<p>Has anyone out there sent in enrollment/housing deposits to more than one school knowing that you can get a refund by a specific date? It seems like the best thing to do if your child is trying to decide between schools. Sending in deposits early always insures better housing. Anyone have any thoughts?</p>
<p>We only sent to one last year because it had a 30 day response date and it was her first choice at the time. When she changed her mind on the THE last day, we called them before we drove the check to the 2nd school.</p>
<p>By sending the check we assumed she was accepting their offer and since she could only go to one school we only sent 1 deposit.</p>
<p>I have found that generally kids (and parents) really DO know which school they prefer, and delaying the decision by holding spots at multiple schools with multiple deposits only prolongs the inevitable.</p>
<p>It is important to also know that many schools reserve the right to rescind admission if they find out you have agreed to attend more than one school simultaneously. They do that for a simple reason: by double depositing enrollment deposits, you are holding a spot that could go to another student, and making it impossible for schools to manage their yield. </p>
<p>Housing deposits are generally considered to be different than enrollment deposits, but before sending anything, I'd check to see if there is any possibility of having the offer of admission rescinded if you send a deposit of any kind to more than one school. </p>
<p>Finally, students have until May 1 to make their final decision, unless they have applied ED. While it may be tempting to get a shot at better housing by holding open multiple possibilities, in reality MOST students won't be making those deposits until after April 1, so there is no need to rush to make enrollment deposits now, so early in the year. Again, housing deposits are a little bit different, and if there is a housing crunch on a particular campus, sending the housing deposit may be a good idea. But that is different than saying, "I am definitely enrolling." And, again, make sure to check with each college.</p>
<p>Cmbmom's approach is the correct one, in my opinion: withdraw one deposit before sending another. If the choice isn't clear at this time, give it some more time before sending off deposits to two or more schools. I know, however, that there are people here who disagree with my opinion on this and I'm sure they will be speaking up soon.</p>
<p>We sent both housing and enrollment deposit to the school my son thought he would attend in Feb. of last year. When he was accepted in March at his 1st choice school, we wrote and asked if we could have deposits back. The sent it all back. I believe there was a deadline for doing this (May 1st perhaps). He had also already signed up for an orientation session and they sent back a portion of that payment also. Very nice of them to do that as I don't think refunds were mentioned.</p>
<p>One of the schools my S was accepted to had rolling admissions. He was accepted in September and the enrollment form clearly states that refunds are guaranteed until May 1st. It seemed like they encouraged you to send deposits which insured better housing and would kindly refund your money if needed. I think they do this because students are accepted so early in the year and they know that others schools send out acceptances much later.</p>