<p>Tuscaloosa - So, it appears that I need to pay a $200 NON-REFUNDABLE deposit by 9/30/13 in order for my son to get the best chance at getting in the dorm he wants for his freshman year, starting in August 2014. Seems awfully early to have to pay a non-refundable deposit. No idea if he will be attending there yet. I prefer him closer to home, and Tuscaloosa is about NINE hrs away. However, he’s been offered some great scholarships and he could come out of there probably pretty close to debt free. Anyone know anything about how critical it is to pay that $200 enrollment deposit soon? (Apparently you can’t do anything on housing until you pay it … but is there a bunch of undesirable housing at Tuscaloosa, or what’s the big rush?) Thanks!</p>
<p>I would imagine it would depend on which dorm he wants. There is a great deal of desirable housing, but I know my daughter plans to put that deposit down asap (I thought it was 10/1/2013 at noon - she’ll need to check on that). I would call housing and ask which dorms fill up the fastest.</p>
<p>The earlier you apply the more room options you have. We ended up putting in a non-refundable room deposit at more than one school because we heard getting housing at some of the other schools my daughter was applying to was near impossible if you didn’t put a deposit in before Dec 31.</p>
<p>You don’t have to pay the deposit yet, but I would recommend doing so before Jan 1. After that date, he will most likely not be able to choose a room, but will be assigned a room by housing staff.</p>
<p>So if he’s seriously considering going here, than you’ll want to pay the deposit before the end of the year anyway. Might as well do it sooner rather than later, as that will allow him more room choices. Think of it as an additional application fee ;)</p>
<p>Either pay the deposit asap or network like crazy to get “pulled in” by a roommate who did.</p>
<p>It depends what your son wants. If he wants to pick his 3 roommates and has a particular first choice dorm in mind, he’d better deposit early so he has an early room selection time. If he’s planning to have a random roommate and isn’t particularly picky about which dorm/floor/suite he’s in, then it’s not critical to deposit at the first opportunity. At least last year, if you deposited by January 1 you got to select your own room; after that you could end up with Housing selecting your room for you (which is what a lot of other schools do anyway). If he waits until April 1 to make a decision and deposits then, there’s no telling where he may end up. Most housing options at UA are pretty good, but there are a few places I wouldn’t care to live. My D made her housing deposit in October (back in 2011), a few months before she finally decided on UA. She ended up choosing a roommate who had an earlier selection time than she did and pulled her into a suite, so as it turned out the early deposit didn’t matter - she would have gotten into her first choice dorm anyway - but it was worth the $250 for peace of mind.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Ditto.</p>
<p>As I mentioned in other thread, for my S who is now a sophomore we made the deposit in March and he was still able to get a honor’s suite. (He was not pulled in early, he was still able to select an honor’s suite with the LAST available selection time.)</p>
<p>There was a housing crunch for this year’s freshmen and not everyone who wanted a suite style unit or honor’s housing got their preference.</p>
<p>Next year the new Presidential building will be open and it most likely hasn’t yet been determined where honor’s housing will be located, so the housing crunch shouldn’t be as bad as last year, but unless you have specific preferences on the location you wind up in and have already selected roommates it is not critical to make the deposit immediately. However the earlier you do make the deposit, the more options will be available.</p>
<p>Amy9998 is my beautiful mother:heart:
.</p>
<p>So we paid the enrollment deposit and this is the week that the housing deposit opens, correct? How/where do we pay that?</p>
<p>We discussed this with our son, and we all agreed that the deposit will be paid after he learns what his October SAT is – needs a few more points for the Presidential. We figure that he still will receive honors housing, and he does not have a preference for his dorm, except that it must be suite-style. His brother had his own room for four years. He favors the same.</p>
<p>Mary Jay…there should be a link on MyBama…</p>
<p>I haven’t applied to the honors college yet, but I want honors housing. If I put my housing deposit down now will it matter?</p>
<p>The bottom line is it depends upon the student. If a student wants a specific living community, or has a preference of dorms or roommates, then the student should consider depositing early. The housing deposit window will open on October 1st on MyBama. Room selection begins in the spring. A student’s room selection is determined by the date upon which the Housing deposit was made, so those who deposit earlier will receive the earlier selection dates and times. Depositing early allows a student the greatest potential for selecting the living community, building, floor, suite, suitemates or roommates, and the individual room in which the student will spend freshman year. The longer a student waits the fewer choices the student may have unless the student has a roommate with an early selection time. Housing reserves the right to make the assignment for a student who deposits after a certain date, so that is something to consider when determining when to make a deposit.</p>
<p>For those interested in Honors housing, there is no reason not to go ahead and apply to the Honors College after being accepted to the UA, and there is no reason not to pay the Housing deposit before applying to Honors. The application is available once a student is accepted and requires only a short personal essay. Students who wish to live in Honors housing must be accepted by the Honors College before selecting a room in the spring. There is a designation within MyBama indicating a student’s eligibility to live in Honors housing. A student whose account does not reflect this eligibility at the time of room selection in the spring will be unable to select Honors housing. It’s a personal decision, but the earlier a student deposits and applies to Honors the more flexibility they will have in the spring.</p>
<p>In order to make a Housing deposit, the student must have been accepted to the UA and must have already paid the Enrollment deposit. Most of the Housing deposit is refundable if requested by the stipulated deadline, but the Enrollment deposit is non-refundable</p>
<p>bamagirls - thank you for the detailed explanation. That is how I was thinking that the process worked, but good to see it in writing all in one place. :)</p>
<p>I plan on submitting my deposit early next week. Do you guys think I’ll a lot of housing options available?</p>
<p>just think of the 200 bucks deposited at UA as being part of the cost of housing for next year no matter where you go to school. </p>
<p>if you want to be stressed out during room selection … wait and deposit later.</p>
<p>We are in the same boat - Alabama is a strong contender but my son won’t make a final decision until Feb-March when we hear from a couple of other schools and about their scholarship info. </p>
<p>We will go ahead and make these deposits. Being able to get back our housing deposit makes us only potentially losing $225. Peace of mind is a good thing.</p>
<p>Same here. Alabama is on the radar but we won’t make a decision until February or so. We have not decided to pay the non-refundable deposit. Out of all the schools my son has applied only Alabama does the non-refundable deposit.</p>
<p>A huge THANK YOU to everyone who responded! It’s so nice to be able to hear from people with current experience. It’s unfortunate that UA has this non-refundable enrollment deposit that needs to be paid early (by 10/01/13) to get the “peace of mind” re: housing for fall of 2014. No one else is requiring an enrollment deposit so early (and yes, I realize it’s not actually REQUIRED right now…but unless you want to gamble on housing, I look at it as required.) We went ahead and paid the enrollment deposit last evening and then I guess we pay the housing deposit on 10/01…at least that one is refundable if my S decides on a different school. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Amy9998 and kldat1 I don’t know the schools that you are applying to, but last year I was in your shoes w/ the housing deposit. D applied to 12 schools, yes UA required the non-refundable deposit, but they were also the only one, out of 11 other schools, that allowed students to choose their actual dorm room!</p>
<p>They did not give you a room based on 6 or 7 dorm preferences that you choose. They allow the students to pick the actual room that they will be living in and to pull in others who have a later room pick.</p>
<p>THAT made it more understandable to me…We were very grateful that we paid on the first day at 8am. D ended up with a great room and pulled in her three roommates.</p>
<p>Is it going to matter if we pay the housing deposit at noon on October 1 or 3:00 on October 1???</p>