<p>My younger brother is enrolled as freshman at private boarding school in Virginia getting partial financial aid. Currently he applied to few other boarding schools and decision is due on March 10th. Since the current school is aware that my brother may leave therefore we received a legal binding agreement from his current school that he must enrolls for next year within next one week otherwise he would not be able to continue his studies next year. In case of agreement violation my family will legally bound to pay $8,000. Please advise. </p>
<p>Independent schools typically require returning students to pay an enrollment deposit prior to March 10 to secure a spot for the following year. It’s how they figure out how many admissions offers they need to make for that class. At my kids’ school it’s 10% of total cost (tuition, room, and board) minus any financial aid. $8000 seems excessive for someone on partial financial aid. </p>
<p>It might be mean spirited and trying to recoup $.</p>
<p>We notified our school that we would not be able to notify them if DD would be returning until late March. We did not submit our re-enrollment contract or our deposit. It may wreak havoc if everyone does this and perhaps I shouldnt mention it, but they seem willing to roll with it. We did the same in another instance, different school, different child, different state, but also in that situation, our existing school was willing to give us time to know what we would be doing. Keep in communication with your school and try to work together. I find it hard to believe that they would try to force you to pay so much and risk losing it when they know money is tight for you.</p>