<p>It’s only a double deposit when you have deposits in at two schools at the same time. If you get off a wait list and cancel your original acceptance that is not double deposit. </p>
<p>Housing deposits are not the same as depositing to hold a spot in the class. In many public university housing is separate from admissions and financial aid.</p>
<p>Most housing deposits are fully refundable if you let them know by May 1st - as long as you follow the rules and dot your "i"s etc. you are okay and get your money back. Just make sure you READ the rules. Double depositing for the college acceptance is not okay. Colleges are NOT allowed to make you decide before May 1st; if you are being pressured to accept before that date, just send them a letter/email and remind them of the rules! Most will back off - ;)</p>
<p>Colleges that aren’t members of NACAC don’t have to follow the mandatory practices. I know of at least one college that doesn’t put together financial aid packages until May 1; they only offer aid packages to students who put down an enrollment deposit. In this situation, I think double-depositing is the only way to go.</p>
<p>Jmmom is correct. An ADMISSIONS deposit is very different than a HOUSING deposit. You can make housing deposits at more than one school…this does put you in the queue for housing. You can NOT make more than one ADMISSIONS deposit. </p>
<p>Make sure your deposit is for housing ONLY and not for admissions. When DD was applying to college she actually made a housing deposit at her first and second choice schools (one was EA and one rolling) LONG before the May 1 deadline when she had to send in her admissions deposit. The housing deposit at school number 2 was actually refundable if requested before May 1…which she did.</p>
<p>Double ADMISSIONS deposits are not allowed. An admission deposit is an acceptance of your admissions offer and you telling the school you WILL be attending. You can only do this at ONE school. I’m sure there are folks who double deposit for admissions to “buy extra time” to really make up their minds…but this is clearly not what is permitted and my guess if if you are found out, you run the risk of losing admission at both schools.</p>
<p>But if the college doesn’t belong to NACAC, they are not necessarily playing by the same rule book… Their admission deposits may be non-refundable even if you change your mind before May 1; their financial aid offers may not be available until May or June; etc. I know this is the exception, but it’s worth mentioning in case anyone runs into it.</p>
<p>What about schools that have a housing shortage…and require you to make an enrollment deposit BEFORE you are allowed to make a housing deposit.</p>
<p>I’ve got 4 accepted student packets right in front of me and there are not two deposits. They all just have enrollment deposits and no choice of just depositing for housing.</p>
<p>editing - one of them does have two separate deposits, both nonrefundable…</p>
<p>Kathie, if the colleges are NACAC, they cannot require you to make any kind of enrollment deposit before the May 1 deadline. We got one letter from a school asking our DD to do so…and I politely called them…and explained that she was waiting to be able to compare all her offers…the very politely said…“she of course is not required to make a deposit”. This is the same school where she DID make a housing deposit. It was a large state school that did not have sufficient on campus housing for freshmen…so it was worth it to make that housing deposit.</p>
<p>Your student is likely under NO obligation to make ANY deposit at all until the May 1 deadline. Some schools’ mailings in their acceptances make it sound like you have to do this immediately…that is not the case (except for ED…or if the school happens to not be an NACAC school).</p>
<p>If you’re unsure, contact the school directly. My guess is you will not be required to make ANY deposits now.</p>
<p>Are you concerned that these schools might require a deposit other than for housing?</p>
<p>I’m not worried Thumper, but at this time of year there are always parents that put down a deposit not knowing that they can only do so to one college at a time. I understand the difference between a housing deposit and an enrollment one, but of the four offers that I just looked at, only one of them even mentions a housing deposit, the rest all talk about enrollment ones. The way the schools present it, is you really should send your money in right away so that you will get the classes and the housing that you want.</p>
<p>Here are more threads on the same topic: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/895955-double-depositing.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/895955-double-depositing.html</a></p>
<p>and <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/183706-double-depositing-not-good-idea.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/183706-double-depositing-not-good-idea.html</a></p>
