Housing

<p>Okay, I'm a bit confused so...</p>

<p>from what I gather,
-you apply for housing and pay the $50 fee.
-then you are admitted (I'm top ten %)
-then you accept admission and pay housing contract and $300
-then you get to pick your house</p>

<p>correct me if I'm wrong?</p>

<p>Are you getting to pick your housing based on the house application or the house contract? Cuz I don't want to pay the $300 until I'm sure I'm going to UT. If I wait til April to pay the contract when I get my other acceptances/rejections from the colleges I applied, will I not get housing (even if I applied for housing say in Nov?) UT is my backup, but just in case I don't want to go there and end up getting really bad housing</p>

<p>You should apply for housing ($50) prior to your acceptance. Hell, we did it prior to even applying to the University. They will not take your $300 until AFTER you are accepted as a student at UT. Watch your emails closely after acceptance--the contract will be e-mailed and is easy to miss. You rank the dorms you want, but no guarantees that you will get the dorm you want. Unless there is a major change, the dorm choices are awarded in relation to how early you applied for the dorm, not when you accepted your contract (so you are probably already out of luck for San Jac and Duren if you haven't applied on the first day of application acceptances.) $50 is non-refundable, the $300 is also. If you cancel your contract really late (like July or August) and still attend, they will even charge you more (some sort of damages for getting out of your contract) Hope this helps.</p>

<p>no I mean do I have to pay the $300 right after I'm accepted? Or can I wait to accept my housing contract after April?</p>

<p>It says the contract will expire...is that the May 1 date or is it like "okay we offer you contract Nov, pay the $300 by Jan or else no house".</p>

<p>So the dorm choice is based in the earliness of the APPLICATION not the CONTRACT? So for ex one could apply on Oct 1, get san jac, and still be able to keep san jac even if he does not pay the contract til April?</p>

<p>You have to accept the contract/pay the application fee of $300 fairly quickly after you are accepted. For instance, you get accepted at the University early-say October or November. The Housing Office will then e-mail you ( provided you already have in your application, and that should have
been done incredibly early) you contract/acceptance for housing within a week or two of your acceptance of your UT bid. THEN you accept your housing contract, say in December. THERE IS A DEADLINE TO ACCEPT THE CONTRACT, AND IT IS PRETTY QUICK. You must pay the $ 300 at this time. If you don't accept contract/pay the $300, you forfeit your space in the University housing, and the $50 application fee. So basically, if you want a shot at UT housing, especially San Jac or Duren, apply early, accept early and be prepared to lose $350 if this is your safety. YOU CANNOT DELAY ACCEPTING HOUSING CONTRACT ONCE IT IS OFFERED TO YOU. Also, the dorm are not assigned until July/August; do not call them, they will not tell you anything about what dorm you get until they are good and ready. It is a crap shoot, but we played the game and got first choice. I guess the only way to maybe delay having to accept a contract is to delay accepting your bid to go to the Unversity until the very last minute. That might be worth calling the housing office about regarding the contract.</p>

<p>The way I understand it is as follows:</p>

<p>You already should have applied for housing. If you didn't, do so ASAP so you won't have to rush to find off-campus housing. It's $50, and I believe if you aren't admitted to the University it's refunded, but I'm not sure.</p>

<p>Then, you will be offered a housing contract. The first contracts were released this week, and have a deadline of 12/3. You must pay the $300 deposit by this date and submit the forms. I believe that If you choose not to attend UT by May 1 this money is refunded; otherwise, whether or not you stay in off campus housing you are charged the $300.</p>

<p>If you are top 10% and not applying to a competitive entry program like Business, Nursing, or Engineering you should hear back within a few weeks of applying.</p>

<p>This thread is making me nervous. How does the housing contract arrive? Does it come in the real mail or is it emailed to the student? "THERE IS A DEADLINE TO ACCEPT THE CONTRACT, AND IT IS PRETTY QUICK."</p>

<p>The student is emailed a notice about his application and given a weblink to print the contract. If he/she isn't 18 it requires a parent as guarantor.</p>

<p>I can't remember if there is also snail mail notification.</p>

<p>But I got my contract offer and had 25 or so days to respond and pay the $300 deposit.</p>

