Going to university can be a crash-course in understanding all that real-world stuff your parents have been dealing with for decades. If you’re living away from home for the first time, you may not realise that all along your belongings have probably been insured in the event of them being lost or stolen.

If you’re moving into halls, or your own place to study, you will want to consider taking out student insurance to cover your belongings. Whilst you may be able to add yourself to your parents’ contents insurance, it’s more likely that you will need student contents insurance tailored more specifically to your needs.

Before taking out your insurance cover, it’s worth doing a little calculation with your budget to see how much you can afford to pay. If you’re lucky to have a healthy bank account it’s worth taking out a fairly comprehensive student insurance policy. This can cover:

• Walk-in theft;

• Loss of contents, sometimes including college library books or college items on loan;

• Information you have stored on home entertainment equipment or your mobile phone;

• Accidental damage;

• Legal cover if you need to defend yourself legally against other people for damage or injury caused to you;

• Credit card misuse if your cards get stolen.

If you find you’re a bit squeezed for cash, don’t write-off contents insurance completely. You will find that many providers will let you cover valuable items individually, such as iPods, mobile phones, bicycles, laptops, and even your decks or mixers. It will generally cover theft or damage to these even when you take them outside your home.

There are a couple of other things you may want to check too. For example, you might be able to set up your student’s contents insurance on your university address if you haven’t found out your residential address yet – this way you can sort it out in advance, meaning one less thing to worry about during Freshers’ Week!

It may sound obvious but also check that you’ve ensured your contents for a sufficient amount to replace them. Also bear in mind that your premium may increase the following year if you claim a risk more than once. And don’t forget to renew your policy when it expires.

Lastly, as with any financial product, do read all the paperwork and ask questions if you don’t understand anything or it’s not clear what you’re covered for.