Prepping for College

When the kids get ready for college, we can tend to think about how he or she will manage in the new environment and learn quickly what it takes to put a "household" together.  Isn't it amazing the ironing boards, sheets, kitchen supplies and such that go into prepping a young person for college.

Yet, there are other matters which can be overlooked sometimes. I found this help article from Al Clark's newsletter.

BACK TO SCHOOL TIPS YOU NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT - PARENT'S EDITION Topic Summary: A Few Things You May Not Have Thought About When Getting Kids Back To College: Insurance and Identity Theft. Having a child away at school has some insurance implications. First, your auto insurance company may have a rate reduction for you because your child is not living at home and is driving the car less frequently. Next, be sure that your regularhomeowners policy will cover the child's dorm or apartment contents.  Lap-top computers are the easiest target for college-based thieves. Your insurance company may add a rider (additional coverage) attachment to your policy for a few dollars.  As for health insurance,  make sure your student has a copy of the relevant insurance cards and knows about obtaining referrals and approvals (if necessary) before seeking treatment. If you are insured by a health maintenance organization (HMO), check to see if your student will be outside the HMO service area while away at school. If this occurs, the student will probably have coverage for emergency care, but might have to travel to a physician or hospital within the HMO service area for routine care. If your insurer is part of a preferred provider organization (PPO), your insurer may pay benefits at out-of-network levels if you are outside your network. A Perfect Storm! According to identitytheft.com, college students comprise almost 35% of all victims.  Therefore, be sure to add a paper shredder to the back-to-school shopping list!  Students are easy marks for identity theft because:  Students move a lot, so their mail does not get forwarded all the time.  That annoying pile of pre-approved credit offers that we all receive way too often all end-up in the same trash can in the school's mailroom; Their school loan forms get misplaced or just thrown out rather than shredded. These forms have all of the info ID theft thieves need; They have clean credit which is what thieves seek access to; It may be wise to have the student pull a credit report twice per year to make sure there are no open accounts existing that are not desired. Their first one is free.  www.annualcreditreport.com Identity Theft Update: How Stuff Works has a great set of pages to learn more about Identity Theft. Their resource page is HERE Three videos on the topic can be found HERE;  Identity Theft