<p>Hi there!
All right, so I submitted an EA CommonApp the other day, and I checked the box that said “I affirm that I will send an enrollment deposit (or equivalent) to only one institution; sending multiple deposits (or equivalent) may result in the withdrawal of my admission offers from all institutions. [Note: students may send an enrollment deposit (or equivalent) to a second institution where they have been admitted from the waitlist, provided that they inform the first institution that they will no longer be enrolling.]”</p>
<p>Now I’m slightly confused. To register for housing for Bama, they make their students submit a non-refundable enrollment deposit first (for some reason I just cannot comprehend haha. Anyone know why Bama makes you do this? No other schools I’m applying to require enrollment first.). Bama is one of my top-schools, and I would absolutely be thrilled to attend if I’m not accepted to my top choice. Because of this, I wanted to submit the deposit in case I decide on Bama. </p>
<p>However, because I agreed to that on the Common App, am I no longer allowed to apply for housing for Bama since they require the enrollment deposit before I can apply for housing? </p>
<p>The reason for applying EA, ED or SCEA are to try and get an early decision from a school that you more than likely will attend should you be accepted. You indicated you checked the box for EA which is the LEAST strict as compared to ED or SCEA which are more of a binding contract. While following the letter of the rules should mean that you should NOT apply and pay deposits at UA because you still really hope to attend your 1st choice school which is the reason you chose EA, I doubt that school would ever know, especially since EA is non-binding and allows virtually any way / reason out of accepting their admission offer you can imagine. Therefore, you may be safe paying both the UA deposits as long as you know that you will forfeit some of that money should you choose to go to your 1st choice school in the end. You’re trying to protect the “best of both worlds” view … utilizing EA to perhaps have a better chance at 1st choice, but still lock in the best possible slot at UA (your safety). I’m not an admissions expert, but this is how I read the situation. Good luck.</p>
<p>classicchip – We were in the same situation with both daughters and interpreted the Common App just as you do. We felt honor bound not to pay Alabama’s enrollment deposit until they actually decided to enroll due to this language in the Common App – even though the other schools that my daughters applied to under the Common App would probably never know that we had paid an enrollment deposit at Alabama. (Integrity is honoring your commitments when nobody is watching/will find out.) Both girls ended up with Honors housing – older daughter because housing wasn’t quite as tight her year as it has subsequently become and she was willing to go potluck as a fourth roommate in a room that had only one open slot; younger daughter because a fabulous mom on this board learned of our situation and told us that there was an open spot in her daughter’s suite and the girls pulled her in. </p>
<p>While I am generally a huge fan of the way that Alabama handles most things, like many others on this board, I don’t think Alabama should put students in the position of having to violate the commitment they make on the Common App. </p>
<p>Moreover, in addition to requiring students to violate their Common App commitment, Alabama’s requirement that the students actually place an enrollment deposit to secure their place in line for housing also violates NACAC’s requirement that colleges structure their housing and scholarship deadlines in a way that allows all students until May 1st to make a final decision. Since Alabama is a member of NACAC, it should live up to the organization’s standards just as the other members of the organization do. </p>
<p>In fact, I think that this policy is actually part of what caused the apparent need for more rooms for freshman this fall than the University had available. By requiring students to pay an enrollment deposit to secure housing, it becomes impossible to distinguish who is serious about attending Alabama and who is just paying the enrollment deposit to hold a place in housing. While students who decide not to attend should let Alabama know that they aren’t coming if they opt to enroll elsewhere, many don’t follow through and do this. Net result – Alabama ends up with students on the books as “enrolled” who decided months ago not to attend. If students could pay an early, non-refundable housing deposit and then later pay the enrollment deposit, the enrollment deposits would represent a more meaningful picture of who is actually planning to attend the University of Alabama and who will thus need a dorm room. </p>
