"Forced" to pay deposits before 5/1

I kinda had in my head that May 1st was this magical date. I thought we would weigh all offers (some schools not responding until April 1) and then have until May 1st to put the deposit down on THE ONE. Instead, we’re finding opportunities are going to be lost if we don’t open our wallet now.

At one school D has been accepted to, if she does’t pay her housing deposit by 3/31, she can’t select a LLC (includes honors dorm). She’ll also need to identify her roommate by this date if she doesn’t want to take a random roommate. (Hard to do when lots of people are still waiting to hear from schools and aren’t committing. And the random roommate is just that - random; gender is only criteria used in matching.) Registration for freshman orientation opened up earlier this month and the first three sessions filled almost immediately. You can’t register for classes until you complete orientation. Can’t register for orientation until you’ve paid all your deposits. In other words, waiting until 5/1 locks you out of LLCs, a designated roommate, and you run the risk of not getting classes you want because you’re stuck at the last orientation. The worst deadline is for an accelerated language program that starts the summer before freshman year. Commitments to that program are due by 3/15. It wouldn’t make sense to do this program if you weren’t going to attend this school in the fall - and how many people are really ready to commit by 3/15?

She’s at least 95% sure she’s going to this school (but way less sure about the special language program), but it would be nice to be able to wait until all her offers are in. Is it just this school, or are other parents having to open their wallet with uncertainty?

I would check their refund policy. That seems like a game the school is playing. My D has 8 acceptances, and although you can’t sign up for orientation (where you get to pick classes) until you do the deposit, it is still refundable if we rescind in writing prior to May 1.

The school my daughter attends does housing selection based on housing deposit date, and you can’t make a housing deposit without making an enrollment deposit. You also couldn’t sign up for orientation prior to depositing. The system definitely rewarded those who decided early. In her case, the housing deposit was mostly refundable, but the enrollment deposit was not. We deposited in October even though she didn’t make her final decision until spring, figuring that the risk of losing the deposit was outweighed by the risk of a bad housing situation. I didn’t think the orientation was a problem at her school as new spots in freshmen classes were released for each orientation session. The early deposit wasn’t a big deal to us, as this school was in my daughter’s top two, but I can see how it could cause problems for others.

As for how many students are ready to commit by March 15 - I think there are probably a lot. It depends on the schools a student is applying to. My daughter had heard from all of her schools by mid-December; she wasn’t applying to Ivies or other top schools. Many schools have rolling admission or early action.

Many schools have first come/first served on housing, special programs, registering for orientation. They have students who are ready to commit, so they offer it as a benefit. Yep, helps the school fill up the spaces early by dangling a carrot.

You don’t have to commit early. My daughter attended the last orientation/registration session and got all the classes she wanted (her department holds back the slots for majors). She was assigned a random roommate and two days later that roommate was changed on the listing (and never ran into this girl while at college). Was assigned her random roommate just a week before school started, and it worked out just fine.

Just like with anything, the sooner you commit and reserve, the more benefits you get. Buy your airline ticket early, you get first choice of seats. Make a restaurant reservation early, you get to pick the time and may even be able to pick a table and your favorite waiter.

Several of the schools my D applied to are the same way. It makes it difficult for kids who aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger, are still waiting on scholarships/total COA estimates, or that want to hear back from RD schools that won’t release decisions until April 1.

It is a shame that you have to jump through hoops and pay deposits that may not be refundable.I know many large schools follow this. If a school operates in a way that is not in the best interest of the students, where they are just considered a number and a source of revenue, it would be a red flag to me.

My questions would be (1) is an enrollment deposit also required, or just the housing deposit? And (2) what portion - if any - of the deposit is refundable, and until what date?

For the language program, does that 3/15 commitment require a deposit? And, if so, is any portion of it refundable?

As for registering for classes, my guess would be that that’s the one thing you don’t have to worry about. There are always lots of changes during the first several days after classes start, and chances are, if you stay on top of it, she’ll be able to get most, if not all, the classes she wants, even if none of them were available ahead of time.

I also wouldn’t stress over the random roommate assignment - they usually turn out just fine. Remember, that’s how it used to be done (in prehistoric times), and we all survived.

It sounds as if this is a housing deposit. They have not requested an enrollment deposit. There is nothing unusual about this. Housing, especially at large public universities are usually done on a first come first served basis. As others mentioned, you need to find out if it is refundable if you change your mind before May 1.

Not at all unreasonable for students to make a show of interest/commitment by paying a deposit to hold their place in a college/U class. Thought that was the norm, with refund if request put in writing by May 1st.

Likewise a housing deposit is to be made by a given date (at UW-Madison this was a few weeks after acceptance, with a refund if a separate request is made- telling the school alone does not suffice). UW does a housing lottery, not first-come first served for housing choices. They found random roommates worked just as well as filling out a questionnaire. Nothing wrong with sharing a room with a stranger- that person does not need to become a friend.

