DS is a senior and has completed all of his college apps. He has thankfully been accepted to 3 of 8 schools so far! Still waiting to hear from the others…
He has no real preference re: schools. Price will be a major factor in his decision, and from what I understand, he probably won’t receive all of the information re: merit aid until sometime around March 2019.
All of the schools he’s been admitted to so far have sent him checklists that say he should register for orientation and sign up for housing before it fills up.
How do we determine which schools to sign up for orientation and put housing deposits down?
Also, are there any other steps we need to take other than waiting to hear back on merit scholarships?
Are the housing deposits refundable, and if not how much do you stand to forfeit? For schools where housing is tight and/or there is a big drop off in quality, I’d put a deposit down and hold my place in line.
It’s a waiting game, now. Most of our merit scholarships were awarded in the spring. Read the housing policies carefully. Some deposits are refundable, and some are not. For those that are refundable, make sure you follow their listed steps exactly for requesting a refund. If you haven’t done so already, make a spreadsheet of all 8 schools to keep track of deposits, scholarships, etc.
Best source are current students (or very recent grads) or their parents. You could also post something here or specifically on that college page identifying the schools in question.
Start by poking around on the forums for that college. If you’re hearing complaints about housing for this incoming group of freshman at that college and there’s no indication of change - assume it will be tight. If you’re not hearing complaints but also seeing the college is making changes like admitting more students - assume it will be tight.
My son is about to start college at a great school that is a great fit for him, but they stumbled a bit with housing this year. Last year, they over-enrolled and just about managed to squeeze everybody in, so when he was accepted we read the tea leaves and signed up for housing pronto. Grateful we did because the last month or so the boards have been lighting up with parent complaints about housing assignments - the school over-enrolled again and combined with the returning large class = cramped conditions and odd assignments for first years. Not the end of the world, and for my son he still would have gone no matter what, but for some kids’ parents it appears to be a very big deal. Not as sure if it’s as big a deal for the kids, since it’s most parents doing the complaining, though…
Congrats to your son and all his success with early admissions - that’s a huge win and confidence booster.
@ucbalumnus Of the 3, he’s been accepted to, he already received merit aid at one that makes it affordable. He’d be happy to attend there if nothing else works out. He should have some automatic merit from the other 2 schools, but we haven’t received info about that yet.
@milee30 Thank you! He is taking it all in stride, but I am really excited and hopeful that the process will continue to go very well for him.
My daughter was admitted to one school early (the only one on rolling admission) but they guaranteed freshman housing and it would have been in their honors college so no pressure to send in a deposit. I would also go to the college specific forums and look at last year’s posts or directly ask about housing. She did deposit at her top choice as soon as honors college and awards were were made known (early March) and had no problem with housing, even at an overenrolled school. I think many students wait until April 1.
OP - It’s going to be your student who is going to have to take the lead now. Each of my daughter’s school had different check lists, different dates for submitting things, etc… Unless your child gives you passwords to each of their portals, he will need to track that stuff.
Also, check email often. There was tons of email that came post acceptance.
That’s great @jazzymomof7 ! You can just modify and add to your already existing spreadsheet. We kept track of things like housing deposit dates, amount paid, confirmation or receipt numbers, and a link to the housing policy. We also kept track of all scholarships by recording the date applied, date awarded, exact name, amount per semester/year, and a link to a website about the scholarship if there was one. We kept a running total for each school’s cost of attendance, subtracting scholarship amounts as they came in, to see semester/year totals and a 4-year total cost. That’s all I can think of at the moment.
Looks like 3 safeties… has he indicated any general preferences that could raise or lower their desirability relative to each other and the remaining schools?
An example preference would be interest in particular majors, which would downgrade schools where the majors are not present, or highly competitive to get into after enrolling (if he does not have direct admission). If undecided, then schools where many of the majors of possible interest are highly competitive to get into would be less desirable.
@chercheur So should I expect the scholarship money to trickle in and not expect one big award letter from each school. Some of the schools have automatic merit, department scholarships, diversity scholarships, etc. I think he qualifies for multiple scholarships at some of the schools, but I thought we would receive one letter listing everything.
@ucbalumnus He does prefer a school with a football team, and one of the 3 he was accepted to doesn’t have one. Also, he spent a week at another of the 3 this summer, and really liked it. Maybe we should prioritize putting a deposit down at that one.
How many schools is it reasonable to place a deposit at?
If they are refundable, all that are legitimate possibilities. The more difficult question is if they are non-refundable and/or there is a cash availability issue on your part even if they are refundable. You then just have to go through your own triage analysis factoring, whether housing is tight, the $ involved, the likelihood of attendance.
Mine had multiple acceptances and we didn’t even consider putting a deposit down until after she committed around mid April. If there had been a frontrunner I guess we’d have considered it. Did not make sense until we had a clear picture of the merit aid.
We found the notification of merit money highly variable too. It seemed like the schools that notified early on rolling admission trickled in the merit money, but those that notified on a hard date in the winter/early spring had the full totals.
Again, we didn’t deposit either until the number one acceptance came.
I absolutely hate schools that pressure parents for deposits before May 1. That’s the decision date they agree to, and they should abide by it. I get that some schools have a housing crunch and prefer to give the advantage to early committers, but still, it makes me angry.
This really varies depending on the school and the student. In our experience, the scholarships trickled in. The automatic merit was awarded first, then honors, departmental, and private donor scholarships. My son didn’t have everything until mid-April. I know it’s hard to wait, but encourage him to hold off until all offers are in.
EDIT: I forgot to mention to have your son check the requirements for the other scholarships (departmental, honors, diversity, etc). Some have a separate application and deadline. As for housing, we put down 1 refundable deposit at a safety school and paid a reasonable application fee at another that was a possibility but not a sure thing.
Your son is in an enviable position with his multiple acceptances, but a difficult one with the pressure to commit so early. My children did not receive their merit offers until the spring, but they also didn’t have pressure to commit to a school or risk poor housing choices. If any of the three options is acceptable now, it’s probably a good idea to commit to one of them and have your first choice of housing. Then, if he gets an amazing merit offer in the spring, he can ask for, and hopefully receive, a refund on the early school.