applications out, and now I’m just waiting to hear back,” Bergamo said. “Losing my insurance, that’s one of my big worries. That’s why I’m going back full-time.”
Bergamo said an alternative plan for her going to graduate school right after graduation would be to join AmeriCorps.
“I’m pretty sure it offers a version of health care,” she said.
There are 82 days until graduation, Bergamo said after checking the planner in which she keeps a countdown to graduation.
“I’m very excited, a little nervous but ready to be done,” she said.
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