UF does not refund the whole housing deposit should a student turn down the admission offer. We walked away from $125 (maybe more but I think that’s right). 33k undergrad students and housing for only 8k. Kind of crazy. At an event we attended prior to admission the head of housing actually said “Housing at UF is really confusing” and explained why you need to pay the $25 right after you apply or you won’t have a chance at housing. Then upon acceptance, you fill out a housing contract and deposit something like $250 to reserve your spot on campus. If you turn down admission, they keep $125. Ridiculous but I consider that my contribution to our large flagship. That made for a lousy first impression and actually had a lot to do with us looking elsewhere. FL has some massive state universities. The state needs to figure out how to allocate more resources if the schools are to keep up with other top public universities.
On the other hand, great opportunity for off campus apartment developers to make a fortune!