Is it true that colleges are not deferring enrollments this year?

[Time4College]

A few weeks ago, a boy in my class told me that the reason he could not attend Rice, NYU, Carnegie Mellon and University of Chicago was because no colleges this year ( the ones he applied to as listed above) were allowing students to defer enrollment for a year and because of 'health' reasons, he could not attend the universities mentioned. Is this true or is he just lying to me?
The reason I am asking this is because the guy was really obnoxious about it and I feel like he was lying just to make me feel worse. Is there any truth to this? He says the only reason he is going to CSU Long Beach is because of health reasons and because his colleges are not deferring enrollments.

[bird rock]

Doesn't pass the smell test. What's in it for the colleges to get together and decide no deferred enrollments this year? If anything the economic uncertainty suggests they want to have all options available.

[deedles]

Tufts offered...

[Time4College]

Does anyone know if specifically the schools mentioned above are allowing deferrals this year?

[Cardinal Fang]

A bit of poking around the Chicago website reveals that "a student is allowed to defer his/her admission for a year IF the Dean approves his/her request. You must enroll in the school and put down your enrollment deposit and then request the deferral in writing." Your classmate is lying to cover up his rejections.

https://blogs.uchicago.edu/collegead...available.html