Has anyone purchased either? We purchased renters insurance for our son the last two years he lived in the dorm and files two claims one each year. Totally worth the $14.00 a month . We are looking at Tuition Insurance has anyone bought this?
I’ve never heard of tuition insurance, but my parents bought renters insurance for the three years I was in the dorms, and I paid for my own senior year. I never had to file a claim, but the peace of mind was worth it.
How does tuition insurance work? I’m curious.
Often your homeowners policy will cover your college student if they are still a dependent. Check your policy before buying renters insurance. If your homeowners policy doesn’t cover your student, definitely get renters insurance. Well worth the expense - especially if they are in off campus housing. Make sure the policy covers temporary housing as well as contents.
thank you!
Our oldest son will be a junior and we purchased renters insurance for him, it was money well spent. Our second son starts this fall , and his school sent us info on Tuition insurance. I watched the video, if he withdraws for illness, injury or mental health reasons we will recover our costs /losses. Has anyone done this? It makes sense to us , just wondering why we have never heard of it. Also the costs range from $29.00 for low to $270.00 medium and up to $1200.00 for coverage of $20,000.00 per semester. I think that it is such a wide range of costs.
We bought “college student insurance”. It also covers accidental damage (dropped laptop, that happened twice) that home insurance would not and deductible is just $25. Filing a claim was easy and totally worth it. Your premium will depend on the school location and coverage amount you choose. It covers your student whether he lives on/off campus, of during study abroad. This is what I use:
The first time I bought renters insurance, not until grad school, there was a huge, random fire in my apartment building. Some people lost everything. SO glad I had it!! I wouldn’t have even thought to get it if my lease didn’t require it.
The danger in just adding your kids to the home policy is if they need to file a claim, that’s a hit against your insurance. Many homeowner policies are pretty mean about filing a lot of claims. I lived in a townhome association and the units in the building across from mine kept flooding the basement. The first time, no problem the individual owner’s policies paid. Second time, grumble grumble but paid. Third time, their policies were cancelled. All of them, different companies. The unit owners realized they should have had the HOA pay for the damage.
Also, a policy for your (parents) home may have a $500-$1000 deductible. Are you going to file a claim for the stolen bike or laptop? A student policy, as stated above, might only have a $25 deductible and if they cancel the coverage on you, just buy a different policy for the next year.
My daughter is moving into a house and the landlord requires coverage so one girl’s parents just added the other two. That’s nice of them, but I think i might try for a student policy too just to cover the personal items.
We also had the "college student insurance " referenced above. I looked into my homeowners but it has a $1000 deductible and limits on electronics. My son had 2 claims and both were covered with a $25 deductible. Definitely worth it. Bought it for my D and they even covered water damage to her phone.
No experience with tuition insurance but in hind sight I do wish I had looked into it. With known medical issues it is probably forth it in case of a flare or exacerbation while at school. There is also possibility of new issues arising.
I didn’t buy it last year and the only thing that happened was D dropped her iphone and shattered the screen. $150 repair. Would that have been covered?
@OHMomof2 , I believe it would have been covered. You can call them if you are considering. The exception to our policy is “items made mostly of glass”, or something like that. We did not file for the stepped on glasses . DS claims were related to the dropped laptop. With some kids it is not a question of if but when. You need to keep purchase receipts showing ownership of the ruined item for the claim. You take it anywhere you want for repair and send them paperwork for reimbursement.
Yes, CSI would cover that. My son had his broken smartphone replaced very quickly with no hassles.
^ good to know, thanks @LoveMyPuppies and @patsmom .
Any thoughts on CSI vs https://my.nssi.com/
Price is about the same.
No experience with NSSI but my son has had CSI ever since 2007. He had it throughout college and was able to keep it afterwards because he’s employed by his university (CSI insurance is available to faculty and staff as well as to undergrad and grad students). He has made claims twice in that time and both were settled immediately less his $25 deductible. I’ve heard that companies like this might refuse to renew the policy if to many claims are made so I worry that the third time might be the charm and he might get cancelled. If so, he’ll probably look into NSSI.
There are numerous threads on CC about both of these companies so if you do a search you might get some more info.
Thanks! I just went with CSI, she’s living on campus this summer so can use it right away.
My son’s glasses were covered when he rolled over on them in bed. Also used CSI
Re: glasses, just my favorite heads-up because no one believes it when I tell them - http://goggles4u.com has them for $9.90 delivered (and more styles for more $). Less than the deductible.Sometimes sunglasses tint is free (every other week or so I get an email). I own probably 15 pairs from there and D at college has 3. I’ve ordered from there for a couple of years now.
As for tuition plans, I would recommend considering them. I wish our school offered them. In our case, our student almost did a medical withdrawal last year for an issue that we never saw coming or considered. Hard to predict if you need it but nice to have if you do. The losses from withdrawing far exceed the cost of repairing a phone or laptop. One is a minor setback, the other can mean more loans or being unable to finish.
We never bothered with tuition insurance, but I think that is a personal decision for each family to make for itself. We did get the CSI, and my D used it twice in one year and was told she would not be renewed! She cracked the screen on her phone, and then got her camera wet and it couldn’t be fixed. CSi was quick to reimburse us, then dropped her for next year.
I guess it’s good that there are two highly rated companies that offer it! D reminds me that she broke her iphone TWICE last year, so it was $300 she paid to fix it.
Now that she has insurance I’ll assume nothing will be stolen, dropped or flooded ever again 