<p>got Pardee 2nd Floor :D</p>
<p>I cant log in USC housing cuz of “increased load” but the email says i got radisson lol</p>
<p>There is a long thread here by Nikara and others who discuss the various dorms. Right now on Facebook students are posting their assignments. Some are happy and others are undecided.</p>
<p>Check out that thread and it should give you more information about amenities and the room configurations.</p>
<p>The housing portal is back up just to let everyone know.</p>
<p>Randy, that deposit goes towards your housing payment - So you’d have to pay it anyway :)</p>
<p>Birnkrant double! Chose double over triple; I hope I don’t start to envy the people with triples and regret it lol. So far, so good though :)</p>
<p>It says that the $800 deposit is also the residence fee. Can anyone explain that? please. Is it like the fee for the meal plan? By the way, we have to pay for the meal plan, right? Is the fee for the meal plan also included in the financial aid package?</p>
<p>^ It’s a deposit, so it’s not an extra fee. They’ll credit $400 to your student account for the fall semester and another $400 for the spring semester. Yes, meal plan is included in the cost of attendance as part of “room and board.” Whether that amount is included in your financial aid package depends on your individual package.</p>
<p>is the $800 refundable, like in case i decide to stay elsewhere?</p>
<p>if I got off of the waitlist from another school. could i ask my $800 back?</p>
<p>^no and no.</p>
<p>^ I actually think it is if you cancel your housing by a certain date. I think the date is June 15th.</p>
<p>The *housing deposit *works a little bit differently than your enrollment deposit. The enrollment deposit is credited to your account and goes toward your tuition and fees for the first semester.</p>
<p>The *housing deposit *is credited back after you fulfill the terms of your contract - which means it will credit to your account next April or May. And in late April or May, if you have applied for housing for the following year, you will be charged another $800 housing deposit for the following year. So what is really happening is that as long as you are in USC housing, USC will have an $800 deposit from you.
[Financial</a> Facts - Housing Fees](<a href=“http://housing.usc.edu/FinancialFacts/FinancialFacts.aspx?ffID=1]Financial”>http://housing.usc.edu/FinancialFacts/FinancialFacts.aspx?ffID=1)</p>
<p>ChongShu and HappyBuddha, this USC FAQ page [FAQ</a> - Confirmation Payment](<a href=“http://housing.usc.edu/FAQ.aspx?fID=109]FAQ”>http://housing.usc.edu/FAQ.aspx?fID=109) says that new students might receive a refund of the deposit if they cancel before June 15th. I do not know what qualifies as an “authorized cancellation,” so you should request the refund as soon as possible to see if you qualify. (Returning students have only until March 5th to cancel, so others reading should be aware that next year they will NOT have until June 15th.)</p>
<p>An exception to receiving a refund of your deposit is made for students participating in USC approved study abroad programs. Those students will be released from their housing contracts and receive a refund of the deposit.</p>
<p>alamemom,</p>
<p>on the housing website it says that you will get 400$ back for the fall semester
and 400$ back for the spring semester</p>
<p>i think they changed it b/c before i read you get it back at the end of your contract, hmm… but i’m just going with the website where it said to pay!</p>
<p>Yes, on the FAQ page they say $400 will credit end of Fall and $400 will credit end of Spring, but the contract page doesn’t make that distinction. I think you will get $400 in December, but because of the two different ways it was presented, I don’t want anyone to count on that $400 in December and then be disappointed.</p>
<p>In the past it was a $400 deposit for the whole year (so it DOUBLED this year), and none of it was credited back until the end. The increase is supposed to keep students from using it to “hold a place” and then back out of the contracts.</p>
<p>Hopefully USC has something in place for students who qualify significant financial aid - the $800 plus $300 for enrollment confirmation plus up to $500 for summer orientation may be a very big burden for some families to come up with before the financial aid is available. I encourage families who are having difficulty to contact USC and ask what they should do. There may be something already in place, if not, several of you calling will let them know they need to have a system to help.</p>
<p>i agree alamemom… my mom literally just got the money to pay for orientation together and then i received the email about 800 bucks… that is a rather large amount of money for a family such as mine and i’d much rather just charge it to my student account so i can pay it in loans… anyone know of anything?</p>
<p>use the orientation money for the housing contract. Sometimes you can’t have it all</p>
<p>^ yeah you can’t have it all but going to orientation is really helpful for some people.</p>
<p>especially us that are further away, like me on the east coast. i want to meet some people and registering for classes will suck if i don’t go to orientation. I’m actually paying the 800$ myself, praying that 400$ will go towards fall charges and 400$ towards spring charges.</p>
<p>“In order to complete your application, a $800 Confirmation Payment is required. This fee will be credited towards your residence fees, with $400 going towards Fall and $400 towards Spring.”</p>
<p>What are residence fees? Does that 400$ go towards the housing rent/semester that you are billed in August? If it is, then it’s 400$ extra dollars towards your bill each semester, correct?</p>
<p>Thank god I got a good-paying job over summer, lol.</p>
<p>
Please go back and re-read post #33. *It will not be credited toward your bill *- it is a housing deposit in case you back out of your contract and will not be credited until the end of your contract.</p>
<p>The way the contract page reads, the entire $800 will be held until next May (though the FAQ suggests you might get $400 in December). Next March, you will be billed another $800 for the following year’s housing - so as long as you are in USC housing, they will have a housing deposit on hold from you.</p>
<p>If you leave USC housing and get a privately owned apartment, the private landlord will also require a security deposit - the standard “first-and-last-month’s-rent-plus-deposit,” so a housing deposit is not a “USC-only policy,” it is standard in the real estate rental business. </p>
<p>Note: I am not guessing at this - daughter has been at USC in USC housing for 2 years and they still have the $400 we initially deposited back in May 2008 (the amount doubled to $800 this year). When students confirm housing in March, they charge another deposit to the student account and then credit back the previous one in April - so you will not have use of that money until you leave USC housing. </p>
<p>She is in summer housing right now which is why they still have a $400 deposit from her. She is studying abroad next semester and will not be in USC housing in the Fall - but until we contacted them to straighten that out, they had taken another $800 deposit for next year, meaning if you are in summer housing and will be in USC housing the following Fall, the deposit amount they would have over the summer would be $1,200…</p>
<p>Spring admits will have a $400 deposit amount instead of $800 when they confirm their housing in December.</p>
<p>Again, if these pre-payments are a hardship, please contact USC and ask what you should do. They want all students to attend summer orientation, so if you find you are having to skip orientation because of the housing deposit call USC up and tell them. The deposit amount doubled this year so they are still finding out how this will impact students - if you just “don’t show up” for orientation they will not know it was because you had to put the money toward the deposit. CALL.</p>
<p>Actually, LMU10 is correct. Because the fee increased this year, they are changing their policy, so 400 will be credited for Fall rent and 400 for Spring rent.</p>