Can someone please direct me to a post or info on when a student needs to submit a deposit to PSU in order to be safe for freshman housing? I did a brief search but I thought the knowledgeable folks here might have the most recent/relevant information. Thank you.
All freshmen are guaranteed housing.
However, if your student accepts his/her offer of admission after April 1, that student risks being put into supplemental housing (4 to 8 students in massive converted study room.) I believe students can accept their offer as late as May 1st. But the closer they accept to May 1st, the less likely they will end up with their housing preference. Anecdotally it seems like students who accepted into late Jan last year were still able to obtain the nicer renovated rooms.
@Sophley, thanks so much. And I take it none of those deposits are refundable if the student changes his/her mind?
We have one school that my son was accepted to a few months back that allows you to send a housing deposit which is partially refundable should the student choose not to enroll, and enrollment isn’t required first. I know all schools are different. 
I’m tempted to send the deposits versus waiting for all of his other schools to award their aid packages in March, which may be pushing it for PSU Housing choices.
@OceanIsle for penn State I was so happy I paid the deposit early as son got renovated. Would not have wanted him to be in the older dorms. We did it in Jan and he ended up going there
Thanks so much, @airway1 !
And for anyone else following along who may be wondering about housing, I was able to locate an old thread that I had remembered from before. You may find this helpful.
The deposit is non-refundable. Just remember that when you deposit, Penn State thinks you are going there. So that’s one spot away from someone else. I know people do it all of the time, but think hard about depositing if Penn State isn’t his first choice. Also, if he accepts Penn State, he is supposed to, according to application ethics, withdrawal all other applications.
Again, I know not many people follow these “rules”. I see people here every day violating one or many of these, but for reference sake, here are the admission ethics guidelines:
https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/applications/ethics
@jlhpsu , thank you! I did not know that information and am actually very surprised to learn it. I guess I had mistakenly assumed that PSU has it all factored in with yield but that’s not the case after all.
Penn State is, and has always been, my son’s first choice. I would love to wait until all costs are in, but realistically I don’t think there will be anything forthcoming from other schools that will be enough to change the value that PSU has to him/us.
Thank you again for passing that information along. ?
@OceanIsle , I think the conservative approach might be to base your decision with the assumption that you won’t receive anything from PSU, other than the privilege of taking out loans. Merit/need-based aid is very, very limited. Good luck with your decision.
They expect students to drop out even over the summer and universities plan for that that’s why they have the waitlist
@Sophley , Thanks!
I think it’s misguided for any family to expect any merit aid from PSU, and I’m working under the assumption that they don’t give much need-based either. When I mentioned waiting for financial aid packages, I meant from his other schools. ? If one of them gives an offer that is difficult to ignore, that would be the one reason he may have to decline PSU (his top choice).
Makes perfect sense. Always makes me sad when kids get their hopes so set on PSU and are under the impression that, because they have a low EFC, it will be affordable.
The yield doesn’t always work which is why a couple of years ago they were offering people scholarships and other perks to go to a commonwealth campus for one year as they way underestimated how many people would accept. They accepted way too many people.
Also, in the 2018-2019 season, only 105 students were placed on the waitlist and 41 students were admitted from it.
We have this discussion yearly around here - and people feel strongly one way or the other. But I feel it is unethical to deposit at more than one school - and many people do just that. I posted the guidelines to ethical admission behavior and people can take it or leave it.
@airway1 @jlhpsu It is an interesting discussion. I certainly understand why kids do it - hold your place in line for housing! But our high school vigorously discourages double-depositing … our HS has a strong reputation amongst colleges and they don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize that for future students. Will college AO really care that someone reneged? I don’t know that answer.
As for yield numbers? They are kids that accept the offer of admission. Not the kids that accept and then go elsewhere. What you are referring to is “summer bleed” and those - historically - haven’t been built into the equation (or at least enough that makes a difference).
