<p>So I received an email notifying me that the deadline for the $200 pre-rent payment and housing contract is February 26th. As of right now, I am still waiting on decisions from 4 other colleges (MIT, Harvard, Yale, and UM, all top choices for me) and I have no idea whether or not I'll be going to UF. Surely other students have not yet made their decision, either! </p>
<p>How does the contract work? I can't possibly postpone it all the way until early April, find out I didn't get in anywhere else, and then not have a spot in the dorms. Also, I can't just spend $200, get in somewhere else, and not be refunded my money. What do I do?</p>
<p>If UF is your last choice, you think you’ll be accepted to one of your top picks and you can’t afford to lose $200, then it seems your only option is to miss the contract due date.</p>
<p>You lose your place in line for housing - which was based on the date you paid the $25 housing application fee - and are not guaranteed on-campus housing. Not sure if housing gets so tight that you likely wouldn’t get it, or if you’d just end up in a less desirable dorm. Why not email or call UF Housing? I’ve emailed a few times and they are responsive.</p>
<p>UF is the third school that I have paid a dorm downpayment…250/225/200 …as the housing contacts became available so that I would get a good priority number…but where I live on campus is very important to me and my parents. </p>
<p>But if UF is not your top school and you cannot afford to loose the 200.00 then you answered your own ?</p>
<p>You will probably be able to find a place off campus, but the rent will most likely be year round</p>
<p>Uf housing is very tight. If you don’t pay the deposit, you probably won’t get a dorm or, if you do, it will be a bad one. You need to weigh how likely you are to get into those other schools, all of which are tougher than UF. If the answer is, “not very,” suck it up and pay the deposit.</p>
<p>I’m pretty much in the same boat. UF is pretty messed up when it comes to that. They know that other students applied to other places, yet have their deadlines before those decisions come out. They’re just greedy. $25 to “wait in line.” I see an easy way to make $600k+</p>
<p>The list of schools you have are a lot harder than my list (MIT, JHU, Duke, Cornell), so I would think that if you do have the $$$, go for it. But if you and your family are mid-lower/lower class (like my family) and you can’t afford it, then I wouldn’t. Housing isn’t guaranteed, but I’m sure you’ll get something after.</p>
<p>Absolutely absurd how it is handled. I have been admitted several other schools and NO ONE has asked for money in advance like UF for housing. I called the housing office last week, they said if you pay the $200 then decide to go elsewhere you have to put in an “appeal” to get your money back! LOL! In my limited interaction with UF so far I am not impressed. I was admitted almost 2 weeks ago and still no acceptance packet in the mail? - yet they immediately can get their hand out requesting a non-refundable deposit.</p>
<p>I would miss it. Because I know you are applying to top schools, I see that you Sat scores and EC’s must be up to par. There is a scholarship called the Southern Scholarship Foundation that gives students who qualify, free off campus housing for students at FSU, UF, UWF and etc. I’m am just positive you will get it. So apply by March 1 and if it all doesn’t work out in April take their offer, if it does, decline their offer, no love lost.</p>
<p>I really hope it helped you and your dilemma. I’ll be praying you make it into your top choices though!!!</p>