Homeowner's Insurace: Protecting your college student's property while away at school.

   Under home insurance contracts there are certain provisions provided for college student's property. Certain portions of their parent home insurance coverage is extended in event of a property loss while away at school. In most cases there is predetermined limit for the extended coverage, and is usually 10% of the personal property limit on the primary home insurance policy. For example, if you currently carry $150,000 of personal property coverage on your home insurance policy the limit for your college student's property would be $15,000.
   In addition to the personal property coverage being extended to your college student's property; you can also add a property schedule for higher value items such as a laptop computer to the primary home insurance policy. When these items are scheduled it awards more comprehensive coverage to the listed items, which in most cases can mean agreed value coverage (retail purchase price) in stead of actual cash value coverage in the event of a loss.
   Your home insurance policy is not the only policy effected by your student moving away to school. You will want to inform your insurance agent of the move to allow them to endorse your auto policy with the appropriate rating changes. There are different effects to policy if your student takes a vehicle to school as opposed to them leaving the car behind. In all cases you will want to leave your student on the policy as they will still be considered a listed driving member of the household.