My son has received a number of his admissions decisions already with more to come. However his two top choices have both offered him admission and admission to Honors Programs. In both cases its recommended to submit intent to secure honors housing. The problem is, neither school will release merit awards until early to mid December.
Does anyone have any factual feedback as to wether committing to a school prior to receiving a merit award effects the dollar value of the award? Will schools reduce an offer knowing you have already committed? Any one with experience or knowledge in this?
I think the issue here is - all schools are different - so your school will be specific to your school.
Look at it another way - many schools offer the opportunity to secure housing before even acceptance. I think we paid deposits at 3 schools - and probably lost $150. If you are being asked for a non refundable deposit of $500 or more, then that’s obviously an issue.
That doesn’t answer your question as to whether you would suffer a merit loss. And unless they have a pre-established table like an Arizona, Alabama, Murray State, etc. there would be no way to know.
No one from the past could know - because when you get a variable merit award - you wouldn’t know if it would have been higher if you didn’t commit earlier.
You might find out from the res life department how quickly honors housing fills at the school. School’s like to strong arm you but it may not be necessary to commit this soon.
Alternatively, you roll the dice. You will never know if merit would have been better. But you’ll know if you get an award your are happy with. And then you can decommit from the other schools.
Tough call - I don’t think it will impact but I would have the same question.
I just don’t think anyone can truly know - and I think each school could be different.
December doesn’t seem like an overly long time to wait for merit and still be able to secure housing. I don’t know what colleges these are, but RD kids probably haven’t even submitted applications by December. Sounds like they’re trying to pressure you to make a decision quickly.
At some schools, especially large publics, housing is super limited and people often put down housing deposits even before acceptance. In some schools, honors housing is not quite as hard to get, and may be guaranteed. But your child may want to live elsewhere. For example, if he wants to live in a specific LLC, some of them fill up super fast.
For the 3 big publics where my son has applied, he has been accepted to honors college at 2 and is still waiting on admission on the 3rd (didn’t apply for honors). He is guaranteed and would want to live in honors housing at the first 2, and has decided he doesn’t really want to attend the 3rd. So I doubt we’ll have to deposit housing early at those schools. That said, I won’t think twice about placing a deposit if it seems like a good idea, as long as it doesn’t require acceptance of the admission offer.
I believe that all the privates he’s applied to have guaranteed housing for freshmen, but he might decide to deposit early to ensure a spot in a certain dorm or LLC.
As others have said, I doubt waiting until mid-December is a problem. But some schools have totally nutso housing processes, so do a little online sleuthing about the situation for each one.
As I read the OP, the issue is not that housing is super limited. It’s that potentially the kid is risking a lower merit package once he applies for housing, i.e. signaling that he’s accepting. I’m not sure waiting it out is problematic, especially if there are significant dollars involved.
If this is a housing deposit only, and your kid actually wants the honors housing…maybe consider paying the deposit, if not…just wait. December isn’t that far away.
A housing deposit is not usually a commitment to attend a college…it reserves your housing spot in line…but call and check.
If it’s an admissions deposit, just wait. We had one college that made it sound like they wanted an admissions deposit immediately. Kid called and said the school was a top choice and under consideration, but she preferred to wait until the May 1 date to make a matriculation decision. It was no problem.
Ive wondered about this as well. There are some schools which if accepted to Honors programs that also have a housing option, committing to the Honors program automatically qualifies you for the Honors Living Community. No deposit require until early January but in order to reserve a spot you need to commit. Commitment to Honors is also commitment to the University. Its not a deposit issue just that in order to commit to Honors you are also committing to attend…so does doing so affect the University merit offer to you having already committed? I have heard from a couple schools one has nothing to do with the other…just something in the back of your mind so to speak…