Interesting article from Newsday (actually from the Baltimore Sun) regarding insurance for your stuff when you’re away at school. Basically, the easiest thing to take away from the article is this:
Students who don’t bring big-ticket items to school or who can easily afford on their own to replace damaged or stolen items don’t need to buy insurance. Plus, it’s possible that they’re already covered under their parents’ homeowners’ insurance. (Check your policy.)
We get a lot of questions about safety and security on campus. Fact is, we’re a big campus, with over 20,000 students and another 15,000 faculty and staff. When you put that many people on an 1,100-acre piece of land, you run the possibility of things getting stolen or damaged. If you’re going to bring an iPod to the library, and you decide to leave it on the table while you make a quick run to the dining hall, there’s probably a chance it’s not going to be there when you get back.
But that’s going to happen whether you’re here at Stony Brook or in the middle of nowhere at a school of 300 people; it’s a matter of being responsible for yourself and your stuff. When you leave your residence hall, lock your door; if you have a car on campus, don’t leave a CD player sitting on the passenger seat with the windows open. When you look at the crime stats that every school is required to provide, the majority of the incidents you see are those types of things. (And there are probably dozens, if not hundreds, more that don’t get reported.)
If you’re living off-campus, you will probably want to get renter’s insurance, however. It usually costs around fifteen or twenty bucks a month, and covers you in case of emergency. (And that’s good preparation for when you get that first apartment after you graduate, too!)