What if you cannot reach a decision between two schools by May 1st. If we put a deposit in at two, is there anyway the schools will know we did that?
They might. it’s just wrong. Pick one. What will change after 1 May?
Don’t do it. You have to choose…choose now.
Don’t do it. Pick one. If possible try to revisit the two schools --perhaps that will make the decision clearer.
They may find out. Don’t do it.
They could and both could rescind their offers. Why chance it? What’s going to change? Your kid can only attend one school; pick one.
If you’re saying that there’s an actual reason for not knowing which school to attend by May 1, like pending FA, then deposit at the other school and pull it back if the other school comes in lower/better.
I can say that at some large state schools without gauranteed housing for freshman, being the first to put down a deposit helps ensure your kid has a place to live come fall while waiting for other schools to send their FA or make visits. This is not our scenario but I have seen it happen. You lose the deposit if you decide elsewhere,
A housing deposit is different than an enrollment deposit. We put down a housing deposit for a large state school for ds1 and were refunded as long as we let them know by May 1 that he picked a different school. Maybe it’s different other places. I’m assuming OP is talking about enrollment deposits.
@TytoAlba, you still can’t double deposit. OP, the only reason I’ve ever heard of a school giving permission to delay depositing is if your FA package is being reviewed. But your second school may not grant an extension in that situation if you are waiting on school A.
If you didn’t get visits made or finances lined up so your kid can decide, that is on you. Colleges need to plan housing assignments and go to their waitlists to fill the class if necessary, and they start that work right after May 1. If any of the schools used the Common App, your kid committed to not double depositing.
Late comments. Five years ago, we actually placed enrollment deposits at three colleges for our son! It did not feel good, but we felt it was necessary.
None of these colleges were on the Common App at the time and now two are, so I am not sure how that might have impacted us…
We had revisited all three colleges in April and son had clear #1, #2, and #3 choices. We did not qualify for any financial aid, but we were waiting on some issues with an ROTC full-tuition scholarship. The placement of that $240K scholarship impacted the decision of where he would go. In the end, we were able to get the scholarship moved to his first-choice college during the first week of May, and he withdrew from the other two schools immediately. One college even gave us a refund, when he wrote a letter explaining the situation.
Sometimes, sadly, money and life/career goals have to trump other decisions. We did not feel that we were breaking any laws, but we also knew that it wasn’t the greatest thing to do to the colleges or kids on the wait lists. We simply needed full information to be able to make the best decisions for our family, and the government had not met the college May 1 decision deadline (despite our many attempts in April to get the scholarship placed on time).
Stuff happens. I saw no other way to handle that situation five years ago. Second son this year had lots of choices (sadly no interest in ROTC…), but, after revisiting his top six colleges in April, he still couldn’t decide. The senior college t-shirt day at his high school the last week in April finally prompted him to commit! Very different scenario. That t-shirt day was the best idea for my child - although, we had to buy six different t-shirts in April because of his indecisiveness!
Often you can just CONTACT the schools and ASK for a decision extension…and often those are granted.
You keep mentioning dates in April - the deadline for depositing is May 1st - why deposit at multiple schools in either scenario in the first place?
Some people do it for housing purposes. I can’t imagine buying 6 t-shirts just in case, either. I sure would never admit to double depositing if any school on the list restricted it (common app or not).
Glad I posted. If future kids/parents read this, they will get some additional insight about enrollment deposits, such as from @mom2collegekids and @intparent above. Triple depositing on May 1 for us was partly for housing purposes, but it was primarily to buy us time for an ROTC scholarship to be assigned to the appropriate college, which did not happen until after May 1.
I just wanted to demonstrate that there are unusual scenarios when multiple deposits could be warranted. Not sure why I wouldn’t want to admit any of this. Colleges feel no commitment to our kids after we pay $85 in application fees to them, so why should we feel a huge commitment to them over a $300 deposit? People break those commitments all the time when they get off waitlists.
@intparent Since my second son was very undecided this spring, and since we didn’t buy anything at all during the first round of college visits (no one wants clothing from a college that might reject you later), we were hedging our bets by buying the six t-shirts during our second round of college visits in April. We wanted them them available for the senior t-shirt day, instead of having to worry about ordering one at the last minute and having it expedited. And, six t-shirts were about the same price as a single college application fee! The t-shirts were certainly a better purchase than than the app fees for the colleges where he was rejected!
