With global student mobility strong – estimates are that 7 million students will travel abroad for higher education by 2030 – the future for the student health insurance market is bright.
For the global carriers, insurance agents and brokers that make up the student health insurance plan (SHIP) ecosystem, staying ahead of the needs of that growing international student population will be paramount to success. The global insurance ecosystem is an important part of the international student experience.
For more than a decade, Flywire has had a front row seat into the changing needs of international students, many of whom rely on SHIP, from K-12 through the undergraduate and the graduate levels. We regularly commission a survey with a third-party firm of thousands of global higher education students across nine different countries to gauge their perspectives, and guide our institutional clients and education agents on how they’re thinking and what they want.
To that end, our most recent research, “Unlocking the door to higher education: Global students’ perspectives on paying tuition and more,” sheds light on a few things that are very much top of mind for international students that are relevant for global insurers and partners.
1. International students are increasingly turning to education agents to navigate their student journey.
Many international students and their families rely on education agents to navigate their entire international education experience – at various levels of study.
Education agents specialize in certain regions and/or partner with institutions to recruit international students. They also provide an advisory and support function for students and their families, bringing deep knowledge of the areas and options available. Their use is mature in countries like China and India, but education agents are increasingly important to the process across the globe, including for students from South Asia, parts of Africa and Latin America. For instance, Nepal is an increasingly important sending market for Australia.
Some 3 in 4 global students surveyed said education agents make it easier to decide where to study. But the research also showed agents serve a broad array of students’ needs. High on that list? Insurance support. Students ranked insurance (22%) equal with travel support (22%), and ahead of visa guidance (21%) and accommodations support (20%).
Takeaway:
Education agents guide students along their entire journey – from exploration to application and admission through acceptance. And increasingly, they’re guiding them on selecting health insurance and navigating country-specific regulations to that end in each. That support looks different for different markets. International students studying in Australia may need help choosing a plan, while in the U.S., large schools and institutions may offer only one health plan.
2. International students are showing preferences for value over cultural experiences and academic reputation.
Higher education affordability is now an issue globally. As evidence:
- Four in five students surveyed in Flywire’s global student sentiment report say they need help affording their education.
- Nearly half across nine countries have taken out loans to do so – with 82% worried about paying them off.
- Students from Canada, India, Peru, and the U.K. named better educational value as their top driver in seeking study abroad opportunities. For China and Mexico, value ranked second and in Australia, third. Students from the U.S. and Spain were the outliers – not prioritizing value in the top three.
Education agents are seeing the same dynamics. More than two-thirds of the 662 agents across 92 countries surveyed in ICEF’s recent research said their students’ top priority on deciding where to study abroad is cost of study and living. They said their students rank the cost of study ahead of work/immigration opportunities (52%), visa application support (44%), institutional ranking (38%) and visa processing times (37%).
While it isn’t a tuition payment, a student health insurance payment isn’t insignificant – carrying high value and high stakes because it often needs to be made upfront and in-full. With affordability concerns high, so is the importance of a cost and customer-friendly payment experience.
Takeaway:
For international students and their families – and your business collecting the payment – managing cross-border insurance payments add costs and frustration. Making a cross-border transaction feel like a domestic one is a big advantage for global insurance providers. Many insurers price policies in a few currencies and leave it to their members to figure out how to send payment in that same currency. Families often pay with their local, non-USD credit card, and assume high fees for currency conversion as well as Foreign Exchange Markup. They may not even realize the actual cost in their local currency until they read it on their card or bank statement.
As students select and purchase their healthcare plans, transparency of payment is paramount – particularly in countries where insurance is required by law. It’s not unheard of for students to arrive in the country to find their policy isn’t active because the payment was short or the insurer hadn’t allocated payment to the right policy.
3. Students want a simple experience for making all their payments.
If affordability is such a global issue, it follows that students would experience stress if their actual experience of paying for parts of their higher education isn’t straightforward. 90% of students said access to a simplified payment process would improve their higher education experience – an increase from 77% the last time the survey was commissioned by Flywire.
Students want to be able to digitize, bundle and track payments made for all parts of their education experience – from student fees and experiences, to off-campus activities, and, predictably, health insurance. This is especially prevalent for students from:
- India: 40% want to pay for insurance through a payment provider – ranking third next to housing and off-campus activities.
- China: 46% want to pay for insurance through a payment provider – a close No. 5 to housing and off-campus activities.
- Peru: 39% of students want to pay for insurance through a provider – ranking second after off-campus activities.
Takeaway:
What this tells us is that making the decision to study abroad and navigate life in a new place is already hard. Students and families want the process of protecting their health and their investment while they’re studying abroad to be easier.
Flywire brings a unique view here because we sit at the intersection of international education, healthcare, travel and the global insurance market, serving complex payment needs of products like IPMI, life insurance, and student health insurance. This expertise runs deeper than payments alone. For instance, Flywire offers an insurance comparison tool (OSHC) for Australia-bound international students - where health insurance is a mandatory requirement. This is offered directly to students, as well as through the vast network of agent partners, who can access it directly within the Flywire agent dashboard. What’s more, as the recent policy changes in Canada demonstrate how quickly the international student landscape can change, having a payment partner with global coverage and localized expertise gives you the ability to pivot and expand into new source markets quickly.
Our clients have realized many advantages – both on the side of the customer and for the business – from streamlining the payment process. This includes:
- Local in, local out payment experience. Students or parents pay in their currency and payment method choice, and insurers receive full payment in their currency of choice without having to worry about FX risk.
- Simplified payment method management, refunds. Insurers offload the management of multiple banking relationships and payment partners, including tedious refunds and chargebacks.
- Lower payment processing fees. Families can make payments in local currency and payment methods, with a low, transparent fee structure. Competitive processing rates help insurers save on various credit card related-fees.
- Visibility into payment geography to inform growth. As source markets shift and grow, Flywire provides data on where students are actually paying from, to drive data-led marketing and growth plans.
For more information on how Flywire serves the global insurance industry, contact a payments expert today.
Note: This content was also published in the International Travel & Health Insurance Journal.