It's that time of year again. College students head back to campus soon. Why not have your college student pack an insurance policy along with her small fridge? Students take quite a lot of expensive personal property with them to school. Books, computers, televisions, and video game consoles to name a few. So how do you insure all of this?
There are basically two options for insuring a dorm room. One option is that you add the dorm room to your current homeowners insurance. Usually this will cover the dorm for 10% of your current policy. Say you had homeowners insurance for $200,000, the dorm would be covered for $20,000. Make sure to check with your insurance carrier, because some carriers don't offer this option and some policies will only cover on-campus dorm rooms.
However, there is a downside to adding the dorm room to your homeowners insurance. Any claim made for the dorm room will go on the homeowners policy. Multiple claims can raise your rates and can stay on your record for several years.
Option two is to get your college student renters insurance. It's fairly easy to get coverage at a low deductible, such as through College Student Insurance. They specialize in student property protection and don't limit coverage to just on-campus dorm rooms. As long as the policyholder is enrolled in school, the policy will cover off-campus housing as well.
So how do you decide between these two options? Here are a few tips that might help in the decision making process. Check with your current provider to see whether you can add the dorm room to your current policy. If not, compare rates with your carrier and other carriers for renters insurance policies. And make sure to ask if the policy covers the value of the property, or just its replacement.
Also, ask about part-time drivers discount. If your college student isn't taking a car with them they are technically "part-time" drivers and some insurance companies will offer a discount.
