An interesting question crossed my mind the other day – do college students need life insurance. And as with any tough financial question, the answer is: it depends on your situation. There are many different reasons to consider getting life insurance while you are a college student, but I want to highlight two big reasons below. If these reasons don't apply to you, it doesn't mean that you don't need life insurance, but you still may want to consider it based on your individual needs.
College Students Getting Married
One of the biggest situations where you may want to consider getting life insurance is marriage. In fact, about 9% of college students are married, while another 15% on top of that are engaged. And while insurance may not be the first thing on your mind when it comes to your significant other, insuring a new marriage or engagement can help protect a couple against financial calamities.
The amount of life insurance you need should be based on how much you need to protect your spouse and any expenses that you may have together. These could include rent or mortgage payments, or other debts. In the event of your death, you don't want to burden your spouse any more by leaving him or her with a pile of bills that they can't pay. That is why it is important to make sure that you are both protected as you take this big step forward in life.
You might be thinking “How can I afford life insurance if I'm only in college?” Jeff Rose, a certified financial planner and founder of www.lifeinsurancebyjeff.com has this to say, “Many consumers are convinced that life insurance is way too expensive which is totally not the case. In fact, for someone in college it should be much cheaper since they are most likely much younger and in good health. A 26 year old could get a $250,000 policy for around $12 per month. I know that when I was in college and even though I was broke I could come up with an extra $12 per month.”
College Students and Debt
Another big situation when a college student should consider getting life insurance has to do with student loans and debt. If you need to get private loans for your education, chances are you had to have someone co-sign the student loan for you (usually a parent). The trouble with having a co-signer is that if anything happened to the student, the co-signer would still be liable for the debt.
This has happened countless times across the United States, where a child dies, and the parent is not only left without their child, but stuck with student loan debt they have to pay off. If you are getting your student loans cosigned, use a life insurance calculator to also factor in the costs of having enough life insurance to pay off the loans should anything happen to you. In fact, many parents are happy to pay the premium for that insurance just to be protected.
Where To Get A Cheap Life Insurance Quote
If you're now realizing the need to get life insurance, we recommend two places to check out for a cheap life insurance quote. Remember, you don't need much – and it can be really cheap if you're young and health.
Policy Genius
Just like it sounds, Policy Genius is a awesome tool that helps you find the best life insurance policy. They offer a lot of options to compare different rates and policies, with the end goal of getting you the coverage you need while saving money.
Quotacy
Quotacy is a great platform that makes getting a quote for life insurance super-easy. It compares rates at almost all the major insurance companies and helps you find the cheapest for you. It's pretty no frills, but gets the job done and you can quickly see how much it would potentially cost to get life insurance for you and your family.
Do you think that college students should consider getting life insurance?
It’s nice that the federal student loans are forgiven in the event of death. It would be nice if the private ones were as well…
These are some great tips. The only thing I’d add is that if a college kid has a baby then they should definitely get life insurance!
I was persuaded by a great life insurance salesperson to buy life insurance when I was a junior in college. It was a whole life policy, and I had little idea what I was doing. I paid that premium for many years, then cashed it in. I wasn’t married or a father, but the guy convinced me it was a good investment. Lesson learned.
My daughter just got accepted to medical school. Projected cost $311,xxx. More than half of that will be borrowed. I will be the beneficiary of $250,000 term life coverage when she walks to her first class. I am guessing it will cost under $300/year. I pay $400/year for same coverage.