Off to College? Check your insurance coverage
Most family discussions about postsecondary education centre on finding the money to get there. But there are other issues parents need to worry about before Labour Day rolls around.
Like what happens if some light-handed thief walks off with all their stuff.
Chances are, when you send junior off to university, you’re also sending along a small arsenal of expensive equipment – laptop, smart phone, iPod, television and maybe a top-of-the-line mountain bike – that might be of interest to certain fellow students.
As long as your children are full-time students and expected to return home during the summer, their belongings are usually covered by your homeowner’s policy, assuming they live in residence.
If they move off campus, however, they might need to purchase their own renters insurance policy. Some home insurance policies may limit the amount of insurance for off-premises belongings to a small percentage of the total amount of coverage for your family’s personal possessions. As a result, laptops and other expensive electronics may not be fully covered.
Similarly, students in off-campus housing will need renter's insurance for both property and liability. Renter’s insurance is just like traditional homeowner’s insurance except, since students aren’t covering the property itself, it’s much cheaper, generally 30% of what you might pay at home.
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: LD | Aug 26, 2021 9:35:21 AM
This article is so true. My daughter is off to college and requires insurance to live in her apt. but since she is coming home for the summer months the insurance is covered on our policy but for only 20% of our policy. It was an eye opener, as it turned out, our policy required us to relook at our own insurance and make the appropriate adjustments. As for our son, who is also off to college, because of his age, his insurance was slightly higher so we needed to pay a small difference. We were informed that during the 1st week of college a laptop is stolen in a residence building. This made us look at getting insurance - we definitely couldn't afford to purchase another laptop.
Posted by: Christene marnoch | Aug 26, 2021 2:48:32 PM
Learn about your insurance coverage. Some of the definitions of insured include a "dependant child away at school that will be returning home after the school education is complete". Some companies have limits on the value of what they will cover while the student is away and some do NOT.
Any insurance policy will have "special limits of insurance" and you will need to watch what is limited on that. It does not matter if they are at school or not.
Read and understand your coverage. If you dont understand, ASK QUESTIONS.