According to a new state report, private health insurers are racking up profits on health coverage sold to 10,000 Massachusetts student subscribers than on plans available to the general public. However, student plans have been found to have higher administrative costs, with less of the premiums students pay going towards medical care.

Private insurers posted a 2% profit average in 2008, Aetna’s student health plans covering 32,737 students the same year resulted in an 11% profit margin, according to a report by Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. Profit margins for United were 27%, while 26% for HPIC and 22% for Security Mutual.

The same report shows, on average, 30-cents of every premium dollar of student plans went towards profits and administrative costs, and 45-cents for students at state schools who faced the greatest disparity, compared to 12-cents for general public plans.

On average, between the 2005 and 2008 school years, $11 of students’ monthly premiums went toward company profits, $21 toward administrative costs and $72 for medical services.

According to the report, 360,000-students’ obtained their health insurance via a parent, spouse or employer, while over 97,000 purchased it from 14-Massachusetts providers. Student health plan average yearly premiums come to $1,216, and benefits while meeting minimum standards, can differ from school to school.

Students at several campuses for over a year have been pushing state regulators to investigate lower-cost insurance products that offer limited coverage that leave them vulnerable to enormous medical debts after accidents or serious injuries.

Students free to buy the more expensive policies, have many of them covered by plans capped with $50,000 a year per injury or illness, with some placing significantly lower limits on prescription drugs and doctor visits.

According to the report, most of the 14 insurance companies selling student insurance plans are from out of state, with local Blue Cross, and Blue Shield of Massachusetts , including Tufts Health Plan having smaller profit margins and administrative costs. Blue Cross with only 1.4% of the student market made a 2% profit margin, , while Tufts Health with 1.6% reported a 2% loss on student products.