“When cosigned loans are taken, wouldn’t having life and disability policies covering the borrower and cosigner (beneficiaries each other) be necessary to cover these types of situations?”
You can buy it separately, but most people borrowing thousands of dollars for their kids to go to college don’t have hundreds of dollars per month for insurance on two people. A policy on the student might be cheap, but on a parent could be steep. Disability insurance is trickier, as some would require the insurance to be unable to work at any job since this is insurance not purchased through an employer. The payments would go to the insured, not to the lender or to the parents in the case of a student insured. If the student becomes disabled, it is likely he’d need the money for living expenses.