Backup Plan

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proudmom13

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Mar 21, 2018
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I understand that most families place a deposit on a backup college so that if the DD or DS is injured before I Day they have a school to go to in the fall vs waiting a year. By doing so, do you call the college and tell them what is going? Or just make a deposit and then decline the college after I Day or after Plebe Summer? Just wondering how this has been handled in the past.

Thank you.
 
For what it is worth we did not make a down payment to a backup college. Rightly or wrongly, if DD was injured, say in basic so badly that she had to disenroll, it would like still occur in the timeframe where she would still be able to go to our local junior college, instead of taking a space with the intent of releasing it later. I know that there were a couple of cadets that had medical problems arise during basic that did not pay deposits and still had time to make plans. I am sure that there a families that do make the deposit and give up spot, with or without reimbursement (most likely without) - it was simply a path that didn't feel appropriate for us as you're holding a space that someone else could use.
 
LOTS of older (often contentious) threads on this topic. Some colleges are more understanding on this type of situation and may refund your deposit while others may not.
 
proudmom13 said:
I understand that most families place a deposit on a backup college so that if the DD or DS is injured before I Day they have a school to go to in the fall vs waiting a year. By doing so, do you call the college and tell them what is going? Or just make a deposit and then decline the college after I Day or after Plebe Summer? Just wondering how this has been handled in the past.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Many, many threads on this contentious subject. Read them and decide for yourself - nothing has changed since the last go around on this subject. It is not correct that most families double deposit, but if you do, make sure you do not get caught in an uncomfortable situation as some others have.

To give you a shortcut:
  1. If you make arrangements with the backup college beforehand and they agree to be the backup - no problem whatsoever.
  2. Almost all colleges consider it an ethical/contractual violation to use them as a backup without their knowledge.
  3. The two ways previous appointees have been caught and found themselves in an uncomfortable situation are: high school college counselor discovered violation or appointee told college when calling/emailing to let them know they wouldn't be attending.
  4. There are known instances of appointees being threatened by less than understanding colleges for using them as an unwitting backup.
  5. No SA has issued a policy on this practice and there has been no test case for how an SA will respond - there are no known instances of a college reporting the infraction to an SA.
You now have many questions - the answers are in the previous threads.
 
time2 said:
LOTS of older (often contentious) threads on this topic. Some colleges are more understanding on this type of situation and may refund your deposit while others may not.
Click to expand...
And then there's my family's experience with Arizona State. My daughter applied there and to a school in Boston. We had paid the deposit prior to her getting accepted at the Boston school and while she emailed Arizona State to tell them that she would not be attending and we thought that was the end of that sine the deposit was supposed to be non-refundable. Low and behold, Arizona State started billing HER for the tuition, room and board. I called ASU and told them that she wasn't coming and they saiud that they could not and would not talk with me about it. My daughter called and told them again but they told her that she had to pay one year's tuition + Room and Board since they had reserved a spot for her. They continued to bill her and after a while sent it to a collection agency that still hounds her 8 years later.
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BLUF: Be very careful about placing deposits with schools and make sure that you know the rules up front. Clearly, ASU expects that payment of the deposit is the same as entering into a contract where you MUST pay $20K+ once you send in the deposit.
 
OldRetSWO said:
time2 said:
LOTS of older (often contentious) threads on this topic. Some colleges are more understanding on this type of situation and may refund your deposit while others may not.
Click to expand...
And then there's my family's experience with Arizona State. My daughter applied there and to a school in Boston. We had paid the deposit prior to her getting accepted at the Boston school and while she emailed Arizona State to tell them that she would not be attending and we thought that was the end of that sine the deposit was supposed to be non-refundable. Low and behold, Arizona State started billing HER for the tuition, room and board. I called ASU and told them that she wasn't coming and they saiud that they could not and would not talk with me about it. My daughter called and told them again but they told her that she had to pay one year's tuition + Room and Board since they had reserved a spot for her. They continued to bill her and after a while sent it to a collection agency that still hounds her 8 years later.
.
BLUF: Be very careful about placing deposits with schools and make sure that you know the rules up front. Clearly, ASU expects that payment of the deposit is the same as entering into a contract where you MUST pay $20K+ once you send in the deposit.
Click to expand...

Wow! That is a new one to me. I had not heard of a school doing that before.
 
USMAROTCFamily said:
OldRetSWO said:
time2 said:
LOTS of older (often contentious) threads on this topic. Some colleges are more understanding on this type of situation and may refund your deposit while others may not.
Click to expand...
And then there's my family's experience with Arizona State. My daughter applied there and to a school in Boston. We had paid the deposit prior to her getting accepted at the Boston school and while she emailed Arizona State to tell them that she would not be attending and we thought that was the end of that sine the deposit was supposed to be non-refundable. Low and behold, Arizona State started billing HER for the tuition, room and board. I called ASU and told them that she wasn't coming and they saiud that they could not and would not talk with me about it. My daughter called and told them again but they told her that she had to pay one year's tuition + Room and Board since they had reserved a spot for her. They continued to bill her and after a while sent it to a collection agency that still hounds her 8 years later.
.
BLUF: Be very careful about placing deposits with schools and make sure that you know the rules up front. Clearly, ASU expects that payment of the deposit is the same as entering into a contract where you MUST pay $20K+ once you send in the deposit.
Click to expand...

Wow! That is a new one to me. I had not heard of a school doing that before.
Click to expand...
Neither had we but my daughter's credit rating/report bears testimony to nearly a decade of their grasping for more money. As it happens, I teach at a local university and my wife is a former department chair so we've had some experience in the world of higher education and we've never heard of it either. I can assure you that our dorms don't keep a spot open for someone whose last contact with us was in the spring and we ESPECIALLY don't hold a spot in the second semester for someone who never showed up in the first semester nor contacted us for nearly a full year. We also didn't hold open a spot in second semester classes for someone who never showed up in the first semester and thus never scheduled/signed up for second semester classes. Yet, Arizona State claims that my daughter is liable for second semester costs as well.
 
ASU must be the Snidely Whiplash of colleges.

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I have read that the DOJ is investigating Schools with Early Admission process and collusion with other top schools. It is about time.
 
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