<p>My daughters applied to and were admitted early to a number of large state schools – University of Texas, University of Georgia, University of Maryland, University of Virginia – most of which have housing shortages. We did not find any other that required the student to enroll before paying the housing deposit. Some postponed any sort of deposit, including a housing deposit until after May 1st; others allowed early deposits for housing, but didn’t require an enrollment deposit. I have no problem with Alabama charging a large, even non-refundable housing deposit to ensure that students who sign up for housing are serious about their interest in the University of Alabama – they just shouldn’t make the students commit to enrollment.</p>
<p>This is something that Alabama needs to change.</p>
<p>@ Dad2ILD: Thank you so much for your response! If I am accepted at my EA school, I would definitely be attending (well, so long as the financial aid is somewhat decent, aha)! But at the same time, I know my EA school is more competitive and that’s why Bama is being highly considered by me. Really appreciate it!!</p>
<p>@ paying4collegex4: You summed up my sentiments exactly! I don’t want to pay the enrollment deposit if we’re not supposed to according to the agreement from the Common App. As much as I’d love to guarantee the housing I want, I don’t want to dishonor my agreement/risk my other applications. I’ve also never heard of the NACAC before… I’m really surprised Bama’s been allowed to do this then! From what you just mentioned, it seems like a complete violation of that, since they kinda make people enroll before May 1 (even though students can change their minds… I guess that’s probably how they’re allowed to do this? The enrollment deposit is non-binding, even though it’s the enrollment deposit?). I’m glad to hear that it worked out for your daughters though! Hopefully if I get stuck in that situation, something like that will happen for me too; the honors dorm is my top housing choice there. But thank you so much for your thoughtful response! I am in complete agreement with you that this needs to be changed. It really just doesn’t sit right with me, aha.</p>
<p>So from what I’m getting is that it would violate the Common App agreement. Crossing fingers that if I do decide on Bama, it’ll work out! Thanks very much again to you both!</p>
<p>Alabama had done a lot of great stuff over the last 10 years however this enrollment game is NOT one of them. IMO, this policy using a shortage of premium housing to pressure applicants to commit early and forces some families to lose deposits. </p>
<p>While it is true applicants can withdraw the enrollment deposit to Bama if they decide to attend a different school so the applicant technically never double deposits … at best, Bama is well into the grey about violating the spirit of the national enrollment deposit policy Bama agreed to.</p>
<p>And this what really ticks me off about this play by Bama. The only reason Bama can get away with this is because 99+% of schools follow the national policy as it was intended … not pressuring kids to enroll early. If any of Bama competitors implemented a similar policy it wouldn’t work for any of the schools for any students considering their options. In essence, Bama has implemented a shady policy built on the goodwill of other schools.</p>
<p>FWIW, I contacted one of my ds’s common app schools and was told that he could enroll at a PUBLIC university as long as that enrollment was withdrawn/canceled prior to enrolling at their (or any other) common app school. </p>
<p>I agree with the above posters about how frustrating it is, however. If they do it to increase their revenue, then just increase the amount of the housing deposit. The semantics of it are just wrong, IMO.</p>
<p>what they need to do, then, is just require a housing deposit, not an enrollment deposit AND a housing deposit. if they want to keep our money, then they can make it non-refundable, but i think it would be reasonable to make it mostly refundable. idk what they do at many other schools, but the one i AM familiar with requires a housing deposit. it is refundable (except 25 dollars or so) up to a certain date (may maybe). and the amount you can get back goes down the longer you wait.</p>
<p>if UA is violating some sort of rules (as posted about above) then they really should change this deposit requirement. i am sure they can put a different policy in place the woud yield the same results.</p>
<p>and while the pulling in is nice for some (those who get to choose all their roomies and those at the end of the line who get to jump the line), it is not really fair to those in line after the many students who pull in others.</p>
<p>^^ I agree, and while it worked out fine for my DD last year, it was a bit frustrating to see her choices limited by those pulled in early but that had deposited the housing portion later. </p>
<p>And I read the Common App language to say that a student should not have in more than one deposit at a time, which we are not planning on, so I don’t feel we are being unethical by depositing at Alabama but keeping an option open. It feels the same to me as it would if financial/family circumstances changed and DS needed to be closer to home next fall at a state school instead. </p>
<p>Guess there is no way to make all happy, we just do the best we can.</p>
