Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Norris Hall on Virginia Tech's campus.

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When you send off your child to college, it's with the understanding that he or she will be not only educated, but also, typically, fed, housed and provided with other life amenities such as access to e-mail and computer services, health care and recreation.

That's what a well-rounded college experience is all about.

As all-encompassing as the services of a university can seem, a gap in the caretaking relationship is exposed in the unlikely event of death. Life insurance isn't part of the package that colleges and universities typically provide their students in return for tuition and fees. The dead at Virginia Tech, for example, were not covered by a life insurance policy that the university held on their behalf, according to Don Lemond, the state's director of risk management.

If mom and dad want the financial protection that life insurance affords for their child or themselves, they or their child have to pay for it.

Life insurance for college-age students is not the norm. And there is a school of thought that says it isn't necessary. But an estimated 41 percent of Americans 18 to 24 had coverage in 2004, according to Howard Drescher, spokesman for LIMRA International, a financial services research and consulting firm in Windsor, Conn.

The coverage rate for this group has climbed from 37 percent in 1998. However, life insurance coverage has expanded for almost every age group, Drescher said.

There are a host of general reasons to own life insurance, a contract that obligates an insurance company to pay a pre-determined sum to the policyholder's beneficiary at death in return for premiums. Chief wage earners buy life insurance to provide for the financial needs of their families if they die prematurely. It is especially helpful if mortgage and college education expenses are outstanding. Life insurance also is a tool for estate planning and investing.

And a moderately sized plan is a way to cover the cost of an unexpected funeral.

One expense that parents typically won't have to worry about if their college student dies is the college loans. Those issued by the federal government are, by policy, forgiven if the student dies, Sallie Mae spokeswoman Martha Holler said. Private lenders don't have to forgive the debt of a deceased student, but some do, she added.

Convinced of the need, some parents buy a policy for their college-age son or daughter and then turn the premiums over to the student on graduation, said Corey Heck, sales manager at the Roanoke office of the John Hancock Financial Network. He hadn't seen any increase in sales since the shooting.

One reason for starting coverage young is that policies are usually less expensive the younger and healthier the policyholder.

That said, James Boyle, president of College Parents of America, said his organization for parents of current and future college students doesn't recommend life insurance for traditional students, because they aren't typically financially responsible for other people. A breadwinner attending a university might, on the other hand, be an insurance candidate, Boyle said.

"It's not where the insurance companies see a lot of opportunity," Boyle said, and he has concluded that based in part on what he described as a lack of life-insurance marketing to college students.

Heck said a 20-year-old, healthy, non-smoking male can purchase $100,000 of term coverage for 15 years for $10 a month or lifetime coverage for $28 monthly. Women usually pay less because statistics show they live longer.