State Farm provides renters policies that cover dorms and computers. We bought it every year for our kids

OP, if they are in college they aren't a child anymore. Make them figure this out.

Ugh, this thread. I just know when I went to college my financial aid did not cover cost of computer so I took out a loan to buy one (a couple thousand at that time, or maybe 1500)—the loan had a super crappy interest rate and I was paying it back for years after college (and years after the damn thing was obsolete).

OP here. Laptop was on DS's desk.

At the time DS thought perhaps laptop could be fixed as still under warranty so didn't press the issue with roommate...this happened just before returning home for Thanksgiving. DS used loaner laptop until returning home Friday. Yesterday we found out it's not repairable

I am FB friends with roommate's mom and we've been messaging last few months so I felt comfortable approaching her about the issue.

Always get dorm insurance. It covers phones, laptops, and any other belongings

Anonymous wrote:
The costs of salvage might not be proportional to the cost of the laptop - can your child at least recover the files?

It was an accident, OP. The soda-spiller needs to apologize, and pay for dinner a couple of times, or something equivalent. That's it. This adult's parents are NOT responsible.

And if there are regular incidents with this person, your child needs to do his best to change roommates!

Don't agree with this. The soda spiller should be offering to pay for repair and/or replacement, and should be the one to ask his own parents for advice/help to make the situation right.

Roommate should pay for it.

If I damage someone’s belongings I replace them. Same for a college student, they are adults, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other kid should have offered immediately. It shouldn't be on your kid to ask. What has the other kid said about it?

Maybe the other kid can’t afford to replace it.

+1 I suppose OP can take all of roommate's Christmas money in a few months, or ask his parents to replace her kid's laptop instead of buying him gifts.

But I hope OP will find another way. The poor kid probably feels absolutely terrible.

Christmas money? What's that?

Anonymous wrote:Reason 23 out of 100 for why immigrants can't understand how you guys share a bedroom with random strangers while you're supposed to be getting a university education.

?? Where are you from? Lots of countries have shared housing at uni.

It should be covered under your current homeowners insurance policy

Anonymous wrote:What was the situation surrounding this? I had a roommate that would.lay on the floor with her laptop and we would always get annoyed that we would trip or spill something. She would also leave it in areas where spillage/breakage was a possibility.

This. You can't tell who's at fault. Where did your kid leave the laptop? Whose soda was it and where was it right before it spilled? It very well could've been 90% your kids fault.

Regardless, no, this is not something you raise with the roommate or their parents. You've learned your lesson - ALWAYS buy the insurance for a college kid.

I wouldn’t go to the other person’s parents. However, I wouldn’t replace the computer for my child either. My kids know if they lose/ruin something it’s own them to replace it. What does your child want to do? My thought is if your child was treating the computer as if they would have to replace it and the roommate ruined it, they would either be upset if their friend didn’t offer to pay for some of it and may not want to room with them or they would make the decision that they were fine working extra/sacrificing to buy a new computer while their friend that messed up the computer did nothing. Either way, they are both making the decision and living with the consequences even if they make a decision different than what I would decide. And if they were partially to blame for leaving the computer where it shouldn’t have been, they should be working to pay for it in that case as well.

One month into freshman year, my daughter spilled coffee on her roommate's laptop. We bought her a new one of the same model (thank goodness she didn't have a pricey Apple!).

I just couldn't imagine a situation in which we would not offer to replace it.

I was thinking that they might be working on the same space like desks FACING each other. Or my sophomore year room that had a counter running along one wall with outlets beneath. We used it for hair dryers and curling irons, but it would have been ideal for laptops.

What was the situation surrounding this? I had a roommate that would.lay on the floor with her laptop and we would always get annoyed that we would trip or spill something. She would also leave it in areas where spillage/breakage was a possibility.