tuition insurance

<p>We got the thing in the mail today for tuition insurance in case your child drops out mid semester. Anyone ever look into this and the fine print? Our private high school has this, but there are so many hoops you have to jump through it is nearly impossible to collect upon. Any anecdotal stories about the pros/cons of this particular company?</p>

<p>Which company is it? We just got a thing for insurance through Dewar. I think we will get the insurance (through Dewar or someone else) because apparently we would be on the hook for paying back the kid’s financial aid (loans and grants) if he were to have to withdraw, which we can’t afford.</p>

<p>I never thought about doing this. It’s $278 for what I think is a very low risk UNLESS you have knowledge of issues in your family - like someone is sick (like my dad was when I was a junior). </p>

<p>I don’t know the numbers of withdrawals.</p>

<p>Yeah, it’s a small probability, but so it the chance of my house burning down… the deciding factor in buying insurance is whether or not you can afford the loss. </p>

<p>The reason I am considering it is that my son receives financial aid, but if he has a medical withdrawal, any grant aid that went toward tuition (and it goes toward tuition first, so in our case it’s all his grant aid) gets taken back and we’d be on the hook for his full billed costs (minus any refund if whatever it is happens early). A portion of any federal loans for that semester (depending on the amount of the term completed) also have to be immediately repaid. So it’s not just losing the substantial sum we’d already have paid for the semester, but we’d suddenly be on the hook for full freight, essentially, which we can’t afford (or we wouldn’t be on financial aid in the first place). </p>

<p>It’s an extra $1000 added onto the total cost of 4 years of school, which certainly isn’t insignificant, but in the context of 4 years’ fees, it’s kind of a drop in the bucket…</p>

<p>by the way, I don’t think this insurance covers you if the student leaves school because of someone else’s illness, only their own.</p>

<p>I’m not disagreeing with your decision. That is your business. I’m merely saying the risk is low. This kind of insurance would be better if it covered voluntary withdrawals or more than the death of the person (parent) paying for school. I haven’t read the Dewar policy, but the ones I did look into made me queasy: what if a kid has issues, does something wrong, suffers some discipline - or threat of same - and withdraws? Is that voluntary? Is that an act which disqualifies? I couldn’t get a solid answer. It was too limited for me.</p>

<p>The Dewar policy is quite clear but very limited. It covers medical and mental health withdrawals (must be a DSM-IV disorder) when certified by a doctor. It does not cover any kind of voluntary or disciplinary withdrawals, does not cover the death of the parent paying (we have life insurance for that), and does not cover self-harm (though in some cases maybe the latter would fall under mental health) or illegal drug use. It also has other typical exclusions: war, terrorism, nuclear radiation, etc.</p>

<p>If there are policies that cover more, that would be worth looking into.</p>