<p>My D2 was fortunate to be accepted Early Action to her first choice school and her mind is made up. We have applied for financial aid and have not heard back from this school yet. But judging from the aid package just offered from a similarly priced private school to which she was accepted, we will receive some aid (thankfully!). I would like to go ahead and pay the deposit so that she can request her dorm and get her first choice. My question is, if she has NOT already committed, would the school be more likely to offer her a better package (more grant money vs loans)? Or if they see that she has already committed and they are still working on her financial aid, would they figure that she has already made up her mind so they can be less generous? Or am I being nits and completely overthinking this?</p>
<p>My honest opinion is that you should wait until you have seen the FA package. The package can vary widely, and what one college offers may be very different from another.</p>
<p>We don’t know. i would have once upon a time have said it wouldn’t matter, but schools now are really looking for all kinds of things in terms of saving the money. In most cases, it would not, since FA and admissions are usually two separate departments, and they don’t usually collude that way. However, unless the school guarantees to meet 100% of need, you don’t know what they will give you , deposit or not. I still remember some outraged parents who went by the rules of thumbs in terms of expectations of what they might get, and found that it could go any which way. Unless you have decided that you are going to go to this school no matter what, you should wait. </p>
<p>Can you just send the room deposit or it is the whole enrollment contract and deposit that has to be paid? For a lot of schools now, it has become important to secure a favorable room early, and if it’s just that, I don’t think that it is a big deal as it usually goes to directly to housing.</p>
<p>Just don’t know anymore what these schools are eyeing.</p>
<p>Hi, no unfortunately you cannot send the room deposit without the enrollment deposit. And yes, she is going there no matter what they offer, but I still want to get the best possible package and do not want to put myself at a disadvantage if committing now could possibly affect the award.</p>
<p>Mumof2, the chances are that it won’t make a bit of difference. But guarantee? Unless someone at the school or someone who truly knows how the school works, can assure you, we really don’t know for sure.</p>
<p>I think it depends. My oldest accepted his school in January. I “knew” about where the financial aid was going to fall since it was a college that did not meet need and they had awarded the merit with the acceptance. Everything else was going to be federal direct loans or PLUS. At this point there is no reason to wait if that is where the kiddo wants to go.</p>