Requiring college students to have insurance might sound like an impossible feat. But not for the University of South Carolina. Students living in on-campus housing are required to have personal property and liability insurance. That's been the status quo for over the past 10 years.

Initial challenges with requiring insurance

Students and parents didn't give much pushback about the insurance requirement, since it's been around for a while. Whether students choose to rely on a parent's homeowners insurance policy for coverage, or purchase a separate renters policy is up to them. But there were still some challenges.

For one, international students had difficulty obtaining insurance, according to Gay DeBarbieris, Associate Director of Administrative Operations. Administrators tried a number of things in the past to handle the issues, such as collecting policy numbers and creating spreadsheets, but DeBarbieris says that was impossible to manage. The school was looking for a better management system while trying to remedy the costly reimbursement process that followed severe flooding and damages. 

Finding the simple student-focused solution

Since personal property and liability insurance is an expectation of living on-campus at the university, administrators wanted to find a policy geared toward students that they could recommend to make it easy to obtain coverage.

The University of South Carolina became a GradGuard partner in 2016. Doing so doesn't mean students are required to purchase a policy from GradGuard, but they are presented the option to do so when acknowledging their housing agreement and the terms that include obtaining personal property and liability insurance.  

Integration with StarRez captures students' attention

Valuable student support is little work for administrators

GradGuard's Renters Insurance Highlights:

• Affordability - Compared to other student fees, when students see the minor renters insurance fee that's required to keep their belongings safe, that peace of mind is worth it. 
• Easy to understand - For students, parents, and administrators to know what's required, the benefits of GradGuard, and how to opt-in or decline coverage. 
• Provides a service to your students you can't personally provide - If students can't pay for the damages they cause, they may leave school and you'll never see that money.

For schools who are looking for a solution to costly student-caused damages, DeBarbieris and Ryan recommend GradGuard. 

"It probably didn't even take an hour to come in, talk to us, work with LeAnne, get it in the portal, get it set up properly, and you're done for the academic year," DeBarbieris said. 

In a time of so much financial uncertainty, providing support to your students and families doesn't have to be difficult. Integrating with StarRez or your existing housing portal makes the process even easier. GradGuard's Renters Insurance is a simple, student-focused solution that gives students and families the opportunity to understand the risks of living on campus, and the benefits of protecting themselves with a policy. It's clear from the success of the program at the University of South Carolina that students and administrators are able to prevent financial losses.