D22 attended a webinar for a school that accepted her. She was encouraged to apply for housing and confirm acceptance to the Honors College and told she could do that before she confirmed her acceptance to the school.
I like the idea of reserving a spot, but do students really reserve both housing and Honors College spots at multiple schools? Is that okay? Common?
It seems like the information would not be very helpful or useful to the school if students confirm and then later say “never mind.”
We paid the housing deposit on two colleges before making a matriculation decision. Both deposits were fully refundable.
At some schools, there is not enough housing for all and it is first come first served. We also put a housing deposit down at one school just to make sure there would be housing if he picked it. We got the housing deposit back when he decided to go elsewhere.
Yes you should do both. We reserved housing and paid a small deposit as soon as housing opened even though my DS had not visited or gotten all decisions back. Paid off because students who waited did not get on campus housing.
Common at public flagships where there is typically not enough University housing for the entire incoming 1st year class, also to get dibs on Honors housing etc. In the midwest flagships, the typical process is that there is a housing deposit to hold the “first come/first served” place in housing line, which is refundable, with often $25-50 held back by the University as a service fee. So it gets pricey to do that at a bunch of schools, but if a student knows that 2-3 are serious contenders and use “first come/first served” for housing or other benefits, it can make good sense to pay the deposit and hold the place in line.
Just make sure to calendar in the spring to cancel by the deadlines to get the refund, and make sure that the procedure for canceling housing is followed – typically, it is not just declining the offer of admission but requires other affirmative steps to withdraw from housing.
Two colleges he was considering didn’t open housing until after May 1 decision day so that was helpful.
Last year we wasted money at UGA, UF, and FSU.
You are pressured to do it even b4 acceptance…at least at UF.
College costs more than schools say, then families plan for. This is chump change but it’s yet another reason college costs more than people think.
A scam but one you have to take part of if there’s a chance you’ll end up at the school asking, especially when your place on the selection list is tied to this.
We put down a deposit for housing this year at UF ($25 non-refundable) and UCF ($250 of which $150 is refundable). It’s all part of this silly game we seem to be playing.
I know it is advisable to do this at Univ. of Utah.