This might be a stupid question, but what happens to the money that is collected when you commit to a college? Does it go toward your future bill? Are there administrative fees? Thanks.
It’s not a stupid questions. At some schools it is a deposit toward tuition and you’ll see a credit on your fall bill. At other schools it is really a registration fee and you’ll get no credit.
Interesting. Hopefully I will be able to find that information when I go onto the portal, before giving them the money. A general search is not really yielding an answer.
Oh, and some of the housing deposit might be kept as a room security deposit and only refunded after the final move out. One daughter’s was refunded promptly in June, the other lived in the dorms for 2 years and she had to beg for it back when she was a junior.
My D’s deposit was applied to the orientation registration fee.
Well, the portal was happy to take the money without really telling me where it was going. Guess I’m going to have to make a phone call…
At my D’s school the enrollment deposit was $300 and $100 of it was the program fee for orientation and $200 was credited to the fall semester bill of freshman year.
The housing deposit fee for every year she lived on campus was credited to the spring semester bill.
Not all colleges have any enrollment or housing deposits. At least my son’s didn’t.
It appears to vary with the school. Credited for tuition and spring dorm fees where son went. Makes sense for schools to require deposits.
My son’s school charged for orientation, around $300, but the deposit was applied toward tuition/dorm
https://gobama.ua.edu/deposit/
This information on the UA website indicates that the enrollment deposit will probably be credited towards fall tuition, since it refers to “fall tuition prepayment”.
If that is the school in question, you might call and confirm this. Also you can ask about the housing deposit.
Here is some information about the housing deposit:
https://housing.sa.ua.edu/incoming-residents/freshman-faqs/#question5
Thanks everyone! I was able to contact someone at the school (Tulane) yesterday. Part of the deposit is credited to the first semester, and part of it’s for housing.
I work at a graduate school with a hefty deposit, which is credited toward tuition. The reason we charge so much is because we have to very carefully manage our class size … we can’t over or under enroll, which is really difficult. Fewer students are likely to walk away from a big deposit, although some do.