The Sallie Mae, the corporation that services and collects on student loans, and which is recently mostly known for, well, screwing students over, will now move into another realm of college financing: student insurance.
According to an article by Eric Ruth at The News Journal:
The Sallie Mae Insurance Services division will offer tuition insurance, renters insurance and student health insurance. “In addition, Sallie Mae will also provide colleges and universities access to specially designed insurance products, such as the Student Protection Plan, a package of tuition insurance, ID theft protection, emergency medical evacuation, and other services to meet the needs of a typical college student,” the company said.
Sallie Mae has been looking for ways to create a new revenue stream since Congress passed direct lending as part of the Affordable Care Act in March. As a result of the law, all federal student loans are now distributed by colleges, eliminating the student lending industry companies like Sallie Mae that serviced and managed student loans.
It’s not exactly clear why students might benefit from the new service Sallie Mae is trying to sell but let’s see how Sallie Mae tries to spin it.
