My daughter received her Penn State (University Park) admission last month and we went ahead and paid the $330 in fees ($130 enrollment fee, $100 housing deposit, $100 General fee) to hold her spot. As far as the housing goes - is there anything else we should be doing at this time other than paying the $100 housing deposit? I’ve asked her if she received any follow up emails in regards to choosing her specific dorm etc etc and she says no. I wanted to make sure she got it in early so she was high on the list to choose her dorm but wasn’t sure if there was more to it at this time other than just paying the initial deposit fee?
Is Penn State one of the schools that processes housing requests based on deposit date? Wonder if there is a consolidated list somewhere here on CC that indicates which schools do their housing that way and which ones don’t. It puts a lot of pressure on kids to deposit to a school before they have even heard from many of the schools they’ve applied to just to “hold a spot”.
Penn State determines housing based on deposit date. Freshmen are guaranteed housing, but the longer one waits to put a deposit (i.e. after April) the more likely they are to get supplemental housing. If I remember correctly from last year, we put our deposit down and then later we were able to put roommate requests in etc…You may be able to ‘accept housing contract’ now in eliving and go through the process of choosing 1st and 2nd choice of dorm areas etc and then add roommate later. The contract information would be on the left menu in eliving.
There is nothing else you need to do at this point. They do determine housing by the date the deposit is made, however it is still very early so you are fine. They don’t have to put roommate requests and housing picks in for a long time, and you can even put them in and then change before the deadline. I’m trying to remember exactly when the deadline is but I’m pretty sure it is not until after May 1st when everyone needs to have already made a decision.
@adlgel Yes PSU definitely determines housing choices by the date of deposit. We got our deposit in March and my son got his first choice. However, one of his friends did not get his deposit in until the very last minute (I think actually on the deadline date). He was assigned supplemental housing and it has been a great experience. When we went to accepted students day the housing representative told us that although “supplemental housing” sounds like a poor alternative to the traditional dorms, during the semester when an opening appears in the traditional dorms and they ask the students in supplemental housing if they want that dorm spot, most decline. I didn’t believe it then, but in my experience it appears to be true. So at this point there’s no need to feel pressured to pay the deposit. So long as you pay before the deadline your kid will get housing and it will be fine.