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Your university may be similar to mine in that travel protection/trip cancellation insurance is not an allowable expense because we are a state university. We do have some other revenue streams that do not have to follow the strict guidance of state travel policies. Study abroad funds are collected funds from the students and like many of you, we had to cancel a lot of study abroad trips due to COVID-19. I was asked about allowing this travel protection/trip cancellation insurance to be purchased for study abroad programs and tie the cost to the program fee that students must pay to attend the study abroad trip. So I wanted to ask my colleagues the following questions:
1. Do you allow for travel protection or trip cancellation insurance to be purchased for study abroad programs?
2. If you do allow for the purchase, do you pass the cost down to the students?
3. Do you have a contract provider that you use for this type of service that you would recommend to others?
Posted : 22/10/2020 10:09 am
Hi Lynn,
Great questions! I would like to point out that Jason Grunin once mentioned they had an insurance company they worked with - the student would sign a contract and give up rights to the ticket effectively transferring the name to the university as unused ticket credits. I believe there was a fee associated that the student agreed to pay. He works with Concur now but I'm sure he is a great resource! He use to work at the University of Tulsa.
1. We are a private university but do not allow reimbursement of trip insurance since all USD-paid airfare must go through our TMC - Corporate Travel Planners. Students that use personal funds can choose to purchase fares elsewhere and/or include trip insurance. Airfare is a separate cost in our study abroad program (students search their own fares and pay directly to the supplier). *At the moment*
2. N/A
3. N/A
Looking forward to the input of others!
Posted : 27/10/2020 1:21 pm
Our University only allows trip cancellation insurance for international flights. This is part of the cost the student pays for their study abroad trip. We don't currently have a contract provider for these services- the study abroad program director can use a local travel agent or our online booking tool. Our study abroad program and all international travel is suspended during the University's current travel ban. The only travel permitted as of today is in state travel (mostly meetings and research) and if they travel domestically, they need approval from a Dean or Vice President of their area in order to travel. Hope this helps!
Posted : 09/11/2020 10:13 am
We manage a large volume of study abroad, as well as faculty sabbatical travel. There are a number of travel issuers that can write custom policies specific to study abroad students, their intended activities, and the program durations. For many years I was with STA Travel, and our travel insurance program was able to be extended to 13-months. It typically covered all of the minimum requirements of most institutions, and it met the international health insurance requirements for many countries.
Check with your institutions carrier to see if they offer a travel insurance rider – if not, we can certainly provide you some resources for custom program policies.
Posted : 09/11/2020 10:31 am
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