<p>My daughter knows where she wants to go but I don't want to be over eager and potentially impact what her merit award might be. I would usually be okay to wait it out but the school has an orientation in mid April for those that have sent in a deposit plus housing is better for those accepting early. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Most schools notify by April 1 whether you have been accepted or not. Typically, with your acceptance letter, you also receive the FA award information. So, then you have to decide is the school going to be affordable. If so, plan to visit to see if you like it during that April time - a lot of schools have a “visit” day for accepted students at some point in April, because they know that everyone has to make a final decision by May 1st, and it’s the college’s last chance to “woo” you. The whole thing about housing being better if you deposit early, in my opinion, is just a way to put pressure on kids to commit. In the end, you don’t even really know, and if they are so careful about matching roommates carefully, do you really think only “early depositers” are going to be rooming together, and all the May 1 depositers together? NO. There are dorms at EVERY college that are the “favorites” and there are always dorms no one wants, but someone has to live in. I encourage you to just ignore that. As long as there is not a housing shortage, don’t let dorm assignment be the reason you pick a school or not.</p>
<p>Also realize that “better” housing is subjective and undergrads have strange ideas about what’s undesirable, IMO. I work for residential programs at my university and there are three residence halls that freshman can be selected into. Two of them are singles-only halls - almost every freshman who gets selected into those halls are in singles. The singles are about the same size in both halls. They both have lounges on each floor. I’d say the biggest difference between the two is that one of them has ovens in the lounges - but the other one has the dining hall on the first floor. Yet of course, the students will say one is “better” than the other even though the amenities are pretty much the same. One is slightly more aesthetically pleasing than the other, I will admit, but other than that there’s little difference.</p>
<p>The third hall is all doubles in mini-suites - so two doubles (and thus 4 people) share a bathroom, whereas in the other two halls, an entire floor of ~40 people will share two bathrooms (one male, one female). You’d think that the doubles would make this the least undesirable place, but the truth is it varies. Some freshman are loathe to share a room with anybody, and so they prefer one of the first two halls, but those halls thus also attract the quieter students. Some freshman are really excited about sharing with people and so they want to be in the third hall, and that hall has the reputation of being the “party dorm” for the first-year students.</p>
<p>I say all of this to say that even if the school somehow did offer different housing to people who accepted later than people who accepted earlier (which I doubt), it’s not necessarily less desirable - it really depends on your daughter and her preferences. I wouldn’t make a decision until I was 100% sure and ready to accept that decision.</p>
<p>I also don’t think being “overeager” would impact her merit award, for the reasons stated in the post above me.</p>
<p>Thank you both. Vey helpful. This is my first time going through this so pardon my ignorance. We applied early action and found out months ago about my daughter getting in. We did also go to the “visit” day which sealed the deal for us. We did receive some “free” money with her acceptance letter but that was before we submitted our fafsa and profile applications. I just don’t want to jeopardize our aid package by commiting too early. Probably doesn’t matter at all…I was just curious if it “pays” to wait.</p>
<p>Mjervis, schools are used to people signing up for the April “orientation” or accepted student days very last minute, so you don’t have to do anything at all until you get that FA award. Even if she has already been accepted, and you are just waiting on FA, that is fine. Take your time. It might be last minute, but if you are going to make the trip, you will be able to find travel accommodations in April. Or, make your reservations, but make sure you can cancel if you won’t be able to afford the school and have to take it out of the choice list.</p>
<p>Teachandmom…great advice…I just hate the waiting…I meant we.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to be over eager and potentially impact what her merit award might be.”
“We did receive some “free” money with her acceptance letter but that was before we submitted our fafsa and profile applications”</p>
<p>So, Mjervis, it sounds like you already know what her Merit aid will be, unless she was also a candidate for a special scholarship. The FAFSA and Profile would help the college determine what need based aid your D qualifies for. That isn’t going to change just because you indicate she will attend, but you certainly want to know if the need based aid will make it possible. If you need a lot of need based FA, is this a “meets need” school, or a school that is known to meet a high percentage of need, if not meet it 100%? Did your D apply to other schools, since she applied early action and not early decision to this top choice school? I hope it works out for her! (And you!)</p>
<p>Teachandmom, thanks for all of your insights. “We” applied to eight schools and for the six we have heard from, I would like to know what the financial award package looks like before accepting to “our” number one school. I don’t think it will change our decision making at all at this point as we have already made our decision. It just seems strange to “buy” something without knowing what the out of pocket cost will be. I also know what our EFC is, but the one school (required CSS/Profile application) where we did get the award letter from, the family contribution was double of what it was for FAFSA. A majority of our schools are out of state private colleges so they are all in the same ball park. I think we will just wait it out and hope to hear back soon from our schools in terms of what their package looks like before we commit. As you say, there is no rush and we can take our time. There is a freshman orientation in April that we will likely book our travel for…even before we got our letter and commit to the school. Thanks for all…extremely helpful</p>
<p>Housing is usually separate. We were advised to place a housing deposit at my daughters 2nd choice before she heard from her first choice. ( which we did)</p>
<p>I just pulled the trigger on the refundable deposit which includes the housing deposit. Thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>My first son visited one of his colleges in January and called me that night and said “this is it.” If you aren’t too worried about costs then I think it’s fine to end the roller coaster. We did with him and let the other colleges know. If you sincerely have to compare offers and you know you might have to say or can say to your kiddo, sorry you aren’t going to College A, then it’s best to wait. But yes, housing deposits are generally refundable up until a certain point and don’t generally have anything to do with telling Admissions and Finaid that you are accepting. Finally, you cannot be deposited with admissions deposits at two colleges, but housing is generally considered something separate.</p>