Student Travel Insurance can help ensure that your study abroad trip is the time of your life, no matter what happens while you’re gone.

You can obtain cheap student travel insurance plans from a number of sources; the protection and peace of mind will be worth the investment.

What is Student Travel Insurance?

Student travel insurance provides medical and/or accident coverage while you’re traveling abroad as a student. Some policies also cover much more than that.

What you need will depend entirely on the coverage you currently have. So contact your current healthcare provider first to see if your policy has international coverage. Most times you’ll need to purchase a separate student travel insurance policy with medical coverage.

What Should Student Travel Insurance Cover?

When you think of student travel insurance, what first comes to mind may be accident coverage. While it’s imperative that your policy covers accidents, there are other important items that you should have coverage for.

In addition to any special requirements you might have, consider the following:

• Does the policy cover trip cancellations or interruptions?
• Will the policy reimburse you for lost or stolen baggage and other property?
• Will the insurer provide emergency assistant everywhere you might be traveling?
• What about emergency evacuation for an unexpected sickness or accident?
• Will it cover repatriation of remains?

Of course when it comes to your health, you also need to make sure any pre-existing medical conditions are sufficiently covered. Be sure to get it in writing.

A cost saving alternative is to look into a group student travel insurance plan. This is only applicable if you are traveling within a group of 5 or more other students. These group student travel insurance policies deliver the same coverage you’d be able to find on your own, but at a discounted rate.

If you happen to be traveling through an established study abroad program, you may already have access to existing group student travel insurance. Be sure to check with your program to find out.

Picking a Student Travel Insurance Provider

You can get cheap student travel insurance through a number of different providers. The best way to go about it these days is to compare and contrast by checking out plans on the internet.

Your options will include traditional insurance agency plans such as AIG’s Travel Guard, as well as plans offered through student travel agencies and organizations like StaTravel.

Another Helpful Tool

Students planning to study abroad have access to a tool that can help them out in many situations around the world.

• The International Student Identification Card, or ISIC, is not only a good idea to have for the universal student identification and discounts it provides. It’s also your key to accessing the 24-hour ISIC Emergency Help Line.
• This hotline is your source for legal and medical advice anywhere in the world, at any time. In emergency situations they can refer you to doctors throughout the world and can also contact your parents for you.