Avoid Dorm-Room Disasters

What if your laptop gets stolen or your off-campus apartment catches on fire?

If you are a college student, you probably are packing up your laptop computer, cell phone, digital camera and audio equipment to go back to school.

Back-to-college spending will average about $600 per student this year, with the largest chunk of that going to new electronics, the National Retail Federation said. That’s just new spending to go back to school. The national average cost for just books and supplies at a four-year private college in 2006-07 was $935, according to the College Board.

So before you register for classes, you should find out if your stuff is protected against theft and fire.

Theft is the most common crime on college campuses, according to the U.S. Department of Education. There were about 40,000 thefts of U.S. college campuses in 2006, the department said.

Fires on campus also are becoming more common, with 3,300 fires reported in 2005, up from 1,800 in 1998, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

If someone stole your laptop, or you lost all of your clothes to smoke damage from a fire, could you afford to replace them? You could if you had insurance. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3