Students are often portrayed as being lazy, indolent, or, perhaps most damningly of all: scruffy. But today's students are often more active and involved than their parents, and they demand the rewards that come with this behaviour. Valuable pieces of equipment are de rigueur in many of the UK's student halls; parents having lavished attention upon their offspring in the form of gifts, money and, increasingly, credit cards ? cards immediately used to go out and purchase more shiny offerings.

In fact, the operation involved in conveying a freshly minted student to the halls of their choosing can take on a military bearing as their hi-fi, decks, television, and computers are loaded into and on top of the car chosen to risk the soon-to-be-familiar route to the student halls. This, of course, is not to mention the miniaturised electronics that go hand in hand with their larger brothers: the mp3 player and omnipresent mobile phone (fortunately these are, now, becoming one and the same) ? all are essential student equipment.

It doesn't stop at electrical goods either, as expensive clothing hits higher on the priority list of our average student ? today's student is, after all, on display for their sartorial elegance as much as for their intellectual prowess.

All of which begs the question: What if it all just?disappears?

Theft, as it always has, runs rife throughout the UK ? a recent survey by the Home Office (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk ) shows that there has been a 4% rise in robbery in April to June 2005 compared to the same period a year earlier, while UK crime figures have increased generally for the first time in six years. Apart from the figures, student insurance has become more of a priority as UK consumer society tightens its grip on another generation of students.

The task of insurance, however, usually falls to the parent. This has not gone unnoticed by the UK banking industry and, aside from the traditional insurance providers, the high street banks plus their myriad financial solution offshoots (see Barclays - http://www.barclays.co.uk for an example of the sheer range of products available), there are a growing number of new competitors to the insurance market. The icing on the cake is that even from within individual insurance services there are usually a number of differing insurance packages to choose from. Making the right choice from so many insurance packages can ease the financial burden of insuring your child through their student years.

It's often a good idea to use an insurance provider databases service like Moneynet (http://www.moneynet.co.uk ) to check on the current rates and insurance packages available, if only because services such as these are constantly updated with the latest insurance or, indeed, banking, information. However, the next stage comes down to personal choice: do you want to extend your home insurance to cover student possessions away from home? Or perhaps you want a separate service from a provider catering specifically to the student insurance sector? Or, and this might be just a touch too far, do you want a service that your new student can monitor themselves, thus learning the importance of financial considerations to modern lifestyles?

Well, it's risky, but the choice is yours.

Disclaimer

All information contained in this article is for general information purpose only and should not be construed as advice under the financial Services act 1986. You are strongly advised to take appropriate professional and legal advice before entering into any binding contracts.