I was accepted OOS to UT Austin in December but I’m still waiting to hear back from other schools and will have visit UT in April before I decide if I will commit. But at this point, I am about 50% sure I will attend UT, so I have started to look into on campus dorms.
It seems like it’s pretty difficult to get “good” on-campus housing and that a lot of halls fill up pretty quickly. I went ahead and submitted the housing application and paid the $50 fee back in December, but if I am not able to commit until mid-April will I be stuck with only the “bad” dorms?
Ideally, I would like to stay in Jester East/West or San Jac and would like a connecting bath. Do those fill up very quickly (will they be full by April)?
Also, if anyone has any tips or insight on UT housing please share! As an OOS student I don’t know much at all about UT so anything would be appreciated.
You will choose your own room at your assigned time, sometime during the last half of June. When you put in your $50 deposit you got your place in line. Based on what I heard at the on campus living presentation, San Jacinto fills first and would be full by your turn but you should easily be able to get into Jester. Jester holds 3,000 so takes a while to fill.
If you find a roommate with an earlier deposit time, you would essentially get bumped to that early time when they pulled you into their room.
You don’t need to worry about not committing to UT until April. As long as you commit by May 1, your place in the room choosing line stays the same.
Hmmm… I may be mixed up, and if so, I want to get it straight. But I think a bit of what @noready said may be off?
(Again, I’m open to correction).
According to http://housing.utexas.edu/future/housing-process (watch the slideshow), as soon as students enroll, they start offering contracts. The line for deposits is important, but I believe that it’s nested within the enrollment order. Therefore, waiting to commit until 5/1 puts you at risk of decreased availability.
We are also in this position for my daughter. We do live in Austin (and husband and I graduated UT) so we have a good feel for the off campus options too. So we’re keeping that as plan B. I lived in Dobie and it’s very close by and well priced for what you get.
Jester’s good too. My daughter stayed there last summer for a summer camp.
@meadow530 Just watched the slideshow and I get what you are saying. Now back to being confused on the whole process again…
I understand that submitting the application and $50 puts in you in line to receive a housing contract. This is where I get lost: the order in which you complete the housing contract then (out on Mar 1 for those who have committed to the university) puts you in line to submit your room preference? Once you have received the housing contract, the order you submitted the initial application means nothing, right…?
Just trying to clarify on this very confusing and complicated process
I’m confused about it too. I’m wondering if it means that it’s in batches. Like within the March 1 batch, they go by deposit order? Then again for the next batch a few weeks later?
The housing contract is not for a specific room, it just assures you a room on campus.
Contracts are sent out in batches twice a month to people who have committed to UT starting around March 1. You have 10 days to return them with the $300 deposit. You can get the $300 deposit back until May 1.
They look at how many people have put in $50 deposits and decide the deposit date to which they can offer contracts and not run out of rooms. As people commit to UT, they send out housing contracts on the schedule above. As people don’t return contracts within 10 days, they offer contracts to people who deposited later. They hold contracts, and therefore spaces, for people who don’t commit until May 1, again based on the initial $50 deposit date.
By the end of May they should know all the people who will live on campus. By the middle of June, they have made any special housing assignments. Sometime mid June, they assign people room selection times based on the initial $50 deposit date, not the $300 contract date.