Starting in fall 2026, UCI Student Housing will require residents to purchase renters insurance for on-campus and off-campus university housing. This includes Mesa Court, Middle Earth and American Campus Communities (ACC) housing units.
The insurance will offer coverage for personal property loss, personal liability protection for damage to University property, unintentional injury to another person and unintentional damage to another person’s property.
This policy is being implemented following an increase in fires in student housing during the 2024-25 academic year, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Housing Tim Trevan told New University.
Three fires in particular — two in ACC and one in Middle Earth — resulted in significant property damage, leaving the residents responsible for substantial costs. Each of the three fires resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damages, according to data Clery Act Compliance Program Manager CrystalRae Lugo-Shearer shared with New University.
“When a fire is, or any kind of damage, is found to be connected to a resident’s actions, then that resident is responsible for that cost, and so our purpose for going to a required renters insurance is to not have to bill residents for that level of damage,” Trevan said.
Renters insurance can also protect students’ personal belongings in cases of theft or damage. According to UCI Housing, items such as laptop computers, textbooks, smartphones, clothing and other personal property can be covered.
Students must purchase insurance before moving into university housing and may use any provider as long as the policy meets UCI’s requirements. The policy must provide $100,000 minimum in personal liability coverage. Dependent students may use their parents’ homeowner insurance if it meets the coverage requirements.
UCI has arranged coverage through GradGuard for interested students, which offers $5,000 in coverage for personal property and $100,000 in personal liability coverage for $202.92 annually. The cost of renters insurance can also be included in students’ financial aid packages.
“One of the first things we did was we worked with financial aid. And so we were very pleased to hear that for our students, who are packaged well or 100% packaged for college, they can use their financial aid to pay for this,” Trevan said.
UCI is one of few UC campuses to implement a renters insurance requirement. UC San Francisco has long required renters insurance covering personal property and liability. UC Santa Barbara also requires insurance for student housing, while UC Davis requires it only for campus apartments. Trevan said he expects other campuses to eventually adopt similar requirements.
“At the end of the day, we were really mostly motivated, in fact, almost entirely motivated by helping students, making sure students didn’t have any obstacles down the line to staying in college,” Trevan said. “We don’t want financial burdens like damage to be the thing that makes students have to drop out of college, get a job, what have you.”
Trevan advised students with questions about the new requirement to contact their residence life community coordinator, resident advisor or the housing office for guidance.
Ayeza Shaur is a News staff writer. She can be reached at ashaur@uci.edu.
Edited by Anika Denny.
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