The college acceptances have finally arrived and your child has decided where he'll be spending the next four years. Your top priority now should be finding him campus housing. Some colleges guarantee housing for all four years, some for freshman year only, and still others take the first x number of housing applicants and everyone else is on their own, scrambling to find an apartment or room rental off campus. So the moment those fat envelopes arrive, it's critical to get those college housing forms filled out and mailed back with a deposit. Got questions?
- What information will we need? The college housing application asks for basic personal data, roommate matching information and specific dorm preferences - which hall and what type of room. Even if housing is guaranteed, room assignments are first come, first served.
- What if my child doesn't know which dorm he prefers? Don't sweat it too much. There are so many dorm options, it can get pretty confusing. What's more important than a specific hall request is whether your child wants a single sex dorm or one of the increasingly popular special interest options - a hall that's substance-free, for example, or that groups students by major. Some applications ask about double rooms vs. single (the most expensive option) or quads (the cheapest). And some schools, Colorado College, for example, and Stanford, offer a "gender neutral" option which allows students to room with a member of the opposite sex, upon request. As for the rest, look at the campus map. If your child is an athlete, he'll probably want a dorm near the athletic facilities. A musician will want to be near the practice rooms.
- What should I write down for my child's roommate preferences? Actually, nothing. It's critical that your child fill out this part of the application and that you not look. When you hear about grotesque roommate mismatches, the pure-as-the-driven-snow kid who lives with the chain-smoking party boy, it's usually because party boy's Mom filled out the roommate questionnaire and described the child she wishes - or thinks - she has. (But you may want to advise against your child rooming with a friend from high school.)
- My child still isn't sure which university he'll attend. How much time do we have to decide housing? Theoretically, he has until the published deadline on the housing forms. But if he's deciding between large public universities, which don't always guarantee housing, and if he's narrowed the field down to just two or three schools, consider sending in housing forms and deposits for all of them. Many schools will refund the deposit on a canceled reservation if you do that by late spring. But even if you lose the $100 deposit, that may be a small price to pay for locking down housing.