I do not think this is at all a “game” played by institutions. Being able to get full refunds by May 1st is very reasonable. If not, consider a cost of applying to college.

I totally think it’s a game. Schools know that there are some families who will gladly pay the nonrefundable fees to hold a spot while they wait for other decisions to come in. I don’t view it as a reward for deciding early, it’s more like a penalty for thsoe who wait to decide when you can’t even get into an LLC after 3/31.

Here are the fees for the school that D has to pay if she wants to get in on all the action going on now:
$75 housing application fee (non-refundable)
$250 Honors College Fee (shows as a credit towards your tuition in the fall if you actually attend, otherwise it’s nonrefundable. And you can’t select the honors dorm unless it’s paid)
$250 Special Program Fee (in order to do the language study, but we think there’s going to be an additional fee for the language program registration as well)

I’ve seen random roommate and suitemate matches work, but I’ve also seen them go horribly wrong.My sister’s freshman year experience just about scarred her for life. I have to wonder if it contributed to her dropping out after sophomore year.

You aren’t forced, and that is the point. These are extras. They may cost extra, meaning nonrefundabity.

It sounds like the school in question is a rolling admission school meaning they made a decision about your daughter before they had all of their applications in. They are not asking her to make her decision before all her options are known, but they are going to offer benefits to those who view them as their first choice school and have made up their minds. If she is 95% sure, I’d pay the money and consider it as “insurance.”

And I’ve seen long time friends become enemies after living together for a short time. I started school in January and I was placed in a room where one of a pair of high school friends moved out after one semester. They decided if they wanted to remain friends, they couldn’t live together. My high school friends were roommates in the dorm and then were roommates in a house. Things went terribly wrong, their boyfriends (then husbands) hated each other (and one was a high school friend of ours too), there were physical fights, there were spats over everything from colored toilet paper to lights being left on, and police being called. These are rational people! Both are nurses.

But yes, the schools are trying to lock you in, to get you to pay for making a reservation and to forfeit the deposit if you decide not to use the reservation. If you don’t like the policy, don’t go to the school because it is NOT going to get better.

I have two kids in college. One college is so easy to work with, tries to do anything and everything to make it things easier. The other school has a hundred rules and deposits and deadlines for housing. Unfortunately, that’s where that daughter wanted to go so we put up with it. One example: daughter at ‘nice’ school had a $100 housing deposit. It was refunded to my checking account within two weeks of moving out of the dorm. Other daughter had a $200 deposit, and lived in the dorm (as required) for 2 years. She had to go into the housing office at the start of year 3, fill out a form requesting the return of the deposit, and then wait about 5 weeks for them to issue a refund. They wouldn’t even make it a credit on her fall bill. If you fail to request the refund, they keep it.

Another “too bad” for those waiting on financial aid offers and can’t afford to take out this kind of “insurance.”

It may seem like a game, and none of us like it when a school requires these kinds of deposits on a different schedule. But it’s not a game, it’s reality. As sybbie said - it’s not uncommon at large unis - and even at mid-sized school that are short on space for housing. It’s just good business practice when you think about it, and it’s also fair to reward those that are ready to commit.

@MomOf3DDs - That’s a much more succint way of putting it. I could view early payment as a reward for committing earlier if it gave you priority, but in this case, certain options aren’t even available for those who can’t afford to commit earlier. It’s a game without a level playing field.

It has never been an even playing field unfortunately. The You have until May 1 is common recommended practice but also not cast in stone. If she is 95% sure that is the college for her I would hedge the bet and deposit and get whatever refund you can if she changes her mind at the last minute. It is small change compared to the total cost of college.

Colleges want you to come to their school.
They abide by the 5/1 date in the sense that you can get your deposits refunded before that but want you to be down deposits to make it psychologically harder to switch since you have invested time in them.

Put down the deposits but tell your DD that she has until 5/1 to make a final decision…these are just place holders in case she attends. You can have deposits at multiple school UNTIL 5/1 at which point you have to have only one.

At some point the decision must be made. The schools are not bad guys trying to manipulate you. They have been doing admissions for so many decades they have their acts together. They know what works. The request for “earnest money” is an incentive for students to finalize choices and tell schools no, thank you. This frees up spots for others. Accepted students unwilling to make any commitment make other students wait to hear. It is a lot easier for office staff to deal with incoming deposits over time instead of all checks coming in at once. It seems logical to me and not at all like schools are playing any games. Accept reality- the system has been working for a long time.

What would be a better system - have everyone wait until May 1 and then have a lottery for dorm rooms, no ability to pick roommates, no summer programs because it is too late to organize them? Have everyone arrive at school in Aug and just assign rooms at that time? Have no orientation/registration because everyone can’t go to the first weekend and therefore it is not fair to those who have to go to the third or sixth weekend? That’s how we did it in the olden days, just sent in the registration material and the computer did the rest - no priority for turning in the forms early or putting down a deposit.