The Iowa State University Alumni Association is making the insurance search easier for graduating students as well as alumni by offering a variety of insurance packages.

“It’s comforting that we offer this,” said Julie Larson, director of student and career programs for the Alumni Association. Larson said when she graduated, she had no insurance policy.

Not being insured was scary, she said. “It makes me nervous to think what could have happened,” Larson said.

The company providing the insurance, Marsh Affinity Groups, offers policies for several target markets, said Scott Dahl, director of membership and marketing for the Alumni Association.

The short-term medical insurance plan is especially popular with new graduates, Dahl said.

“It’s for that time between when the grad goes off their parents’ plan and starts a new job,” he said.

Larson echoed his sentiments.

“It’s a great service for students in transition until they get a job that offers them insurance,” she said.

The most recent addition to the list of policies are the auto and home insurance options, offered through Liberty Mutual Insurance.

This plan tends to appeal to younger professionals, he said.

Of the seven plans offered, the automobile insurance is the only one available to current students.

Other policies offered include Alumni Group Term Life Insurance, Disability Income Plan, Catastrophe Major Medical Insurance, Alumni Long-term Care Plan, and the Senior Whole Life Insurance Plan. “Most alumni associations offer some type of insurance,” Dahl said.

Alumni status generally helps with acceptance qualifications, he said. “It’s usually easier than applying for an independent policy,” Dahl said.

There are currently at least 2,000 policy holders through Iowa State’s program, Dahl said. The Alumni Association has offered some form of insurance policy since 1983, he said. “It’s really growing all the time,” Dahl said.

The senior class is the main student group that the Alumni Association targets with insurance plans, Larson said.

Information on insurance and other post-college needs are mailed to all graduating seniors, she said. For each policy purchased, a certain percentage of the premium goes back to the Alumni Association, Dahl said. The money is used to serve both current students and alumni, he said.

Also offered through the Alumni Association is an MBNA credit card with Cy emblazoned on the plastic face. The insurance policies and credit cards are the “two big ones for alumni,” Dahl said.

Often, students are not aware of different insurance policies upon graduation, Dahl said. “This might help ease them into the whole process,” he said.