Guide for Carleton international students · Updated August 2026
Carleton publishes something almost no other Ontario university does — the price it charges for a doctor’s note, and a plain statement that no plan you hold will cover it. That single fact should change how you handle a missed deadline.
The short version. International students at Carleton University are enrolled in the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP), which costs $948 CAD for the 2026–27 policy year, plus a supplementary plan through CUSA if you are an undergraduate or the GSA if you are a graduate student. Under Carleton’s Academic Consideration Policy, documentation is only needed if your instructor asks for it — so speak to your instructor before you pay anyone for anything. And if you do need a note, Carleton’s own Health and Counselling Services charges $20.
Read this before you pay us or anyone else. Carleton states on its own website that “Doctor’s Notes are not covered by OHIP or by UHIP, nor are they covered by the CUSA Health & Dental Plan or the GSA’s Health Benefits,” and that “Doctor’s notes are a chargeable service and are $20.”
If you are presently unwell, Health and Counselling Services is open, and you can get an appointment, $20 on campus is cheaper than $82 from us. We would rather tell you that than take the booking. The section below explains the specific situations where HCS genuinely cannot help — and they are narrower than you might expect.
Key facts at a glance
In this guide
Carleton is unusually direct about this, and the detail is worth reading carefully because it decides whether you need to pay anyone outside the university at all.
Carleton’s position, in its own words: doctor’s notes are not covered by OHIP or UHIP, nor by the CUSA Health & Dental Plan or the GSA’s Health Benefits, and most private insurers do not cover the expense. They are a chargeable service at $20.
Carleton also asks students who need a note to contact their family physician first, and to approach Health and Counselling Services only if they cannot reach one or do not have one.
These are the constraints Carleton publishes, and together they define the gap:
| Carleton’s rule | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| You must be presently ill when you see the doctor | You cannot recover over a weekend and ask for a note on Monday |
| Only the attending physician who personally diagnosed you at the time can write it | A doctor who did not see you while you were unwell cannot write it later |
| An off-campus note must be on the physician’s professional letterhead | An informal note or a message will not be accepted |
Source: Carleton University Health and Counselling Services, verified 25 August 2026. Providing a note also remains at the doctor’s discretion.
So when is a private consultation actually the right call? Put the three rules together and the answer is specific: when you fall ill outside Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and you need to be seen while you are still unwell. HCS cannot see you at 9 p.m. on a Saturday, and it will not write a note on Monday for a Saturday illness. That is the genuine gap — not price.
If HCS is open and you can get an appointment, go there. $20 is less than $82, and we would rather you kept the difference.
Before any of the above matters, check whether you need documentation at all. Carleton’s Academic Consideration Policy covers extenuating circumstances that temporarily prevent you meeting in-class academic requirements for five days or less — a short-term request.
The process starts with a conversation, not a form:
Two limits are worth knowing. Requests are not automatically approved — Carleton states that approving and determining the accommodation remains at the instructor’s discretion. And the coursework form cannot be used for formal exam deferrals; requests during the formal examination period follow Carleton’s separate official deferral process. Absences longer than five days are handled as long-term requests.
A timing note for the start of term. Carleton states that the online Academic Consideration for Coursework Form is not available from 17 August to 8 September. If you need consideration in that window, speak to your instructor and your department directly rather than looking for the form.
UHIP is the mandatory basic health plan for international students and non-residents studying or working at Carleton, along with their dependants. It is underwritten by Manulife and administered by Cowan Insurance Group.
| Course start date | Member | Member + 1 dependant | Member + 2 or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | $948 | $1,896 | $2,844 |
| January 2027 | $632 | $1,264 | $1,896 |
| May 2027 | $316 | $632 | $948 |
Source: UHIP, rates for 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. Canadian dollars, including 8% tax. Verified 25 August 2026.
Carleton lists three groups for whom UHIP is mandatory, and the second surprises people:
UHIP is also mandatory for international short-term university visitors and employees staying two weeks or more — visiting researchers, scholars and professors, post-doctoral students and new employees. It is optional for stays under two weeks.
The exemption route is real money, and Carleton spells it out. If you have OHIP (the green card), RAMQ, another provincial insurance, or coverage with your embassy under diplomatic status, UHIP is not required. Scan proof to [email protected] for review and to have the fee removed from your student account. Students taking online classes from outside Canada may also be exempt — Carleton asks you to email the same address for details.
That is up to $948 back. If you are in any of those categories, do this before you pay it.
The Carleton UHIP Administrator handles enrolment, exemptions and fee removal at [email protected], through the Global Opportunities & International Student Services Office.
A note on phone numbers. Carleton’s UHIP page lists a Customer Care Line of +1-888-509-7797 and an Ottawa-area number of 613-741-3313. UHIP’s own contact page lists the UHIP line as 1-833-377-8447, open Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern, with [email protected] for email. We verified all of these on 25 August 2026. If one does not reach the right team, try the other.
UHIP is the basic layer. The supplementary layer — prescription drugs, dental and vision — comes from your student association: CUSA if you are an undergraduate, the GSA if you are a graduate student. CUSA states plainly that its plan does not cover graduate students.
The CUSA Health & Dental Plan is delivered through Alumo, the new name for Studentcare.
