AUGUST 22, 2015, 11:29 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015, 12:37 AM
BY PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
For a few hundred dollars a semester, some of the pricier private colleges in the United States have long offered tuition insurance — policies that protect families and schools if a student withdraws for medical reasons.
Starting this year, however, tuition insurance is available to any family in New Jersey — no matter where a student goes to school. The company selling it also is offering more expensive plans that cover other “unforeseen reasons” for midsemester withdrawals, including “poor grades or a crisis at home.”
But is it worth the money?
The top executive at Allianz Global Assistance, which won New Jersey’s approval to sell the policies, said the state is ripe for the insurance, given that its tuition costs — even for public colleges — are among the highest in the nation, topping $25,000 a year if a student lives on campus. He said it makes sense to insure what is likely a family’s largest investment, after a home.
“We insure risk, and we saw a market for this,” said Joe Mason, the company’s chief marketing officer. “College isn’t a small investment. You insure your house, your boat, why not college?”