By Thompson Mhlanga

While it’s long been second nature for people to insure their Porsches and BMWs, it’s only recently that parents started seriously considering insuring their child’s education.

Bursar Judith LeDoux says that “We would hear it at orientation… We have a dollars and cents presentation for the parents and at that program they would ask us if we carried it.”

Tuition insurance protects students if they need to withdraw due to an illness, injury or mental health condition. Some policies also cover expenses like academic fees, room and board, books and other education expenses.

However, LeDoux says, tuition insurance may not be necessary.

“Just like any other insurance that you have, it’s not necessarily that you need it at that time. But its a protection plan if something does happen and a student does get sick for some reason. That the parents, you know, recoup the investment that they’ve put in for that semester.”

Tuition insurance is not new to our campus. Until 2009, the University had offered tuition insurance through A.W.G. Dewer. When it proved to not be beneficial, the program was discontinued.

“If um, they looked at the number of students who were in the tuition protection plan and then the number of the claim on it, it just proved not to be profitable for them.”

Although students and parents can purchase tuition insurance on their own, the university did partner with Sallie Mae Insurance to offer insurance to students at a discounted rate.