<p>My D did not apply to any Common App schools, so we did not have this issue. However, if she had, we still would have made the deposit at Alabama. I interpret the language to mean you can’t have more than one enrollment deposit made at any one time. A friend of mine called the schools her D was applying to and inquired, and they all said as long as she didn’t have multiple deposits on May 1, they were good with her making an enrollment deposit at another school to secure housing. (These were Common App schools that didn’t make decisions until the spring). That said, Bama is the only school D applied to that required an enrollment deposit in order to make the housing deposit, and I think they should change their requirements. The other schools all had housing deposits (with varying degrees of refundability), but either an enrollment deposit was not required or the timing of the housing deposit didn’t affect your housing choices. If other schools had Bama’s requirements, students would really be in a pickle.</p>
<p>In our case, we paid the UA deposit a few weeks ago and have not submitted any other applications yet. So, how were we supposed to know that the CA would have that clause? I personally have no issue with my D applying EA to several schools. Should she gain admittance to another school we will withdraw from UA and submit the deposit with the new school. Therefore, we won’t have deposits in at more than one school.</p>
And you’ll have to burn your enrollment deposit to do this. </p>
<p>What if the top 3 schools you child was applying to all had the same policy to get a in line for housing … you couldn’t get in line at all 3 schools at the same time as you can only submit a enrollment deposit to one school at a time. This only works for Bama because no one else does it … no glory in being the first to have the shady process.</p>
<p>No legal advice here, but I also personally interpreted the CA to mean that only one deposit could be in place at a time. If the student decides to attend another school, they can simply withdraw their enrollment at Bama. Again, this is my interpretation.</p>
<p>However, I agree that UA needs to do away with this practice. Not because I think it is shady or unethical, but because it makes prospective students and parents confused, unsure and questioning Bama as an option. This practice causes the question of “if I were to deposit at UA am I canceling my other options?” dilemma. I think that UA should conform to the same standards that the other universities conform to. It would be a good will gesture to change this practice so that future students and parents are not put in this situation.</p>
<p>I already knew I’d lose my enrollment deposit if she attends a different school. We felt it was worth making the deposit so we could apply for housing early should she decide to attend UA. It was a calculated risk and in the grand scheme not a lot of money for the temporary peace of mind. My D has received application fee waivers from all but one school so it’s a wash.</p>
<p>Sorry, friends, I know you want me to weigh in with some awesome information, but the Freshman Enrollment Deposit and that process is set through Admissions, not Housing. </p>
<p>If the Common App language only prohibited having more than one deposit outstanding at a time, there would be no need for the exception made in the last sentence of the student’s affirmation on the Common App, which provides that a student may send a deposit to a school where they have been admitted from the waitlist after previously depositing at a different school “provided that they inform the first institution that they will no longer be enrolling.”</p>
<p>UAHousing, you don’t have to weigh in, but you could bring it to the attention to those responsible to see if they can don something about it. </p>
<p>if the current policy “violates NACAC’s requirement that colleges structure their housing and scholarship deadlines in a way that allows all students until May 1st to make a final decision,” then it needs to be looked into, at the very least.</p>
<p>Under the NACAC’s list of “mandatory practices”:</p>
<p>"B. Admission, Financial Aid and Testing Policies and Procedures
Postsecondary members agree that they will:</p>
<ol>
<li>work with their institutions’ senior administrative officers to ensure that financial
aid and scholarship offers and housing options are not used to manipulate
commitments prior to May 1;"</li>
</ol>
<p>It is kind of ironic that I read this thread this morning, as we have been having such a similar discussion at our house this past week, starting right before the 10/1 date. We have decided to take our chances with housing, as we will not commit until we are ready.</p>
<p>DD has a hard time committing to what breakfast cereal to have in the morning, yet alone make a commitment to attend a school based on a deadline to get a spot in a line to try to get a particular building or type of housing. It is the one negative in our experiences with Bama so far. Everything else has exceeded our expectations.</p>