Best Student Travel Insurance 2024

Find the best student travel insurance for your child’s needs.

Students on overseas study programmes should not go without proper insurance coverage. If they should fall sick or suffer an injury, not having an insurance plan could result in a hefty medical bill being added to the cost of your study trip. 

Planning for student travel insurance can be complex, as the duration spent overseas would impact your choices. To help you better understand the types of plans you should focus on, let’s go through what coverage overseas students require, and how to obtain them. 

Table of contents:

• What is student travel insurance?
• Should I get student travel insurance or an overseas student plan?
• Best overseas student plans
  • MSIG Global Study
  • Income Overseas Study Protection Plan
  • Liberty Insurance Overseas StudentCare
  • DBS Overseas Student Protect
• FAQs

What is student travel insurance?

Student travel insurance actually encompasses two broad areas of insurance coverage - travel insurance, and international health insurance. Here’s a quick comparison between the coverage offered by the two.

As you can see, the main difference is that travel insurance is aimed at the usual needs of a short-term traveller, while international health insurance provides healthcare and medical coverage while you’re away in another country.

By definition, a student studying overseas requires both – travel insurance to cover risks such as loss of luggage and flight interruptions, and international health insurance to cover healthcare and medical needs. 

The area of overlap is in medical coverage, but a travel plan only covers medical and hospitalisation expenses due to an emergency, and does not cover routine healthcare needs such as chronic illness management, dental care, etc. 

Should I get student travel insurance or an overseas student plan?

Now, if you’re an exchange student attending an overseas programme lasting a few weeks, you may be able to obtain sufficient coverage with a travel insurance plan – just like a leisure traveller. 

However, if you’re going to attend university in another country for a couple of years, you’ll need an international healthcare plan (also known as “overseas student plan”) to cover your long-term medical needs and healthcare needs, including routine care for chronic conditions.

You should also consider getting a travel plan to cover flight delays and cancellations, and loss of baggage and belongings. 

You may also need some time to find suitable student accommodations, so might be staying in a hotel initially. A travel insurance plan can also offer benefits in case something goes wrong with your hotel stay. 

However, do note that your travel insurance plan will eventually run out, as typically, single-trip plans are only valid for up to 180 days. Annual plans last 12 months, but customarily, each trip must not last over 30 days.

Thus, you will eventually have to switch over to an overseas student plan, if your overseas stint is long enough.

Now that that’s been cleared up, let’s take a look at some popular overseas student plans for long-term overseas education. 

Best overseas student plans 

MSIG Global Study – Premier

MSIG Global Study – Premier provides overseas students with a good mix of travel benefits and medical and healthcare coverage. 

You will be covered up to S$50,000 for medical treatment due to illness or injury, but there is no cover for outpatient visits for chronic conditions. Also, COVID-19 is not covered. 

This plan also offers up to S$3,000 benefits against loss of personal items in overseas residence, and up to S$3,000 for alternative accommodation. There is also up to S$15,000 for study interruptions – this covers unused and non-refundable prepaid course fees in case of sickness or injury. 

Another useful benefit is sponsor protection benefits, up to S$15,000, which goes towards unpaid tuition fees should your parent or guardian paying for your education passes away or suffers permanent disability. 

As for travel benefits, you can enjoy up to S$2,000 benefits for loss of luggage, and up to S$500 for loss of travel documents. 

Income Overseas Study Protection Plan – Plan 3

Income Overseas Study Protection Plan does well covering the risks of being overseas, but less so on providing healthcare coverage. 

It offers decently high coverage for accidental death and disablement, emergency evacuation, study interruption and sponsor protection, as well as overseas residence cover against theft, fires and natural disaster, and alternative accommodation benefits. 

However, for medical and healthcare, only S$20,000 is provided – and that is for injuries only. Illness is covered for up to S$5,000, but only for outpatient visits. 

This means if you happen to have a bad bout of food poisoning and need to be warded for a few days, you will have to pay out of pocket for your hospital stay. 

Making for it (if at least in part), is the add-on available for COVID-19 coverage, which allows you to cover at least one scenario.

Liberty Insurance Overseas StudentCare

Liberty Insurance Overseas StudentCare is another overseas student plan that reads more like a general insurance plan rather than a healthcare plan. The main drawback here is the lack of benefits for illness – only medical expenses following accidental injury are covered. 

However, you can choose to expand your medical benefits to also cover illness by purchasing additional cover. This will also increase your study interruption benefits in tandem. 

If you can get over this drawback, this plan gives you a reasonable level of coverage in areas that matter, including accidental death and disablement (S$200,000), emergency evacuation and repatriation (unlimited), study interruption (S$10,000), sponsor protection (S$15,000), and overseas residence home contents cover (S$3,000). 

You’ll also receive some travel benefits including for lost luggage, and travel delays. What this plan offers that many others don’t, though, is rental vehicle excess (S$1,000) and student loan repayment benefits (S$5,000).

DBS Overseas Student Protect – Platinum

Rounding out our list of best overseas student plans is the DBS Overseas Student Protect – Platinum. This plan offers good coverage both for overseas hazards and healthcare, making it a high-end plan that carries its costly premiums well. 

If you need medical care due to accidents or sickness, you will be covered for up to S$50,000 per policy year. Meanwhile, there’s S$200,000 coverage for accidental death and permanent disability, while emergency evacuation and repatriation is covered as charged.

Should your overseas residence suffer a break-in or fire or other calamity, this policy provides up to S$3,000 in benefits, along with up to S$5,000 for alternative accommodations. 

As for travel inconveniences, loss or damage to baggage is covered up to S$2,000, travel documents up to S$1,000 and travel delays at S$100 per six hours. 

But that’s not all. This plan also offers COVID-19 benefits, including S$50,000 for medical expenses, and S$200 per day of hospital confinement (maximum S$2,000). Adventurous activities are also covered. 

Lastly, you will also be covered for up to S$15,000 in sponsor protection, and up to S$5,000 in student loan repayment. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Which insurance is best for students?

Students travelling overseas for study need to satisfy travel and international healthcare needs. Overseas student plans that offer a good mix of travel insurance and overseas healthcare coverage would be appropriate choices for most students, especially if they are going overseas for a long period of time (six months or longer).

2. What is the insurance for foreign students in Singapore?

Foreign students coming to study in Singapore may opt for an international student healthcare plan from private insurers in Singapore. They may also check with their institutions of study for recommended plans and policies. Those coming here on short-term exchange programmes may also check with their schools for appropriate group insurance policies.

3. How to claim student travel insurance?

In general, student travel insurance claims may be made the same way as conventional insurance claims. Submit a claim form with the necessary supporting documents, and wait for your insurer to get in touch with you. You may also contact your insurer directly to clarify questions. During an emergency, contact your insurer for assistance via the hotline privied in your policy.