Faculty and Staff: What is Open Enrollment? | Open Enrollment Guide

What is Open Enrollment?

Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to reflect on you and your family’s needs and fine-tune your benefits package to match. Many life events can occur over the course of the year that can impact the types of plans and amount of coverage you need. Take this opportunity to think about the changes you and your family have experienced in the past year, or anticipate in the coming year. Then, determine which benefit plans and programs will best meet your needs and make your selections online using the GW Benefits Enrollment System: go.gwu.edu/enroll4benefits.

What’s Included?

The benefits below are part of Open Enrollment, which runs October 5-23, 2026, and can only be changed during this period unless you experience a Qualified Life Events (QLE). Below, you'll see which benefits are included in Open Enrollment and what happens if no action is taken.

Benefit	What you'll have in 2027 if you don't act during Open Enrollment:
Flexible Spending Accounts	No money will be deposited into your Health Care or Dependent Day Care flexible spending accounts (you must re-enroll every year).
Health Savings Account	Your 2026 annual election will roll over into 2027. For example, if you elected to contribute $1,000 for 2026, you would have an automatic election of $1,000 for 2027.
Medical and Prescription	The same plan you have now.
Vision
Dental
Legal
Critical Illness
Hospital Indemnity
Voluntary Short-Term Disability	The same plan you have now.
Long-Term Disability Buy-Up
Life Insurance
Accidental Death and Dismemberment

What’s Not Included?

While the following benefits are not part of Open Enrollment, we encourage you to review them during this time:

Retirement Plans
Tuition Remission
Parking
Pet Insurance and Identity Theft
Well-being Programs

Don’t miss out on taking advantage of these valuable programs! For details, visit hr.gwu.edu/benefits.