{"id":820,"date":"2015-09-08T09:41:05","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T14:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/?p=820"},"modified":"2015-09-08T09:41:05","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T14:41:05","slug":"insurance-for-your-college-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/2015\/insurance-for-your-college-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurance for Your College Student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did your Coppell student head off to college? Chances are they took with them a laptop, television, iPad or other device, cell phone, or perhaps a bicycle or musical instrument to their new dorm room. While we want to believe that our college kid is incredibly responsible, the truth is, he or she is bound to forget to lock their dorm door at least once\u2014and his or her laptop may get stolen. Or they may leave their belongings unattended in the library while they take a phone call. Or burn Easy-Mac in the microwave and set off sprinklers, causing water damage to his or her computer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to refresh the insurance considerations that a college student\u2014away from home\u2014brings.<\/p>\n

For insureds, the Insurance Information Institute recommends creating a \u201cdorm inventory.\u201d Keep a list of all of the items the student will bring to school, along with their estimated value.<\/p>\n

Here are some Homeowners\u2019 and Auto questions that arise when a student leaves home for college.<\/p>\n

Does a Homeowners\u2019 policy provide coverage for college students?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A parent\u2019s Homeowners\u2019 insurance policy does provide some coverage for a student who is away at school \u2013 but it\u2019s limited. The ISO form HO 00 03 extends the definition of \u201cinsured\u201d to:<\/p>\n

\u201cA student \u00a0enrolled in school full time, as defined by the school, who was a resident of your household before moving out to attend school, provided the student is under the age of<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 24 and your relative; or<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 21 and in your care or the care of<\/em>\u201d your residents of your household who are<\/em> relatives.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>This is where insureds need to be careful. A student may have stated a term as a full-time student, but dropped a class or two over the semester. Or the student may have turned 24 years old during the semester or be in grad school\u2014at which point coverage would no longer apply.<\/p>\n

What type of insurance coverage is provided for college students?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four coverages are extended to applicable college students under a Homeowners\u2019 policy:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Coverage C<\/strong>– Personal Property.<\/strong>This provides coverage for personal property owned or used by an insured while it is outside of the home. However, the limit of insurance is 10% of the Coverage C limit for personal property in the Homeowners\u2019 policy, or $1,000, whichever is greater. Note that coverage does not apply if the student\u2019s dorm has been unoccupied for more than 60 consecutive days. If Junior leaves his belongings in his dorm room over the summer, and comes back to find his television missing, coverage would not apply.<\/li>\n
  2. Coverage E \u2013 Personal Liability.<\/strong>This covers the student for legal defense costs or coverage from an accident (excluding auto, boat or aircraft) that causes bodily injury or property damage.<\/li>\n
  3. Coverage F \u2013 Medical Payments.<\/strong>This provides for the medical expenses of others because of bodily injury occurring at the student\u2019s dwelling.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong>Will the student live on or off campus?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If the child doesn\u2019t live in college-owned housing, an insured\u2019s Homeowners\u2019 policy may not provide coverage. Insurance issues arise depending on if the child is in a dorm, apartment or rented house. These variables, especially for older students, can impact your current protection and dictate a need to modify your policy or purchase a new one. And find out how many roommates Junior will have\u2014insurance companies need to know this for coverage considerations. To avoid on-again\/off-again insurance issues, a separate Renters\u2019 policy for college students may be necessary.<\/p>\n

    Will the student take a car to college?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If so, does the parent (insured) own it or is the car in the student\u2019s name? An insurance agent must be made aware of the new garaging address\u2014if the student attends college in a less populous area, it may save the insured money. Agents should discuss with their clients how coverage is affected by change of address and ensure that minimum auto liability is met\u2014particularly when a student attends college out of state.<\/p>\n

    If the student is not taking a car to school, it may not be the best choice to remove the child from an existing Auto policy to reduce cost. Keeping the child listed on the Auto policy ensures coverage during school breaks and while he or she drives a friend\u2019s car at school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Did your Coppell student head off to college? Chances are they took with them a laptop, television, iPad or other device, cell phone, or perhaps a bicycle or musical instrument to their new dorm room. While we want to believe that our college kid is incredibly responsible, the truth is, he or she is bound […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auto-insurance","category-home-insurance","category-insurance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821,"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions\/821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insurancefordfw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}