My son has been admitted to a few universities, but a couple have risen to the top for him. Here’s the dilemma - one of them will let him submit choices for housing without a deposit or confirming that he’s going there before May 1, and the other requires an enrollment deposit (and clicking that box that he’s accepting their offer) and a housing deposit, but both are refundable if he changes his mind before June 1. It’s really 50/50 as to which one he’ll choose in the end, but he can’t make a decision until he knows if they’re going to offer any more scholarships to him. Those won’t be announced until sometime before May 1.
He’d like to go ahead and put in his housing choices ASAP at both, but we’re struggling with whether it’s ethical to accept the offer and put down (refundable) deposits at one while we wait for more monetary information from both. This is not a double deposit situation as he doesn’t need to put down a deposit of any sort at the other before May 1, and once a decision is made, he’ll let everyone know immediately.
I’ll throw out there that we contacted housing at the college that requires an enrollment deposit before submitting housing choices for a workaround and were told, “If your son has been admitted, paid the enrollment fee, and has a Student ID number, he can apply for housing. If he decides not to go, as long as he cancels by June 1, 2022, he will not be charged the Application Cancellation Fee. His housing deposit will be returned. He should also check for deadlines with Admissions for deciding not to attend. They may have a different date for the return of the enrollment fee than the housing application deadline.”
Thoughts? Should we just wait or would it be acceptable to go ahead and put down deposits knowing that we might have to rescind his acceptance? Anything else I’m not thinking about?
I suggest you wait until you have the financial information from both schools. There isn’t usually a mad rush to deposit on housing just yet.
You said you’re struggling to decide if it’s ethical. If money wasn’t involved, would you still think that? He sounds pretty uncommitted to this school, so I’d wait for all the info before possibly keeping a spot that some other student might really want.
This is what they do to hasten your May 1 commitment.
Housing is first come first serve. It if you don’t enroll you can’t reserve. It’s like you’ll live in the worst dorm or be shut out if you don’t enroll now.
Other schools are even more obnoxious about it - having you send in non refundable deposits b4 u are even admitted.
If you can get your money back 100% you have no risk short of remembering to cancel so I’d likely send in to both.
How fast does freshman housing fill-up? January is still pretty early but knowing that would sway my deposit decision. If the deposit just impacts your dorm choices I wouldn’t be in a rush. Most freshman dorms are similar and typically mediocre at best.
Nothing “unethical” about it. After all they are even making it “refundable”, so they clearly expect/accept the reality that students may be strongly considering one school, but still have to wait for results from another. They’ll likely have procedures in place (such as wait lists) where those who hadn’t committed early enough, will then be offered spots that open up from cancellations - and those will then be thrilled!
The school will look out for their best interest, so there’s nothing wrong with you looking out for yours. It’s just a business transaction between two entities, who may either “do business”, or walk away from one another, once the parties have all the facts they need.
We are in Florida. We’ve heard back from some schools, still waiting on a couple of others. I’m worried about missing out on the dorms we want at one particular school that’s in the top choices. I don’t even care if we lose our deposit if. I just don’t want it to affect the applications elsewhere. Does anyone know if their is like some sort of database that schools share this info?
We’re in this same situation. There are 2 or 3 schools D22 is very torn between. I don’t want her to miss out on housing opportunities (like LLCs) while we’re waiting on final prices/scholarships and in-person visits. One school we can’t get out to until April 15th.
Then again, does putting down the deposit mean they will no longer consider offering her more money? These are state flagship universities — there’s no chance we can negotiate for more aid, is there?
Thank you. This is helpful. We want to deposit at USF, but are still waiting on UCF, FSU, and UM. We don’t mind losing our deposit if we can secure the dorm we like, we were just worried other schools would know this information and withdraw our applications for admission before rendering a decision.
UF takes your $$ b4 you even get in. It was just $25 though.
Looks like it’s $50. You can call and ask. Note they don’t even allow you to select. It’s just to get in line for the list.
I don’t know if USF oversells - but i assure you it won’t impact other schools.
Obviously paying an enrollment deposit is a different animal - a lot more $$, etc. - and if you’d lose that- yes, it would be hard to swallow.
Frankly, the entire thing is a sham - but with little power to change.
You might call them and ask - don’t give your name.
I assure you though nothing you do will impact other schools.
If you were ED, in theory what you are describing could happen - but even then it’s unlikely. But you hvae a May 1 acceptance with any school you get into (non ED of course).
Oh, I’m not worried about the fees, I’m wondering about additional financial aid/merit. I’m just curious if we submit the deposit do we then lose any chance of negotiating financial aid/merit.
I don’t believe there’s any chance to negotiate aid - but I know others say it can be done. At a small private, perhaps that’s an issue.
Then again, we were paying $22K a year for my daughter at her public after $12K merit.
Yet, after she accepted, she got $23K in scholarships - more than tuition - from the school - and last week was informed they raised it another $1800. So you could get money after acceptance.
So I don’t know if there’s a tie in - I doubt it.
I’d say if it’s a smaller school with ample housing on campus, probably won’t hurt to wait. Or if they don’t tie when you deposit to where you are in the housing line.
if it’s a school that over enrolls, sets selection time based on when you deposit and doesn’t guarantee housing - that’s where you need to decide - do i want to take the chance on getting shut out or being placed in off campus housing because they ran out of housing?
I say put down deposits since they are refundable. For DD’19 we put a housing deposit down very early, when she hadn’t decided yet, but since it was refundable I wanted her to have the best chance. It turned out to be well worth it as she had a specific LLC and room request, that she got.
At USF you have to place the $200 non-refundable enrollment deposit before you can do the housing deposit. At this point I don’t even mind losing the deposits, I just didn’t know if making these deposits somehow is reported in some sort of state system that could affect other pending applications.
I’m sure there’s breakage every year - they account for - meaning people that cancel/no show - hence their extra revenue source.
But $200 - and over different schools - starts adding up.
Only after May 1st, do you have any “obligations” to choose just one.
I’d find out - do they register in order of deposit (most publics do) and do they have a shortage of housing - i.e. you could be left out or in an undesirable dorm.
I don’t think you have risk of losing admission. You can call housing - anonymously - and ask - but I can’t imagine so. That would be the least of my fears.