@PengsPhils You may not have realized that my post above regarded two different children. The second child made a decision just before May 1, and we made only one deposit for him. But, but the first child had to make three deposits on May 1 because we were waiting for the military to assign his ROTC scholarship to a college, which happened the week AFTER May 1.
Maybe too much info - But, I like kids to know that everything is not always as black and white as people make it out to be. Some flexibility is sometimes needed. (And, I am usually an old-fashioned rule follower.)
Did you ask the colleges about a delay because of the ROTC scholarships? That would be the step to take at any school with a restriction on double depositing. Making up your own rules is not the ethical way to approach it.
@intparent Good advice for kids in the future who have complex timing issues waiting for scholarships, fin aid, whatever. We were rather panicked, not knowing what the colleges would say about multiple deposits, so we just decided to act on our own and ask for forgiveness later. Luckily, we were able to resolve it all just after May 1, so most of the colleges probably hadn’t even gotten their enrollment records straight by that time. First kid applying to college and a very drawn out process with the scholarship, which had been applied for in July, awarded to him in September, but never assigned to a college until the following May.
You mention rules and ethics After this second round of college applications, I am not sure how ethical the colleges are themselves, and whether we owe them anything. I am usually a moral person, but, in this instance, I don’t feel that putting my child’s and family’s needs ahead of a college’s random May 1 deposit rule was bad. Several of the colleges certainly did not give us straight information during the wait list processes for both kids. And, the whole “holistic” admissions process allows the colleges to do whatever the heck they want in making decisions about my kids, so I guess I feel equally justified to do whatever I need to do for my family in the college process.
No, I am not angry. All worked out fine for both kids. But, I am becoming more assertive in my old age.
Not sure what you expect from a college on the waitlist. You can get a small amount of info from every college’s Common Data Set (number who are offered waitlist spots, number that accept them, and how many get off the waitlist). No college gives more info than that, and I don’t see why they should. It is essentially another admissions decision, and they don’t know yet who (and how many) students will accept their initial offers. So they don’t know yet if they will use the waitlist, how many they will take, and what profile of students they want.
In fact, double depositing messes with the waitlist process (and thus with students waiting to hear if they got off). A double depositing student has dishonestly said they are coming for sure – meaning the college can’t offer that spot to another student instead.
Being assertive is no reason to break rules that you and your student have agreed to if you signed such an agreement during the application process.
@intparent We had to wait for the government to make a decision about which college son’s ROTC scholarship was going to be assigned to. We had no choice but to commit to several colleges on May 1, since the military did not make that decision before May 1. We prioritized our child’s commitment to the military over the the colleges, for just a few days in May. We could/should have called the three colleges, but the issue was resolved fairly quickly after May 1, so that wasn’t necessary. Once the ROTC assignment was finalized, son quickly wrote apologetic emails to the two colleges he had to decline, explaining what had happened.
Sometimes you have to break a rule to follow a higher goal. (Dramatic example, but, would you speed a little on the highway to the hospital if someone were dying in the backseat of your car?) In son’s case, that higher goal was service to the USA, and a big scholarship as a reward for that service. Son wrote his main college essays about this goal and how he had worked to achieve it. I was not going to force him to make a decision about a college on May 1, if he was not going to be able to do ROTC at that college.
If you have never had a child or family member in the military, you might not understand.
I won’t be posting about this again. It’s making me upset. I was just trying to respond to this thread that there could be scenarios when a college decision cannot be firmed up on May 1.
Or you could ask for an extension and Not break a rule. I totally agree that your S could not make a decision before hearing from ROTC. I just think you went about it wrong. Just trying to show others who might be in the same situation alternative ways to handle this kind of an issue.
@“Erin’s Dad” I didn’t think you could ask for an extension. In hindsight, it would have been a good idea to call all three colleges in question, but it was a panic back then with first child going through the college process. Now that I have been through the process twice, I am guessing that the colleges would have told us to pay deposits on May 1 to reserve our spots anyway, and to let them know later when ROTC had made its decision. We would have been part of their normal summer melt of waitlist, gap year, illness and other losses. Otherwise, many kids would request extensions (waiting on wait lists, etc). I would think that management of an extension process would be a pain for a larger college, and would reduce the income they make from those deposits.