My son was admitted to UT Austin engineering and was pretty thrilled. We were told, however, that on-campus housing for freshman is not guaranteed and to fill out a housing application quickly-- which we did. It is my understanding that a housing contract will soon be offered, but that it cannot be executed unless my son has accepted admission at UT. The problem, however, is that even though UT is a top choice of his, financial aid/scholarships are a huge factor as he is OOS. So, I don’t want him to accept admission until this information comes through (as well as financial aid offers from other schools). In an ideal world, this would all shake out by April 1st, but we are being led to believe housing may long gone by then and to simply accept the offer. I suppose he could accept and submit an enrollment deposit that is refundable before May 1st, but is that ethical and could it put in jeopardy offers from other schools? Texas doesn’t use the Common App, but I believe the common app prohibits this. Maybe I’m overthinking this. After all the work to get to this point, we don’t want any missteps. Any thoughts?
@Leonidis Housing choice goes by when he put in his housing application with the $50 deposit, it does not go by when you turn in a housing contract or when he accepts admission. So if he decides to go to UT then he should have a chance of getting into the dorm he wants or at least a dorm. But I’m not sure if that is what you are concerned about so ignore it if so, sorry.
@amottmers We were told by UT housing that the application we submitted only holds his place in line (as of that date) as they work through the housing contract process. I was told they are already offering housing contracts to those students who submitted housing applications in January, and will soon be offering to those who submitted applications in February. So, if he has not enrolled by the time his housing contract would be offered in a few weeks, then they go to the next person in line, and so forth. It was strongly suggested that those who wait until April to enroll and execute a housing contract will be too late.
We emailed the counselor about this. The date of your housing application (50$) is your place in line. Period. Contracts may be offered to those who accept admission, but priority will be assigned ( and you will get a spot) based on your date of housing application and $50 deposit. My daughter applied for housing in September but has not accepted admission to the university yet. She was assured by her UT counselor that she will get a spot and is high up on the list for preferred assignment. Actual dorm assignments are not made till June. Now if your son did not put in a housing application until say… March… may be far down on the list. Accepting an offer won’t change anything.
Anyway that’s what we were told by the counselor. We have the email. I don’t know what you were told.
I’ve been wondering how this works. Everything I have read says the key date is when you put the $50 down.
My S was offered a contract before the big, final wave of admissions. (He was admitted to his major in December, auto admitted in September, put enrollment deposit down in early January.) He was given 8 days to sign the contract. He didn’t since he is staying in a private dorm, so I have not seen the whole process. It sounds like you are offered the contract when you put the enrollment deposit down and are given 8 days to sign it but even if you do, your place in line is determined by the date you put your $50 down?
Yes^ ^ that is our understanding and what we were told by the counselor
It’s because you aren’t assigned a dorm room until late July, so your housing preferences can still be honored. That’s what the deposit is for, making sure if you submit it early, you’ll get a more desirable dorm than someone who submitted it, say, last week. Don’t worry so much about being offered a contract in general because I’ve not heard of anyone not being able to live on campus, since they’ve been able to accommodate all freshmen up to this point. Hope this helps somewhat 
Another consideration though is orientation dates which opens 3/10. My understanding, based on other threads, the early sessions will be filled quickly and there are benefits for going early. They don’t have access to all seats in all sections, but maybe the better timed ones - afternoon vs early morning or evening, late Friday sessions - things like that. There is something else called FIGS that fill up.
FIGs https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/fig/
The program is one of freshmen connections
https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/360
https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/360/connections