New for Fall 2026 — and worth knowing if you are thinking of dropping a course. CUSA has lowered the automatic enrolment threshold from 2.0 credits to 1.5 credits, aligning it with other student fees. All undergraduates in 1.5 credits or more are now automatically enrolled. In CUSA’s words, if you drop a course but maintain full-time status with Carleton’s Registrar’s Office at 1.5 or more credits, you will not be removed from the CUSA Plan, and coverage runs uninterrupted to the end of August 2027.
This is the opposite of how it works at some other Ontario universities, where dropping below a credit threshold can leave you paying more or losing coverage entirely. At Carleton, from this year, it does not.
You are not enrolled automatically, but you can self-enrol during the Change-of-Coverage Period. For the Fall term that window runs from 9 September to 2 October 2026. The same window is when changes to coverage are made.
The 2026–27 CUSA fee is not published on CUSA’s own page at the time of writing — the plan details sit with Alumo. We are not going to guess at it. Check the plan site in September, and check the opt-out rules at the same time: at most Ontario universities UHIP does not qualify you to opt out of the supplementary plan, because UHIP replaces OHIP rather than extending it.
Carleton runs a multidisciplinary clinic on campus for students, faculty and staff, offering same-day appointments, primary care appointments, nursing visits and lab testing.
Health and Counselling Services (HCS)
Carleton also offers free, short-term counselling for students, separate from the medical clinic. If your situation is primarily a mental health one, that service costs you nothing and is the right first stop.
HCS is closed at weekends and after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Combined with Carleton’s rule that a note must come from the physician who saw you while you were unwell, an illness that starts on a Friday evening is the hardest case to solve on campus.
Free options that are open when HCS is not:
Ottawa has hospital emergency departments and walk-in clinics, but hours and wait times change frequently and we will not publish details we have not checked against each provider’s own page. Health811 can direct you to what is open near you right now, and our University of Ottawa guide covers Ottawa services in more detail, including an on-campus pharmacist assessment option.
An emergency department is the wrong place to get a note. Emergency departments triage by severity, non-urgent waits run to many hours, and attending for documentation takes capacity from people who need it. Use an ED for an emergency — not for paperwork.
$20 at Health and Counselling Services. Carleton states that doctor’s notes are a chargeable service and that they are not covered by OHIP, UHIP, the CUSA Health & Dental Plan or the GSA’s Health Benefits, and that most private insurance providers do not cover the expense either. Documentation is an uninsured service in Ontario, which is why every provider charges for it.
Not by default. Under the Academic Consideration Policy, a short-term request covers extenuating circumstances lasting five days or less. You read your course syllabus first, then contact your instructor as soon as possible and normally no later than 24 hours after the submission deadline. You only complete the Academic Consideration for Coursework Form if the instructor requires supporting documentation, and approving the accommodation remains at the instructor’s discretion.
No. Carleton states that you cannot come to Health and Counselling Services and ask for a note for a past illness — you must see a doctor while you are presently ill so that an appropriate diagnosis can be made, and only the attending physician who personally diagnosed you at the time can write the note. A note obtained off campus must be on the physician’s professional letterhead.
$948 CAD for a student starting in September 2026, covering 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, tax included. A January 2027 start is prorated to $632 and a May 2027 start to $316. The premium is charged to your student account, and the Carleton UHIP Administrator can be reached at [email protected].
Carleton states that if you have OHIP, RAMQ, another provincial insurance, or coverage with your embassy under diplomatic status, UHIP is not required. Scan proof to [email protected] for review and to have the fee removed from your student account. Students taking online classes from outside Canada may also be exempt and are asked to email the same address for details.
CUSA lowered the automatic enrolment threshold from 2.0 credits to 1.5 credits, aligning it with other student fees. All undergraduates taking 1.5 credits or more are automatically enrolled, so dropping a course while maintaining full-time status with Carleton’s Registrar’s Office no longer removes you from the plan, and coverage runs to the end of August 2027. Undergraduates taking fewer than 1.5 credits can self-enrol during the Change-of-Coverage Period, which for the Fall term runs from 9 September to 2 October 2026.
Medical and lab appointments run Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The clinic is in Suite 2600 of the Carleton Technology and Training Centre and can be reached on 613-520-6674 extension 0 or at [email protected]. Appointments are booked through the Telus Health Connect app or website, and Carleton asks students to phone the office if no appointments appear. It is closed at weekends.
Health and Counselling Services is closed at weekends and after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Health811 gives free registered-nurse advice on 811 around the clock and can direct you to services open near you. Good2Talk offers free counselling for post-secondary students on 1-866-925-5454, and the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline operates 24/7. Because Carleton requires that a note come from the physician who saw you while you were unwell, an illness starting outside clinic hours is the case a telemedicine consultation is genuinely useful for.
Related guides
All figures, policy thresholds, addresses and hours on this page were verified on 25 August 2026 against the sources listed below. UHIP premiums reset each 1 September, student association plan fees and deadlines change between years, and university policies are revised — verify before relying on any detail here. General information only, not insurance, academic or medical advice. In an emergency, call 911.
If HCS is open, go there — it is cheaper. If it is closed and you need to be seen while you are unwell, we are flat $82, and a doctor could call in as little as 10 minutes.
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