For Parents & Families

To support their transition, there are a few things you can do to make sure they have the tools they need to take care of their health and well-being from the beginning of their college journey.

Health Insurance

Navigating health insurance for the first time can be overwhelming for students. As their parent, you can help them prepare for college by making sure they understand their health insurance plan and where they can use it.

Emmons Medical Services is contracted only with the Oxy Student Health Insurance Plan (OSHIP). Students with OSHIP have an Office Visit Copay of $10, which includes the fees for the visit, in-house testing, medications, immunizations, and supplies. OSHIP is in-network with Aetna.

If your family waived OSHIP and have another form of private insurance, your coverage for services at Emmons—from the initial visit to lab tests to medications—will differ depending on your plan's coverage for out-of-network care. Emmons strives to make care affordable for all students and those with out-of-network insurance receive a 50% discount on services. Get more information about estimating costs.

Note: Insurance waiver rules are changing for the 2026–27 school year. Please see our Health Insurance Page for more information. 

How you can help:

• Go over your student’s insurance carrier and type of insurance. Do they have Oxy’s Student Health Insurance? Another form of insurance? Is it a PPO or HMO? Make sure your student knows the difference before they get to Oxy. We have lots of resources to help!
• Make sure they have their insurance ID card and know how to log in to their health insurance portal.
• Work with your student to find a local Primary Care Provider, which will ensure your student has access to consistent care and referrals while in school.
• Make a plan with your student for what they will do if they become ill. Where will they go for care? What options do they have that are covered by their insurance?
• Help your student manage expectations. Navigating our very imperfect healthcare system for the first time can bring up a lot of understandable confusion and frustration. We are a small team doing our best to support students with a variety of concerns and resources—the more you support your student with this transition, the smoother it will go!

Try saying:

• “Before you go to college, it’s important to understand how to get medical care if you need it. Our healthcare system can be complicated and I want to make sure you can advocate for yourself.”
• “I’m here to help if you need it, but I want to support you learning to do this on your own.”

Supporting Your Student's Mental Health

According to the Healthy Minds Study, 37% of U.S. college students experience moderate to severe depressive symptoms, while 32% experience moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. To support your student’s success and to ensure a successful transition to college, talk to them about how to take care of their mental health! Learn more about Emmons’ mental health services.

How you can help:

• Make sure you and your student know about their insurance’s mental health benefits and how to use them.
• If you have the resources for out-of-network or out-of-pocket mental health care, explain the process to your student and how it would work financially.
• If you can offer resources for transportation to appointments, let your student know.
• Encourage them to proactively register with TimelyCare & save Oxy’s 24/7 Crisis Line in their phone.
• If they are taking mental health medications and are coming from out of state, work with your student to ensure continuity of care by identifying a local provider and make sure they have enough medication for the transition when they arrive at Oxy.
• Remind them that Emmons Counseling Services are free and confidential, and open to all students, regardless of insurance.
• Check out our resources for navigating care!

Try saying:

• “Mental health care can be a really important part of college. I want to make sure you know how to access it if you need it.”
• “You can always come to me if you’re struggling. But if you’d rather talk to someone else, I just want to make sure you know where to go.”

Helping Your Student Stay Safe from Alcohol & Other Drugs

College can be a time of experimentation with alcohol and other drugs. It is also a vulnerable time for young people, and college is an opportunity for students to build life-long safer habits and positive coping strategies. You can help them stay safe by making sure they are aware of the resources available to them before they get to Oxy. 

Emmons Wellness Center uses harm reduction principles in our approach to alcohol and drug prevention and education. A harm red reduction approach means accepting that drug use is a part of our world, while working to mitigate the harmful negative consequences of drug use. Learn more about our work.

How you can help:

• Make sure your student gets their harm reduction kit (especially students living off campus) and that they understand the importance of carrying Narcan.
• Talk to them openly about drug and alcohol safety, and the risks.
• Communicate your willingness to talk if they’re worried about their own use or a friends’.
• Make sure they know about Oxy’s substance use policies, including Oxy’s Medical Amnesty Policy, and about California’s Good Samaritan Law.
• Use Emmons as a resource! We have lots of information and resources on different substances and how to stay safer while partying, and free, confidential self-assessments regarding different substances available. 
• Our Peer Health Educators are available to speak with students about staying safe and supporting their peers.

Try saying:

• “I want you to know that you can talk to me about substance use. But if you feel more comfortable speaking with someone else, Emmons is a great resource.”
• “If you’re ever scared for someone’s safety, you will not get in trouble for calling 911. If in doubt, always call for help.”

Confidentiality

Confidentiality and privacy can be barriers for students seeking medical or mental health care who are on their parents' insurance. They want to navigate their care on their own, but this stuff is hard (even for adults!) 

How you can help:

• Remind your student that their medical and mental health records are confidential unless they give written consent to share them.
• If your student is on your health insurance, you will be able to see what services are being billed for and from where. Students over age 18 can contact their health insurance provider and request that other subscribers are blocked from having access to their claims history, if they prefer to keep their visits private.
• Students can request from their health or mental health care provider that their claims be sent to their on-campus mailbox instead of your family’s address.
• Students can always access free urgent and non-urgent telehealth medical visits by using TimelyCare, which is free for all Oxy students regardless of insurance, and does not bill insurance for visits. (If the provider determined that they needed a lab test or prescription, students would need to pay out-of-pocket or your insurance would be billed for those services.)
• Both TimelyCare and Emmons Counseling offer free, confidential therapy that is never billed to your insurance.

Try saying:

• “I’m always here to listen and help, but I understand you might want to keep your business private. If you want we can talk to our health insurance to make sure I can’t see anything you don’t want me to see.”
• “Remember that Emmons Counseling is confidential, and they won’t even bill insurance. You can see them without me knowing.”