<p>OMG this is so complicated. Please net this out for me.</p>

<p>I was accepted, business, but want to wait to see who else accepts me. Should I just pay the 50 bucks right now? I won't be able to decide were I am going to commit for about 4 more weeks.</p>

<p>No contract has come yet but I am so confused. I am oos and I don't want to have to figure out off campus housing. I live too far away for that.</p>

<p>BTW, what are San Jac and Duren?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Don't worry what San Jac and Duren are because you haven't applied early enough to get a room there.</p>

<p>They are dormitories, both of which have opened within the last ten years, and are quite a bit nicer than the rest. They also have private bathrooms.</p>

<p>The other dorms are just not as nice, but they are cheaper.</p>

<p>Basically, it is at the point that waiting to apply likely won't affect you at all. There is a slight chance that they could not have space in on-campus housing if you wait to long to apply, but most years all freshmen who are accepted and apply for on-campus housing are given an assignment. You just might have to stay in an older and not as nice dorm. Jester is where most people end up, but it tends to be the most social and popular dorm, even if it does smell bad.</p>

<p>I applied for housing a couple of days ago (I know- I was really late). I should be able to at least get a room in Jester, right?</p>

<p>Yeah sooo I applied for housing at 6AM on Oct. 1st and wasn't offered a contract until early February. What's up with that? And THEN to top it off, I missed the deadline because of a misunderstanding!! So now I'm REALLY worried about when it'll next be offered to me because I really wanted to stay in Duren, but now it looks as if that may not be possible =(</p>

<p>Does anyone have a link for the various dorm choices? "smell bad" does not sound good.</p>

<p>On-Capus Housing: Division</a> of Housing and Food Service - Communities</p>

<p>Off-Campus Dorms: Welcome</a> to the Austin Private Dormitory Association</p>

<p>yeah so i did the enrollment deposit and stuff about a week ago and I still haven't received my housing contract e-mail. hopefully it will come soon so I can get a private bath in jester and not community - eww</p>

<p>Yeah so this housing stuff is confusing me. I applied for housing as soon as it was available that first day, but I have no idea about this contract. I don't want to pay it if I'm not sure UT is where I'm going. Is anyone sure that it is refundable?</p>

<p>They offer contracts based on when you have been accepted and how long it takes them to process all of the applications. I applied on October 1, was accepted on October 24 (the very first batch of acceptances, I believe), and received a contract offer about 1 month later. The lag time may be even longer now because many more students are being admitted. If you missed your contract you need to contact them at once, because at this point they are assuming that you will not be staying with DHFS.</p>

<p>You have less than a month to return the contract with a $300 deposit. If you choose not to attend UT, and let both the university and DHFS know by May 1, you receive the $300 back. I don't believe you receive the $50 back at all (unless maybe if you are rejected).</p>

<p>There are so few private baths in Jester that applying very early does not guarantee you anything. If you want a private bath your best bet will be to put down San Jac or Duren as the #1 choice.</p>

<p>Barrett, it is so late that Jester, with its gigantic capacity, will pretty much be the only dorm available if you get housing. You may want to look into paying a little more for off-campus housing. They are literally just across the Drag and they are much nicer than Jester. University Towers and Dobie are popular choices.</p>

<p>I applied for housing only a couple of weeks ago, so I probably will be living in Jester. Are the other places (Dobie, University Towers) really that much nicer than Jester? If so, which ones?</p>

<p>I listed the two of the private dorms generally considered the best. You may also want to look at Hardin House and Scottish Rite Dorm, which are two all-girls off campus dorms, quite nice and often popular with the sorority crowd.</p>

<p>There are others as well, they're not as nice though in my opinion.</p>

<p>Look on that link to off campus housing above for more info.</p>

<p>But as a general rule, the off campus dorms are much nicer than Jester, but quite a bit more expensive.</p>

<p>The $50 is nonrefundable. The $300 IS refundable.
Division</a> of Housing and Food Service - First Time Freshman Housing Timeline
Do they e-mail you about housing after you accept the offer of admission? Or just after you are admitted?</p>

<p>I looked at that link posted (I did post it) but on the websites from all the dorms they all seem the same. Also, Scottish Rite and Hardin House are both basically full. I heard that University Towers was more of a guy dorm ( a lot of frat guys live there) and that Dobie wasn't too nice (lots of problems with heating/cooling, elevator always messing up, etc). Do you find these statements to be true?</p>