College Deposit Pressure

northeastmom
Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:11:26 +0000

I agree with you and we have come to a decision. Now, I will tell you that I made an inquiry to NACAC for guidance for our specific situation. I did not know if asking for deposit and registering students prior to May 1 is proper according to their policies etc. They may do this, but students also do have until May 1, and students may get back their deposit (if they elect to send it in). That all said, they recommend that if the deposit being asked for is steep, that you consider calling the admissions office and “negotiate” for a smaller deposit. Yes, “negotiate” was the word that was used. I was told that the offices have forms sitting there and new deposit deal can often be struck. Afterall, not all families who are applying for financial aid have a spare several hundred laying around to give as a free loan to view a FA award, or to hold a seat open while one compares packages. This opened my eyes, I never thought for a moment that one could even think about counter offering. They explained that if a student has multiple schools making the same request (and this happens) one could be sending a lot of deposit money to different schools. Additionally, they told me that there have been parents who have had problems getting back their deposit even though they sent notice prior to May 1 that their child will not be attending a school. This is all new information to me, and I have not seen this anywhere else on CC. Good luck to all!

BTW, until I heard the info above, I assumed that any accredited college would refund the deposit promptly if one gave notice prior to May 1.