S’s application process is still ongoing (comedy of errors). The recurring theme in many threads here is that you need to get your housing application in immediately when it opens, or else… What exactly happens?
He finally got accepted a week or two ago, but now we’re stuck again because we cant get the honors or housing app (I am not totally clear which one) to submit properly. I feel like by the time we get the newest issue solved it will be Nov and who knows what our next issue will be! At this point we are so very behind that what will it mean for him? Would he just not get to live with the Honors students? Or do the dorms actually all fill up? What exactly is the penalty for not moving fast enough?
(I am trying to keep him excited about UA but I’m not sure how I will keep selling it if we’ve screwed this up too badly.)
All freshman are required to live on campus unless they are granted an exception, so they will make room for all students in campus housing.
The housing process has changed a bit from when my son started, but I believe if you don’t deposit immediately the biggest risk will not being able to choose the exact room you want or not being able to find a room with 4 spots available if you already have roommates selected. If you deposit a little later, you may find that it’s more difficult to find a spot in the honors dorm, even if willing to choose random roommates. If the deadline passes before the deposit is made, then the biggest penalty is that housing will place the student in a room and the student will have no control in the selection process.
Another option is to get someone with an early housing pick date to pull him in.
flatKansas - it’s going to be okay! 
Thanks for the reassurances 
He tried calling again this afternoon, but I guess admissions decided to close early. I’m so over this whole process.
@flatKansas
UA is on Fall break today and tomorrow which is probably why the admissions office is closed. Like amy9998 says though your son will be just fine. UA has plenty of good housing.
After the freshman deposit, is the entire $300 due before you can apply for housing or is the $25 app fee due immediately and the other $275 due later?
Entire $300 due to complete the housing application and get in the queue.
Hi! Yes, it’s Fall Break, but that’s just a break from classes. All offices are still open.
He’s been accepted… have you paid the Freshman Enrollment Deposit through Admissions? That will have to be complete before a housing application can be submitted.
Another tip: Honors acceptance does not need to be done before the housing application. If you apply to housing first, our system will automatically update when your student’s Honors College status changes later. So basically (for housing purposes) the Honors acceptance just needs to happen before the end of April.
Hope this helps!
Janine
@UAHousing We tried calling again today and nobody answered at Admissions.
He has paid the freshman deposit. The issue is (as he’s explained it to me) that his birthdate shows up wrong, which somehow stops him from submitting it because the system thinks he’s over 19. (Apparently he entered it wrong in his application? But we can’t get back into the application to fix it ourselves.) He talked to Admissions Monday and was told they would fix it, but they haven’t. So we’re stuck with a housing app that we can’t fix or submit.
edit to add: calling them myself now
got another super nice UA person who says they’ve fixed it. Fingers crossed! Guess we’ll try the app again tomorrow and see
FlatKansas, please email me at jgmcgee@sa.ua.edu so i can try to follow up and confirm what’s in the system.
Thanks!
Janine