PackMom

S2 is moving off campus at the end of the semester. He will be sharing a house with three friends.
A parent of one of the roommates sent me an email tonight proposing that we get renter's insurance to cover the guys in their new place.

DH says that he thinks S2 will be covered under our Homeowner's policy as long as he is our dependent and in school (that we pay for).

Does anybody know if that's true or do we need a separate renter's policy.

I tried to look it up on our insurer's website but found no answer.

lamom

When son went off to college I bought insurance from nssi (or something like that). $150 a yr. Now that he is a grad student, we continued with the policy. The 5 or 6K replacement value is enough to cover the few belongings he has. It covers his belongings wherever they are. I wouldn't want to put a claim against our homeowners policy, even if we could.

nysmile

Make Sure Your College Student Is Covered - washingtonpost.com

I found this article. It might help.

"just"aMom

We bought in to this CSI College Student Insurance Home rather than "renter's insurance"

D lives off campus too.

justhismom

Good timing on this post..My S too will be moving off campus next year to share an apartment with a roomate. I asked my friend just last night about renters insurance. She handles our home owners insurance and said he will need a seperate policy for the apartment. She did inform me that they are very cheap.

trojanchick99

I think it depends on your homeowner's insurance as to whether or not your student is covered. If they are not, there are two companies I'm familiar with that specialize in student insurance: CSI as mentioned earlier and NSSI (National Student Services, Inc.). Both have been around awhil. This is something students should have if not covered under the parent's homeowner's insurance, even if they are in university housing.

younghoss

won't your local insurer return your calls? You are interested in learning more about insurance, yet your local agent won't return your calls?
Time to look for a new agent.

Melsmom

State farm $75/yr. I think D needs appx. $200,000 worth for her apt.

GA2012MOM

$200,000 worth of insurance for an apartment?????????

07DAD

I checked this out through my agent last year concerning my S who was going OOS.

There was coverage under my homeowners' policy so long as S did not formally take up residence out of state. That had to do with S voting in our state rather than in the state where he attends college.

Melsmom

That's right $200 K! (A bargain at $75/yr!)

younghoss

OMG! He has 200k of property he needs to insure for his first time in a real apt? I'd urge him to store his jewelry and furs at Mom and Dads- it's way too risky to be a college boy with roommates and having that kind of valuables in the same home.

PackMom

younghoss, I did not say anything about unreturned calls. I said I tried to find info. on the website last night but was not successful.

I did talk to someone in my State Farm agents office today.
I was told that our Homeowners' Policy would cover S2 for up to 10% of our policy's value. In our case that would be $18,000 with a $500 deductible. S2's possesions prob. don't amount to more than $2500 at most (and that's counting every dirty sock).

Since he is covered under our policy, she recommended that instead of getting an additional Renter's Policy which would also have a $500 deductible, I might want to consider getting a policy that just covers his laptop which is the most likely thing to get stolen or broken at college. This policy would cost $50/yr. with no deductible.

The renter's policy does cover liability which our policy would not cover on his college rental house. That may be something to consider. I'll have to pass on all this info to DH tonight and decide what our best option is.

It's funny, S1 will grad. in May and we never even thought of getting insurance for him. I guess we just assumed our HO policy would cover him and didn't worry about it.
Thank goodness he hasn't needed it (knock on wood)

Melsmom

D's rental apartment REQUIRED $200K, I wonder if my home even has that much? It must be for any damage incurred?

younghoss

I think now you get my point, Packmom. The best place to find out more about renters insurance is calling an agent rather than seeking advice from college moms and dads.