Given some of the ED/EA chaos and the low admittance rates and the games AO’s play (like… easier to transfer into certain colleges than gain admittance as a freshman thus keeping selectivity high) … I don’t know what the impact will be. If I were in Admissions, I would consider making the acceptance deposit higher - ask kids to put more skin in the game, so to speak. It is like earnest money - if an offer has high earnest money, you have greater confidence that the deal will close. When it is a small amount, people may make the deposit with the caveat “it is rounding if I don’t go there.”
I agree, @lucyvanpelt . I think admissions should make it more difficult for students to reneg on an admission deposit. It also bothers me when people ask what’s the “easiest” major to get an acceptance when said student has absolutely no interest in that major. It is disingenuous from the start. If a student is considering that major, then sure. But just to apply to say, liberal arts, because one thinks that it will get them into Penn State and then they intend to back door into another major just strikes me as dishonest. I do know people do it all of the time - and I also know that many students change their majors - but to go into it knowing that you don’t actually want that major…It bothers me. But It doesn’t bother a lot of people lol.
My third kid will be going through the admission cycle next year. And we will do the same as with the other two. If they accept at Penn State, or anywhere else, they will follow the online procedures that every school has to decline their admission offer at every other school that they don’t accept. This way, that school knows in January that my kid isn’t going there and they can offer that spot to a kid who is dying to go there.
Some schools differentiate between housing deposit and enrollment deposit. You can deposit for housing to hold your place (and forfeit the $$ if you don’t deposit for enrollment.)
@MYOS1634 , my son has done that at one school. He was allowed (and encouraged) to place a partially-refundable Housing deposit but was not required to accept the offer of admission or enroll. That is actually which prompted my original question about PSU and whether or not deposits are refundable.
@jlhpsu , that is very kind of your family to withdraw apps or decline admission offers at other schools once a decision is made. Although my oldest did this too as per her admission agreement, I think some families keep open the possibility that some colleges can and do increase their award offers as May 1st gets closer, depending on the college’s own numbers, effectively poaching students from their respective intended schools. These families have the mindset that their kid is headed to a given school but don’t consider that agreement binding, especially prior to May 1st.
I’m not advocating for this, just sharing it as an anecdotal observation. As I mentioned, my oldest withdrew her other apps immediately upon enrolling at her college, but hers was an ED agreement.
And for the record, I think it’s especially egregious for ED kids not to pull their other apps once admitted to their ED school, but I don’t think non-ED (non-binding) acceptances are as clearly delineated.
What annoys me is when students apply ED knowing that they can’t afford the school. I think that’s unethical as they are taking spots from students who want to go. The RD admissions schools manage that plus as they put pressure on parents and students to accept for housing and scheduling and I saw that at Penn State with my son. Who wants to live in non-renovated supplementary housing at Penn State? ?
In our case, it was easy because Penn State was their number 1 and once they got in there, there was no question that was where they would attend. The offer letters from the other colleges requested that if you weren’t attending, that you decline the offer to free up spots, so that’s what we did. If we were waiting on awards, then I would have just waited until that was released to deposit at Penn State. You aren’t in danger of being in supplemental until April, which is a month or so after awards are made at Penn State. I totally get WHY people deposit when they don’t know their kid will attend. I really do. I wish there were a better system. But it’s still a logistical nightmare for admissions when there are a lot of deposits for people who don’t attend. They get their money, sure - which is why they probably don’t really penalize other than keeping the money - but there are kids who didn’t get admitted in the meantime and they certainly won’t call back those people, and those kids have moved on to other schools by then. I don’t know…I’m a chronic rule follower. It’s a curse 
When PSU sends out their financial aid information next month, will anything about PHEAA (state grant) be included if applicable or does this notification/determination come later directly from the state?
I’ve read that PHEAA awards are determined in May but I’ve seen other kids post on other threads that their colleges included PHEAA amounts in their packages (earlier than May).
Question, if I applied before the priority deadline but mypennstate account showed they received my SAT scores after the priority deadline will my application be looked at with the priority applicants or will I fall into the group that gets looked at after? My patience is wearing thin and I’m curious to know if I’ll get my decision before this month ends.