Seven Reasons Your College Student Doesn’t Need Renters Insurance

For a number of years now, the insurance industry has worked tirelessly to fill the heads of parents with fear of the things that might happen to college students, in order to encourage them to purchase renters insurance for their students.

At fifteen dollars a month or so, the profits on these policies are clearly beyond measure!  Since it’s more important to protect your wallet from these high monthly costs than to protect your student, you’ve resisted but you’re weak and crumbling in the face of these fear tactics.

If you need some reinforcement to stay strong against their tactics, you’re in the right place!  We’ve found seven reasons your college student doesn’t need renters insurance!  To illustrate the point, we’ll use Knoxville, TN Renters Insurance as an example policy.

Why a Knoxville policy as an example?  Because for its size, the city has quite a few colleges and universities.  From University of Tennessee to Johnson University, and from South College to Pellissippi State, we’re here to protect you from the scary stories you’ve been fed about why renters insurance is important.

With no further ado, here are Seven Reasons Your College Student Doesn’t Need Renters Insurance.  Are they good reasons?  Are they legitimate reasons? Or are some of these reasons delivered with tongue firmly in cheek?  You decide, and then see if you think your college student doesn’t need renters insurance.

Your College Student Doesn’t Need Renters Insurance Because They Live In Dorms Which Are Always Safe, Secure, And Private

You’ve heard how even students who live in dorms supposedly need renters insurance, right?  Well that can’t possibly be true because dorms always either house one person per room or only pair your student with trustworthy roommates who would never steal anything.

The people down the hall can always be trusted, as well – especially because your student would never leave their door unlocked when they go somewhere for “just a moment.”  Right?

That logic doesn’t seem to hold.  Buzzfeed agrees.  Clearly, college students don’t need renters insurance because roommates in dorms and the people down the hall would never steal anything!  Or would they?  There is bound to be at least one person in that dorm building with sticky fingers when it comes to expensive electronics.

Textbooks Are Cheap, So You Don’t Need To Cover Your Student

Textbook prices are absolutely not a good reason college students need renters insurance.  The publisher thinks that the Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications is worth two grand – yes, two thousand dollars – but you don’t need to worry.  We’re quite certain that everyone in the class has purchased the book, and not on person is expecting to steal someone’s copy.

And worst case, you can probably find a PDF online.  It’s sure to be the current edition, and easy to work from.  And legal, of course.

It’s obvious that renters insurance for college students is unnecessary, because you wouldn’t bother to file a claim if that textbook (or all their textbooks) were stolen.  Right?

Renters Insurance For Your Student Is A Waste Because You Have Nothing To Protect

Did you guarantee or co-sign your student’s apartment?  Probably, since they have basically zero credit and zero rental history.  If you did, your college student doesn’t need renters insurance because you have nothing to protect.  You don’t own anything that a landlord’s insurance would sue you for if your student caused a fire.  That makes you judgement proof.

Besides, it doesn’t matter.  Co-signing their lease doesn’t actually legally bind you to anything, right?  You’re not responsible for the condition of the apartment or the damage they do to it.  It’s just your signature.  On paper.  On a contract.  Even if you did own a home or other things worth pursuing you for to pay for damages done to the apartment, they couldn’t really do that, could they?

The landlord’s insurance won’t subrogate against you after paying for that accidental fire, because the subrogation department is run by kind and understanding people.  It’s certainly not run by lawyers who are intent on collecting every possible cent from anyone they can possibly link to a loss!

Actually…  Lawyers are exactly who run that department.  But since you have nothing to protect, it doesn’t matter that renters insurance for your college student could shield both you and them from personally being on the hook for that six-figure fire loss.

Crime Never Happens On College Campuses, So Your Student Doesn’t Need Renters Insurance

Not only is crime so rare as to be unheard of on college campuses, but no one from outside the school has ever made their way onto a college campus with ill intent.

That means the “data” offered by the Department of Education about campus crime statistics clearly is just made up to scare you.  No one in America is concerned about campus crime, so your student has zero risk.

Well, that’s not quite right.  College campuses are generally pretty safe places, but those linked statistics are accurate.  Besides, it’s not as if college students ever spend time in questionable places off-campus.  Dive bars and similar venues are rarely popular with students.  So you don’t need to worry about crime or theft of their stuff – even though you paid for that stuff in the first place, and would pay again to replace it.

The reality is that you don’t know the sort of places they’re taking their laptop or cell phone.  But that’s just fine, because you can afford to replace that device out-of-pocket.

Apple Will Replace Stolen iPads For Free, Which Is Better Than Renters Insurance

Very few people are aware of this program offered by Apple.  They’re testing the concept, so it’s only available in TN, and only to college students who don’t have Tennessee Renters Insurance.

But during the pilot, they’ll replace a stolen device at no charge.  As of now, there is no practical limit on how many times one person may participate in the program.  Since it’s free, it’s better than renters insurance!

Wait a minute…  We might have made that up to make a point.  Apple often can help you track a stolen device they made, but they’re certainly not about to replace it for free.  Not for college students, not for anyone.  But since you can get the same price to replace a stolen device as what you paid when you started the line of service it’s associated with…  Wait, no, you can’t do that either.  Without renters insurance, you or your student is stuck paying full price for that iPad.

College Students Aren’t Negligent, So Your Student Doesn’t Need Renters Insurance

College students always make the best decisions, and never are negligent.  They have a great deal of experience in how to use their judgement effectively, and situations never get out of hand in unplanned ways.  They never play pranks on each other, and those pranks certainly never result in bodily injury or property damage for which they – or you – could be liable.

If one of those pranks, or something equally ridiculous, results in injuries to another person, they can sue the student and you both for their injuries.  While it’s common for a lawsuit to include anyone who might be even remotely connected with the incident, because defendants can be removed later, that’s fine.  You have all the money you need to spend on lawyers, so your student won’t need the policy to pay for their defense.

Or will they?  Without the coverage, and without unlimited pockets on your part, they might not have a defense against the lawsuit.  That could, potentially, be problematic.

College Renters Insurance Isn’t Important Because Graduates Never Have Any Debt

Since your student won’t have any debt when they graduate college, they don’t need renters insurance.  They won’t owe student loans, and they won’t owe anything on credit cards that you don’t know about.  They can afford the risk of replacing their property if it’s stolen or lost in a fire, or even if a pipe in their apartment bursts.  They could even take on debt to replace property, since they don’t have any other debt.

We all know that’s not true.

Instead of seven reasons your college student doesn’t need renters insurance, we’re now looking at seven reasons that renters insurance is absolutely crucial for college students.  As it turns out, the insurance industry isn’t using scare tactics to get you to spend money.  Risk is inherent in everything one does, but that’s doubly so for college students who have limited life experience and may be hundreds or thousands of miles from home (and your guidance.)

Renters insurance for college students protects them, but it can also protect you and your assets against liability risk because their policy would be the first to respond in the event of a fire, injury, or other liability claim.  On top of that, however, your own homeowners or renters insurance can also respond if you’re also on their lease for example.  This offers additional protection, and at about fifteen dollars a month it’s protection worth having.

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