<p>Please advise what to do. Son is accepted to a top choice school and housing office said Feb. 1 begins the housing acceptances. He really needs a single. Housing office said may not have any singles available. Should we send in a housing deposit now without hearing from all colleges? I am ethical and honest–do not want to be in this “double deposit” situation over housing.</p>
<p>mdcissp, As a few people have mentioned, a housing deposit is not an enrollment deposit and if your Maryland Colleges have that separated out, then by all means go for the deposit on the housing one. What I’ve seen first hand, looking through my son’s acceptances, is that his colleges are not making it clear that there is a housing deposit option. The one that has the two deposits separated out indicates that one needs to do the enrollment deposit first and then the housing one!</p>
<p>I have, in hand, the letter from Penn State (not main campus) telling son what to do if he would like to accept their offer and they clearly state that the first step is accepting the offer of admissions (non-refundable $200) and the second is to request on-campus housing and add another $100 to secure that. They also say,
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<p>It doesn’t seem fair that colleges should put pressure on families to make an early decision without even seeing the financial aid packages, but that seems to be the trend. They don’t say that you are “required” to deposit, but they sure make it sound like if you wait until April your student is going to be SOL for preferred housing and needed classes.</p>
<p>When S decided on Dartmouth I was startled to discover that the school doesn’t ask for a deposit at all! Every year there are people who wonder whether their kid is really, officially expected to show up in September. :)</p>
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<p>Just wondering what is there to know? If you say you will be there, you will be there unless something happens and you let them know you are not coming as early as possible. Doesn’t that imply that you can’t say that to more than one school?</p>
<p>We put a housing deposit down at UT Austin on the first day it was possible to do so. At that point, S had no idea which college he’d attend and, in fact, did not wind up at UT.</p>
<p>As others have said, housing deposits are different than a deposit that commits ones child to attending a college.</p>
<p>From years of experience, schools know roughly how many “summer melt” kids won’t matriculate after making a deposit; they plan for it in their yield calculations.</p>
<p>Just in case anyone encounters this: My son had an early and generous scholarship offer by a state/national flagship public. He was asked to confirm his acceptance of the scholarship by making the enrollment deposit by Feb. 15. We contacted admissions to let them know that a) we were 90% certain he’d be attending, but had to see a financial aid package to confirm and compare and b) that we would be happy to pay the opportunity cost of $200 to secure the scholarship but that we needed to feel ethically comfortable comparing final packages and perhaps releasing/reversing our decision by May 1 as permitted by NACAP. The school was very reasonable and had no issue with the less-than-firm commitment. So, if this happens to YOUR student, you now know what is both possible and fair.</p>
<p>That said, his school also handles housing a little more fairly to my mind (by lottery, not by deposit.)</p>
<p>I understand that housing deposits and enrollment deposits are different, but what do you do when an enrollment deposit is required before you can make a housing deposit? Is it OK to make the enrollment and housing deposits while waiting to hear from other schools that don’t have rolling admissions, as long as the enrollment is cancelled and the first school notified before you accept enrollment at another school?</p>
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<p>This is the way the letters READ but it is not what your have to DO. As I explained…we had a college like that in DD’s mix…told us to “accept enrollment immediately”. Well…a friendly chat (and it was friendly on both sides of the phone) and they agreed this deposit did NOT have to be made until the May 1 deadline. She was under no obligation to make a deposit before getting ALL of her acceptances AND financial aid offers.</p>
<p>This thread is an excellent reminder that parents and students should NOT feel pressured to make an enrollment deposit if the school is NACAC and most are. Just call and ask that them…and they will say “sure”.</p>
<p>once a college admits a student, it’s now the STUDENT’S choice, and schools should respect that and let students deposit wherever they want to! it’s not like this is an uncommon practice</p>
<p>Odessagirl’s first choice school told us it was okay to put the deposit down and to just let them know by May 1st if she changed her mind. It was no big deal. We were upfront with the college recruiter and he told us what to do.</p>