John Fees knows college is unpredictable. That’s why, in 2009, he co-founded GradGuard, a tuition insurance company.
An Arizona State University graduate and the father of a student at the university, Fees knows that the devil is in the details when it comes to college costs – and outcomes. The graduation rate at the school is around 67 percent, as of 2022-2023, and while tuition can cost as little as $7,000 per year, room and board can run to three times as much. That’s a challenging ask for most families, but for the two-thirds of students who end up with a diploma, is money well-spent.
But what about those who don’t graduate, for whatever reason? When the second-largest investment families make goes south, it can leave them reeling. Whether it be due to injury, illness, or an accident, Fees founded GradGuard to help those who withdraw from college for a covered reason get reimbursed for tuition when colleges will not.
Specifically, Fees is appealing to the 80 percent of those who default on their student loans who didn’t finish school. Tuition insurance has long been available at private institutions, but GradGuard offers it to anyone, and Fees is insistent: It’s not dropout insurance. That’s not covered. But especially after COVID hit, there were thousands of students who left college planning to return, only to find themselves crushed by the burden of their loans.
All of this is a culmination of a career working alternatively with students and in insurance. Fees is the Co-Founder and CEO of Next Generation Insurance and, after graduating from Harvard Business School in 1999, co-founded and served as CEO of Y2M, a youth media and marketing company. This is familiar territory for him, and that know-how has paid off, with 1.7 million policies sold in 16 years and partnerships across the country, most recently with payments company Flywire, signed in December 2024.
Fees is making sure the kids are alright, and millions are taking him up on the offer.
