First Year Student Living In Halls?
 | Student Possessions Insurance |
Starting at university is an exciting time, whether you’re a first-year student moving into a halls of residence, or if you’ve found your own student pad for the year with friends. While it is easy for the excitement of the year ahead to take over, knowing how to keep your belongings safe in these new environments will make a huge difference in your enjoyment of the coming year.
Most students will move in with their own televisions, laptops, game consoles and other high value items. Whilst you were in the family home you may have shared these items with family members.
The Office of National Statistics reports that young people are more likely to be victims of burglary, citing households with the highest percentage of burglaries happened where the head of the household was aged 16-24.
It is no secret that thieves target students due to the perceived high value items that will be contained in the property.
What can you do to be reassured that while away from home, your belongings are safe? We’ve put together a short list of steps you can take to feel reassured in your new university environment.
The most obvious of steps but its amazing how quickly you may feel comfortable in your new lodgings. Sometimes with comfort can become complacency and a door or window may be left unlocked.
Thieves will tend to work on a risk versus rewards basis the greater the risk of being caught the bigger the reward they will need.
By leaving a window or a door unlocked or slightly open to a potential thief is saying “come have a look at me”
If you think about the risk v reward bases the thief is thinking I can be in and out without any noise – low risk of being caught and if I get caught can make up a story such as sorry wrong house door was open was looking for “Joe Bloggs”
Keep high value items out of sight even when you’re at home. This might seem over cautious, but you don’t want to be leaving your goods on display like they are in a shop window.
To a thief looking through a window if they can see a laptop, games console, expensive jewellery then they will be doing the calculation of risk versus reward so the less they can see the more likely they will move on to another property with a greater reward for them.
But theft is not always as a result of a break-in many occur via visitors to your property – For example: How well does your room-mates really know that person they have brought in to your home who is on their course or they met in town.
It is also a good idea to consider how many high value items do you really need to bring to university – Ask yourself do you really need the item with you?
We all tend to get items delivered now and we all know that the estimated delivery dates / times can change which means that your may not be at home when the delivery is now due to come.
Where you can’t be home for the delivery, please don’t advertise the fact that the accommodation is empty by leaving a note on the door for the delivery person or ask them to leave the delivery on your doorstep in your absence.
To avoid this either: re-schedule the deliver for when you are home or to a collect point such as a local shop or if you know your neighbours ask them if they would be happy to accept your delivery.
Many universities now have their own apps that not only allow easy access to your emails and information on your course, but also offer features such as campus maps and security information. These can be a great way to have information quickly to hand should something go wrong.
There are also apps designed specifically for security that many universities recommend such as SafeZone and bSafe . It’s worth downloading these apps not only to help you with university life in general, but to give you reassurance that you can quickly check what to do should you have a problem.
Unfortunately, no matter how many steps you take to keep your belongings safe, there will always be a risk that something might go wrong. That’s where insurance can help.
A single high value item alone can costly to replace, especially if you’re already on a tight budget. Insurance can help with that cost meaning that if you need to replace an item, it’ll be far less of a financial burden.
Going to university is often a life shaping experience, and one that you should enjoy as much as you can. However, personal security is always worth considering, and most people will often find the enjoyment much easier with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you’re prepared for the worst.
