The Marin College Student Question [for Insurance Coverage]

This article is not about health insurance, lets just set that straight.

This short article is about liability protection on your home insurance policy for your college student.

Covering college students under your homeowners policy is.... complicated.

Does my son have liability protection when he is away at college?

The executive summary is that you may or may not be covered and the only certain way to find out is to ask your insurance agent and or insurer.

First off, all home insurance policies are different, therefore you really need to consult your own policy to find a solid answer.

Some policies though follow a similar form. The Insurance Services Office has a policy that many insurers base some or part of their policy on. It can serve as a good starting point. This potential base policy the ISO HO 00 03 10 00 defines an insured as many things including [Section b] : "A student enrolled 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: (1) 24 and your relative; or (2) 21 and in your care or the care of a person described in a.(1) above; or ..."

Rereading this statement is important. Actually reading your actual definition is far more important. But from this statement its clear that a student needs to be 24 or under, be a full time student, and...[this gets confusing] have been a permanent resident of your home before going to college. If this sounds complicated - good I would hate for insureds to think it was straight forward because I do not believe that this issue is.

What is very unclear to me is how do you define "permanent" residency before college. Does a long vacation in Europe prevent coverage, one where mail was forwarded? What about a daughter that moved out for a while to live with another relative and then moved back home before going to college? How about divorce situations?

For a a lot of Marin families this student 'definition' is crucially important. My advice is to reach out to your agent and start a discussion. Its possible that you may need to pick up a small renters policy or seek clarification from the homeowners insurance carrier. Better yet - consider an insurer that has a more broad definition.

Lastly this short article only discussed the definition of college students primarily for liability protection. We have not dug into personal property away at college which is a whole different matter.

Scott W Johnson is the owner of Marindependent Insurance Services LLC and enjoys diving deep into account reviews with his clients. Marin Based, San Francisco Bay Focused. CA Lic 0H11625.