Recently turned 19— what to do with children’s term life insurance?

Hello,

I would like to apologize initially and preface by saying I am very uneducated in terms of life insurance, which is why I’m seeking advice.

Basically when I was less than a year old, my parents got me a children’s term life insurance policy through SBLI. I had no idea about this until I turned 18. They claim that I can use this policy to pay for my college tuition because it’s a “$50,000 policy” and I simply need to reach out to the bank to cash it out. However, after doing some research I’m not really sure if my parents know what they’re talking about?

From what I’ve read, life term insurance policies don’t accumulate cash value like whole life policies do. I feel like my parents confused the benefits they get after my hypothetical death with benefits I could potentially get now, but I genuinely have no idea as nothing I’ve read on their website is giving me a clear answer.

The policy expires when I turn 22— is there anything I could do to benefit from it now? I have student loan and medical debt that my parents claim could be taken care of with this policy. Do I simply surrender the policy? I’m not sure what my options are and I do intend to call the bank for further clarification. Any advice would be truly appreciated.