Housing deposits and parental signatures--important

Colleges and Universities A-Z Florida State University
1

<p>I have learned of a few students who went onto the FSU website just after midnight to find that they were accepted, and went onto housing to get a low priority number, only to miss the deadline for the deposit or the parental signature. </p>

<p>For future web surfers looking for FSU info, just a reminder that you DO NOT HAVE TO PAY THE FSU DEPOSIT to hold your place in the class until MAY 1st. That deposit is nonrefundable. If you get accepted and it is you number one choice and you want to pay it, pay it anytime. It is easly to pay online for an extra $5 convenience fee. Once you know you are going to FSU, I would pay it/get a parent to pay it. Given the way they limit the freshman class, and given the way they try to estimate how many acceptances to give out and what the yield may be, once you know you want to go, pay the deposit. You cannot register for orientation (also non-refundable) until you pay your FSU deposit, that's all. I would not pay it until you are certain that is where you want to go.</p>

<p>THE HOUSING DEPOSIT IS SEPARATE. To ensure you get a low housing number and that you get to keep your low housing number, you have to fill out the housing contract on-line at housing.fsu.edu; you have to pay a deposit within 10 days, AND IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YOU HAVE TO PRINT OUT THE CONTRACT AND GET A PARENT TO COSIGN THE CONTRACT AND YOU HAVE TO GET IT TO THE HOUSING OFFICE IN 10 DAYS, as it is not legal or binding if you are under 17. </p>

<p>Some of the housing deposit IS REFUNDABLE, and if you have FLORIDA PREPAID HOUSING, you can use it to make ONE housing deposit. FLA PREPAID pays the first housing deposit that it receives. If you indicated that you were using PREPAID to pay for a housing deposit say at UF, you have to pay the housing deposit at FSU and not check the prepaid box, as they will not pay another deposit and if FSU does not get a deposit you loose your priority number. If you have PREPAID, you can put housing deposits down at UF, FSU, USF, etc but PREPAID pays the first one you request, and YOU pay any after that. You then follow the instructions for refunds anywhere you decide not to attend. And the Univerisity bills PREPAID for the dorm you eventually will live in. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO MUCH AT ALL FOR FLORIDA PREPAID. You tell housing, they bill prepaid. Housing bills you for anything PREPAID DOES NOT COVER. </p>

<p>You can also pay the housing deposit online. You can pay it the night you get your number, you can pay it online in the next few days, you can send in a check. But housing has to get notification of payment in 10 days. And they also have to receive the parental signature in 10 days. They accept fax's, and will gladly tell you when you call or email if they have received it. If you mail it, MAIL IT WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION, and call up on the nineth day to see if they have it. If not, just fax them another contract with signature. You can download copies anytime. Two are better than none. IF YOU HAVE NOT CALLED TO VERIFY THEY HAVE your signature or your deposit, then there is the possiblity they have not received it. A parent CANNOT SIGN THE CONTRACT ONLINE. IF you are 17 or under, it has to be printed up and signed and faxed or mailed. </p>

<p>You can change your preferences for a dorm anytime from the night you get your priority number until they close the website and start to assign rooms. That is not until March. If you change your preferences YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND IN ANOTHER CONTRACT SIGNATURE. You can add a roommate preference later as well. </p>

<p>If you pay the housing deposit and have PREPAID, they will apply the deposit to the difference between what PREPAID pays and the cost of the dorm. If you have PREPAID you are NOT limited in your dorm selections. You can list any dorm and pay the difference between what PREPAID pays and what the dorm costs. All charges and payment/deposits are tracked on the website under secure applications (secure apps) and FSU if very good about refunding any overages to your FSUcard account if you go in to secure apps and indicate you want the refund to go there. If your parent wants a check back, it comes about 2 weeks after the automatic deposits into the FSUcard account, as they have to print up the checks, sign them and mail them.</p>

<p>Sorry for the CAPS. But I thought it would help clarify.</p>

<p>That is the basics for housing, for the online contract, the deposits, for PREPAID and for the parental signature. Hopefully this will help for the future.</p>

2

<p>thanks a lot but for me is too late already! I'm loosing $205 because we have mistaken the admission with the housing fee!! and my D lost her priority # on top of that! she doesn't know yet if she is going.... if she goes we're just loosing a better dorm I guess!</p>

3

<p>too late here as well.</p>

<p>we got the contract in and the deposit.</p>

<p>we forgot about the parental signature form.</p>

<p>oh well. doubt he will attend anyway..but it would have been nice to have that low numberback just in case he does.</p>

4

<p>Nice post SUNNYFLORIDA! Lots of valuable information.</p>

5

<p>Be sure to send it “Certified Mail.” When I received a letter yesterday telling me they never got my parent-signed contract (I’ll be 17 when I begin), they had canceled my priority number, and they were refunding my deposit, I was able to be reinstated because I had a FSU-signed, dated certified mailing sent back to me. They said it was an error in computing, but they found my file with the contract in it, apologized, and put everything back the way it was before. I even got my priority number back (thank goodness, since it’s a single-digit number). If I hadn’t had the certified mailing with the housing staff member’s signature on it, I would have lost all of it. It was a simple mistake, but one that could have been costly for me if I had not sent it by Certified Mail.</p>

6

<p>Great job, Sunny!</p>

<p>FedEx is also an alternative we have successfully used.</p>

7

<p>IMHO, just fax during housing office hours, then call or email to verify receipt. An email is written evidence, and simpler and probably cheaper than certified mail.</p>