Hi! I am an international student from a country in Asia, planning to attend a U.S. college in fall 2019.
I recently became accepted to one of my early action schools, and my family and I are considering PAYING $200 ENROLLMENT DEPOSIT BEFORE THE ACTUAL ENROLLMENT.
It may seem a bit strange, but here’s my situation:
Recently, there was a very famous case in my country where a prestigious university rescinded a student's admission decision because there was an error regarding the student's enrollment deposit.
One of my friends got accepted to another prestigious university(in my country), forgot to pay the deposit until the deadline, and now has to prepare another year for college admission.
My family is thus worried about securing my seat in the colleges I got in. To not make that kind of mistakes, my parents are willing to pay the deposit even if I am not sure about matriculating in the college.
Only the early action colleges decision results have come out, and I’m still waiting for my RD application results. I got waitlisted from my early decision 2 college, and I am going to accept the waitlist offer.
So here are my questions:
Is it okay to pay enrollment deposit when I'm unsure about attending that college? Or is it only for students who are actually going to matriculate? I'm asking this because in my country it is okay to pay enrollment deposit and not go to that college.
I'm currently waiting for my waitlist offer. If I pay the enrollment deposit to another college, will I be able to attend my early decision 2 college?
I heard that waitlist offering begin after the enrollment confirmation date. Can I rescind my enrollment to a college if I get accepted from waitlist from another college? What is the process for waitlist students?
Someone else may have more experience/knowledge with these issues, but here’s my understanding…
A deposit simply “saves” your space in that class. Check with the school, but it’s likely you have until xx date to withdraw your deposit and give up your spot.
If you don’t ask for the deposit back, you are committing to enroll in that school. So you better ask for the deposit back if you plan to attend a different school.
Again, check with your accepted school’s admissions about their policy on deposits, enrolling and declining. It varies from school to school, as does the waitlist process.
You are allowed to change your mind about what school you want to enroll in before May 1.
If you put down a $200 deposit at school A, and then get admitted to School B, you can tell School A you won’t be attending and then accept at School B. You should only be committed to one school at a time.
You may or may not get your $200 back but that seems like a good price to pay for peace of mind to me.
I agree with @bopper, but I would put the odds of getting your deposit back at less than 50/50. You should expect that you are paying $200 for peace of mind and expect it to be non-refundable. Each school has it’s own policy, so you might get lucky, but make sure your budget does not depend on that money being returned.