<p>I am not the type to wait until the last minute though my wife and son are. Compounding that personality trait, my Son's 1st choice school is still keeping us waiting for the final official financial award notice (today supposedly). What if we accept it at the last minute and wind up working on loans this summer and decide the school is out of the question? Can we go back to another school that we declined or didn't even respond to then say we accept!? </p>
<p>I do not believe you can. And it would be unethical to put deposits down at two schools.</p>
<p>My understanding, from being on CC a few months, is that it is acceptable to place deposits at more than one school in this circumstance. Carefully read the rules for refund on the colleges’ websites. It’s important that you make the deposits by May 1. </p>
<p>Most, if not all, deposit for enrollment is not refundable. You may ask the school that you still have the financial aid pending to have a later acceptance date. Although May 1 is the general deadline, some schools also has a deposit deadline in 3 weeks after admission notice (for those receive late admission notice). If the school insists to receive your deposit by May 1, you may do so as long as you have already notified them it will be depending on the financial aid outcome. In some way, it is like someone on the wait list that got admission notice after paying deposit to another school. As of now, I would not count on the one without the financial aid package unless you are pretty sure about the cost based on the NPC.
Last but not least, many students will make their decision based on the “estimated” financial aid package as the final aid package may be not available until after some verification process after May 1. When you said “waiting for the final official financial award notice”, do you mean you have already received an estimated financial aid package? If so, unless you expect some error in data punching, you should not expect much surprise.
If you do not response by May 1 (or other alternative deadline), the school would assume you declined the offer already.</p>
<p>thanks folks, yes we have an estimated offer</p>
<p>I too have the same question, can we submit two deposits to two schools? Suppose one just doesn’t work out in the end, could I go to the other school? Or can you only submit 1 deposit?</p>
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<p>You can only submit one deposit. The general exception is if you are admitted off a wait list and want to accept at the school that waitlisted you, you may deposit at that school as long as you notify the first school that you deposited at (and you will very likely forfeit that deposit).</p>
<p>this has been absolute torture. wish we were rich. finally heard this am that the final matches the estimate. the link disappeared on our son’s admission portal which totally freaked us out cuz it looked like all aid was pulled. turns out when they go “final” the link disappears for 24 hrs … lovely. I made sure on the phone going over everything line by line, but it should be visible tomorrow and I can print it. looks like sonny boy is going to his 1st choice and we are making our deposit today or tomorrow. I so dislike cutting things this close! ugh</p>
<p>It is a HUGE problem when families are left with a fin aid package up in the air pending verification or other such thing. In such cases, the advice is to accept the second choice school, one that you know you can afford and post the deposits there understanding they could be lost if first choice school comes through. Make sure you talk to admissions of first choice school and get an extension from them until that aid package can be confirmed. They will well know what your dilemma and issues are in such cases. So, you are basically on a financial aid waitlist in such cases.</p>
<p>It’s not smart NOT to lock in the second choice school, because they may well be full, or going through the waitlist as part of their procedures and if you turn them down, that’s it. You can also lose all but federal entitlements in terms of aid at that school.</p>
<p>Some years ago, my friend’s DD had to back out of her school commitment due to a terrible misunderstanding of the fin aid package, outside awards, and living on campus. They got an aid package that made the school just doable, if the student commuted instead of lived on campus and because of a last minute outside scholarship that came rolling in. Oh, how happy they all were. Until they found out that the school would cut the award if the student did not live on campus, and that the outside scholarship also reduced the aid award. </p>
<p>So they went back to Big State U that was affordable, especially with the outside scholarship. BSU had given her a small grant, but she lost that upon turning them down and she was actually kept on hold for awhile before they would even come up with the decision to accept her. She was lucky to get even that, as these days, that may well not happen. She had to start the summer semester, however, and that first year cost was really a huge hit for them, really more than they could afford, but after that year, it was manageable. It was still a lot less that Private U after they cut their package down for not living there.</p>
<p>Just understand that when you don’t reply by the deadline that is treated the same as a decline. You can’t go back to schools that you declined and expect the offer to still be on the table. </p>