CFAR & IFAR

Trip Protection Insurance

Unlike other travel insurance plans that have certain disclaimers for situations that they will and will not protect against, these insurances allow you to change your plans “for any reason”.

CIS Abroad is partnering with CISI, Cultural Insurance Services International (the same organization that provides our medical and accident insurance plan) to offer an additional level of protection to you for academic travel.

CANCEL FOR ANY REASON (CFAR) INSURANCE

CFAR is a policy that protects your purchase before you depart for your CIS Abroad experience.

Key points to know:

• you can cancel your trip and the policy can provide up to 75% of your prepaid, non-refundable trip costs (program costs and other costs such as airfare). Non-refundable costs can be determined by referring to CIS’s stated Refund Policy.
• you must enroll in the plan within 21 days of your final payment deadline for your program.These deadlines are typically 45 days before departure.
• you will want to consider insuring any prepaid trip costs that are subject to cancellation penalties or restrictions (and also insure the costs of any travel arrangements, such as airfare, subsequently added to your trip within 21 days of payment or deposit for those additions.)
• you must cancel at least 48 hours before your program start date.

Example: You are planning on studying abroad and your program has a refund policy that states that between 0-15 days before departure you will have $5000 of non-refundable expenses. You can purchase CFAR/IFAR insurance to protect you up to 75% of that non-refundable expense. If you decide to cancel your trip during this window of time (but at least 48 hours prior to departure), you will receive $3750. The cost of this insurance is approximately 10%* of the insured amount. In the example above the cost to you approximately $500. You can insure any part of your non-refundable expenses including airfare.

*Exact amounts are calculated at the time of purchase but can range from between 8-12% of the amount you insure. The amounts can vary based upon the destination, costs you are insuring, dates of your program and your home location.

INTERRUPT FOR ANY REASON (IFAR) INSURANCE

IFAR is a policy that protects you from the day of departure until the end of your trip.

Key points to know:

• The policy will provide up to the lesser of 75% of the coverage you purchased or the Maximum Benefit Amount if you must interrupt your trip, 72 hours or more after your program start date.
• This may cover unused, non-refundable land or water travel arrangements (such as airfare or airport transfers).
• As noted above, CFAR and IFAR are part of the same policy. This means that you can decide to insure yourself at an even higher level if you are concerned with protecting yourself both for cancellation and interruption.

Example: You are already abroad on your CIS program and you decide that you want to come home after about one month into the semester. You have paid all of your program and airline expenses and that total amount is $15,000 and it is all non-refundable. You purchased CFAR/IFAR insurance for this amount and thus are protected up to 75% of this expense, or $11,250. The cost of this insurance is approximately 10%* of the insured amount. In the example above that would cost you approximately $1,500.

* Exact amounts are calculated at the time of purchase but can range from between 8-12% of the amount you insure. The amounts can vary based upon the destination, costs you are insuring, dates of your program and your home location.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS