Depending on the insurer, cover for sons and daughters possessions when going to college, university, polytechnic or boarding school may be included under the parents home contents insurance. Provided that outside term time the children come home. In this instance insurers may treat the possessions, student contents, they take with them as being temporarily removed from the home. In which case a limited form of insurance applies. This may be automatically included under the policy wording or chargeable at a reasonable additional premium. An example of cover provided could be as follows:

Up to £2,500 for damage to contents temporarily removed from the home but within the territorial limits (UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands) for the purpose of attending a college, university, polytechnic or boarding school. Theft is restricted to forcible and violent entry to or exit from a building. Excluding damage insured under another insurance policy. All other policy terms, conditions and exclusion apply.

The other alternative is to take out a student possessions insurance under the name of the child, which may offer a wider scope of cover and would not affect the no claims discount of the parents’ home contents insurance.