It seems more and more schools, especially in the south are having housing issues. I am wondering if South Carolina has issues getting housing on campus for freshman and moving forward, if it is relatively easy to find off campus housing for future years. Is this one of those school where if you do not pay a housing deposit right when you are admitted you will not find housing?
Thankfully South Carolina has not gone the way of UT Knoxville. Plenty of housing for freshmen, plenty of off campus housing for everyone else (some upper classman on campus housing, but a lot of it is either fully reserved for honors kids or booked by Honors kids because they get first dibs). Rent in off campus housing in the student apt complexes are a bell curve: rents start lower when they become available to lease in the fall, they rise through the Spring, and then go down/are incentivized in late Spring/summer for unleased bedrooms. So it just depends on how picky you are about location and roommates, but you absolutely can find a place to live. Closest/nicest are most expensive of course, but there are places for all reasonable budgets.
My daughter is a junior and her freshman year they went by the date you actually sent your commitment to the university, not the day you sent the housing deposit. But it’s still not that big of a deal because she waited to pay the deposit until scholarships were out and she still had a first day pick.
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Great to hear. Auburn, Bama and UTK all sound like horrendous stress-inducing nightmares, especially for kids who are trying to decide which school to pick. S24 was admitted to Auburn and Bama so far (loves both), waiting to hear from UTK and South Carolina so isn’t ready to commit yet. And of course we are stressed that if he doesn’t deposit now he will be SOL for housing. And Bama requires the students actually enroll, not just pay a housing deposit. It is a lot.
Not sure about the schools mentioned but housing deposits can be refunded. Send early to hold a spot and refund if circumstances change.