My son is holding out for a few of his top picks, that in some cases don’t decide until April 1st. We want to put down an enrollment deposit on one school he has been accepted at, to start housing, etc., but would almost certainly pull out if he is accepted at one of his 3 top schools later. Is this OK?
Your situaiton is very common. You can accept admission now so that you can proceed with housing and later withdraw from that admisison and choose to accept elsewhere. The only penalty is that you risk losing your deposits for admission and for housing (schools vary on how much you lose so you should check the particular college’s rules for what happens to deposits).
Agree with above. I would only add that if your S decided to attend another college you should notify the college he sends the deposit to that he will not be attending. And you will almost certainly lose the deposit at the first school if he ultimately attends another college.
I would recommend reading the fine print of the contract you sign to go along with the deposit.
Agree to read carefully. But generally this is okay as long as he notified the 1st school immediately if he sends a deposit to a 2nd school. You can’t have deposits at 2 schools at once. And you do risk losing the deposit at the 1st school.