@intparent our good friends were in that situation, they had gotten a wait list offer to a college they preferred on April 22 and were waiting for aid offer on May 1. Second choice college said deposit or do not bother.
Thank you for the article, very informative.
Your friends may have told the college they were asking the extension because of another college where their kid got off the waitlist. Could have triggered the college to say fish or cut bait… the college being asked to wait likely knows that (1) the other college could very well be higher ranked, and (2) the kid is going to take the other offer if it is better.
Ok, you meant that if the financial aid offer from THAT college is under review? Why would it possibly take over a month for that if your papers were in on time?!
If you apply for aid and it is not finalized by May 1 due to some issue on the college’s end (as opposed to your failure to provide timely documentation) then they will usually give you a day or two past when the financial aid is in to accept although that is something you have to discuss with the college directly and some may refuse.
My friends were told by the second choice college they needed their deposit in on that day, the college did not care if they ultimately went elsewhere a week later after aid was finalized at the new school. They accepted the student’s deposit knowing full well that she was probably not attending.
Well, I guess colleges could make a bit of money off of that… Some people don’t get their FA paperwork in time, and sometimes they ask for a review that is not complete. It is certainly worth asking for an extension on the decision date if you need it from your final couple of choices, some colleges will allow a short delay.
We had a college encourage us to double deposit. This school did not make their competitive merit award amount available until April. It was school #2, #1 we were also waiting to hear about a substantial merit scholarship in April. But both schools had spring orientations, available only to students who had paid the enrollment deposit, that allowed earlier course selection and housing selection than summer orientation. When we asked about this we were encouraged to send in the (refundable) deposit, and then if our kid didn’t get the merit award (needed to make either school affordable), we could request a refund.
Schools are not supposed to pressure students to deposit until May 1st, but many do by providing “perks” such as early housing assignment, early course selection, and other benefits. Students who do not have all the information they need to make an informed decision are then penalized if they don’t deposit early. Maybe that’s OK if it’s a matter of not being able to make up your mind, but when the school is keeping you waiting to learn what your actual tuition amount will be, that’s not the student’s fault.
Schools at best can only ballpark numbers until May 1st. Some may withdraw even though they’ve paid the deposit, many don’t pay the deposit until the last day. Once May 1st comes is when deposits are truly binding.
I did enjoy the article about colleges rescinding acceptances, but I would be willing to bet the house that not one of those was for a double deposit. It is an absurd notion, really. Again, what does the college you finally settled on get out of doing that? And to once again be absolutely clear, I am not advocating the practice, just as I wouldn’t advocate reneging on an ED acceptance except for financial issues. But when people do, nothing happens.
As far as FA goes, you need to know how much merit your student will be awarded, how much in institutional aid, federal or state grants. Most of that info should be availiable by April or earlier.
You can look up tuition, fees and room and board charges published on the college websites for the current year.
Figure a few % increase by the time your student attends and every year after.
You will NOT know for sure how much you are going to have to pay until you get your billing statement, probably a month before fall term starts.
Based on classes registered for, number of credits, lab fees, that you will see then.
But you should have a good idea even before that.
@mommdc If you’re referring to my post, I’m not talking about knowing the exact $ amount that will be due. My comments are about finding out whether a school is within a reasonable range for a family to afford.
In many cases you should know your aid early on, but not all cases. My kids are eligible for Tuition Exchange scholarships. These scholarships are a minimum of ~$32K or full tuition (depending on the cost of tuition). Many of the schools that participate in this program reserve the right to notify of these awards up until April 15th. In order to participate in some of these spring orientations, you need to deposit before that date.
Also, other schools invite students on campus during February or March to compete for merit scholarships. Some of the scholarships my kids have competed for ranged from $14K/year to full ride plus. Again, results are not necessarily released until after the spring orientation deadlines.
So no, it’s not true that you should always have a good idea of merit aid awards early enough to avoid missing some of these artificial deposit deadlines created by the schools. I’m not talking a couple hundred - or even a couple thousand - in fees here. These are substantial amounts that directly impact the ability for a family to afford a school. Granted these are a minority of cases, but they are real situations.