Digging deeper to pay deposits

By Chrissy Braden
Staff Reporter

Parents and students have already started digging in their pockets for the fall 2001 semester as they pay TCU’s highest housing deposits ever.

Roger Fisher, director of residential services, said the deposit, which is required to make on-campus housing reservations, increased from $100 to $250 for the single purpose of getting students’ attention.

“We want students to be serious about making a reservation,” he said.

Fisher said the $100 housing deposit has been in place for about 15 years and is no longer enough to deter students from making on-campus housing reservations they don’t intend to honor.

“Students blow off $100,” he said. “If 10 students didn’t make a reservation because of the increase, then this is good because it’s 10 more beds we can fill.”

Fisher said the high housing demand requires a housing deposit to eliminate students who aren’t serious about living on campus but make reservations. Students who decide to cancel their reservation have until May 1 to get a full refund.

“If there were vacancies all over the place, I’m not even sure I’d ask for a reservation,” he said.

Fisher said he surveyed about 15 other schools and found that TCU’s former $100 housing deposit was much lower.

Southern Methodist University has a $100 housing deposit, which students pay as incoming freshman, said Susan Hogan, market and assignments coordinator for Residential Life and Student Housing at SMU.

“We’re a little bit different than most schools in the fact that our deposit is a true deposit and not a pre-payment,” Hogan said.

She said SMU students’ initial deposits are carried over each year they live on campus. If students do not reapply for on-campus housing, they are automatically refunded the $100.

Hogan said SMU has a limited housing problem like TCU and has thought about increasing the deposit.

Daniel Kwok, a freshman biology major, said that because the new housing deposit was so high, he had to call home to have the money sent to him.

“If I want to live on campus for four years; this is a problem,” Kwok said.

A housing deposit waiver is available to cover the cost for students who can’t afford the housing deposit before reserving a room.

Fisher said the waiver postpones the payment deadline for the housing deposit, which is added to future bills.

However, Fisher said that despite the increase in the housing deposit and complaints about it, there has not been an increase in requests for housing waivers.

“We usually only get two to three waiver requests a year, and that’s all that we’ve had this year” he said.

Chrissy Braden
l.c.braden@student.tcu.edu