I dont understand where ur coming from… why would i have to move now? i was planning on moving in june that way when next year comes around I can have the full year in and have a couple months leway before school started in the fall. Also i am moving because I want to move and not just for the in state tuition I am just trying to open my options if i did go down there and ended up wanting to go to school. thanks for your reply!
This is not being independent, ^ receiving help from your parents. Even if it is a small amount, it still shows that you can’t fund your total costs. Your income has to match your expenses. The colleges will ask for documentation like: Federal and state taxes, rent payments and other expenses, and income confirmation, etc.
The way to qualify for in state tuition in the states that allow it seems fairly straightforward. You move there, get a job, pay all your bills (rent, utilities, car insurance, possibly even your own medical insurance), food, and personal expenses. After you’ve done that for a year, start applying to colleges. But make very sure you understand the rules. Can you accept any financial assistance from your family or will even the $3k/year your parents are planning to pay for your tuition disqualify you?
If you move this June, the earliest you would be considered a state resident is June 2017, which is past most application deadlines. Are you planning to commute to a FL college? If not, you’ll be applying in fall 2017 for the fall of 2018. As a transfer, you likely won’t get much aid from the colleges. You can get the ~$6500 student loan and maybe the ~$5k Pell. If FL doesn’t consider you in state for college, you’ll just get the loan. If you don’t get residency in one year, will you stay until you’re 24 and automatically become independent or return to IL? How long would it take to reestablish IL residency if you’ve lived and worked OOS for 2 years?
If your credentials are high enough (GPA, test scores, etc.), you may qualify for a partial or full tuition OOS waiver. The full waiver enables OOS students to pay in state tuition rates.
@yellowgranite56 the OP will be a transfer student. Do these scholarships apply to transfers
FSU’s definitions are similar to California’s definitions for in state residency:
http://admissions.fsu.edu/residency/
Florida apparently requires more specifics in the amount of documented hours required for work. Apparently it is directly tied to state laws, so if it is evident that you are coming for educational purposes, you will be paying OOS RATES. No one on this forum is going to force you to stay in Illinois so why argue with people here?
So in summary, you have to work nearly full time for a minimum of a year, with no outside help from any relatives, including your instate relatives; and you have to prove that your intent is not for education- to attend a college or university in Florida.
My suggestion: find another state that needs residents (not California, since its residency policy is very similar to Florida’s, and additionally it is extremely expensive to live).
Florida is not out of the question. If you want to move to Florida in June, that’s fine. Get a job immediately, rent an apartment, get a license, if you own a car register it. Do not go to school, even paying OOS tuition. Establish yourself as a Florida resident. Because Florida has no state income tax, you have to do the other things (license, rental agreement) to show when you moved there. Make sure you keep the paperwork. Work work work for 12 months. THEN apply for school. If you have a couple of years left to finish, I’d make sure you continued to be independent, not start relying on your parents for support again. You’ll have to use their info on FAFSA until you are 24, but that doesn’t mean they support you.
There are plenty of 21 year olds in Florida supporting themselves. Everything in Florida is not cheap. Food, I found, is more expensive than other places I’ve lived. Car insurance and renter’s insurance is very expensive (if you can even find rental insurance), much higher than California. A driver’s license is $54 and to register my 10 year old car for the first time was $400 (in other states, under $100). There is a tax on all services - dry cleaning, car wash, tickets to Disney, sales tax on almost everything. Florida did not expand medicaid, so you’d have to find health insurance on the open market if you aren’t continuing on your parents’ policy or if your employer doesn’t offer it.
Your steps are the following
1° move in June 2016, find a full-time job (or nearly full-time).
2° work at it for 12 months nonstop, not taking any class. Register your car there, etc, etc. Earn enough that your paycheck suffices to pay rent, utilities, food, incidentals. (There’s likely a Florida state worksheet with averages that you’re supposed to meet). Keep proof of everything.
3° it’ll be June 2017. At that point, apply to an institution of higher education. It could be a community college if you wish to start right away, or if you’re fine starting Spring 2018 it can be a 4-year institution. Check that you have all pre-requisites for your program (they’re likely to be different from Illinois’.)
4° Summer + Fall attend community college and complete requirements to be admitted to a Florida Public University OR work until Spring.
5° Spring 2018: enter junior year at a Florida public university.
This is what theyre paying in illinois… they would not be helping me out in florida… I would get residency in florida and then get loans to pay for my tuition at florida state
thank you very much for all the info but i have a question. If i were to make myself independent by not having my parents claim me on their tax returns would that effect anything when i would go to apply for government and private loans after i have lived there for a year and applied to florida state? does me not being a dependent on my parents taxes effect getting loans on FAFSA or whatnot?
No, your parents are still ‘on’ your FAFSA until you are 24. Many students are independent on taxes but still have to report their parents’ income and assets on FAFSA until 24 or until they are married, in the military, have a child, and a few other reasons. You will qualify for the Stafford loans of $5500/$6500/$7500, but probably little else. Florida does have some state grants, but I think use FAFSA as the basis If you do qualify for FSU tuition instate, that will barely cover tuition. What will you do about room and board and other support at that time?
That’s why I said you have to plan to continue to be self supporting even after your year of being financially independent. I think it is unlikely you could ever become a full time undergrad, paying instate tuition, and remain financially self supporting. My nephew lived in Florida, graduated from a Florida HS, but his mother then moved out of Florida. He was considered instate for about 2 years, but then lost his status. They do follow up on it.
How do you exoect to get private loans? You won’t have the collateral or incime to support getting a private loan in your name only. Someone will need to cosign for loans in excess of the Direct Loan amount.
Your financial plan is flawed…
Your sources of funding, if FL considers you a state resident, will be limited to the $5500 federal student loan and merit aid if the school offers it to transfers. You won’t qualify for Pell if your parents income is too high for it now and you can’t take out private loans without a cosigner. Borrowing with a cosigner may make you dependent which would prevent you from being considered a state resident.
Are there any schools in FL you can attend for ~$5k/year + whatever you can save after paying for rent, utilities, car insurance, and other living expenses?
You would have to work for a year at 30 hours per week. What if you can’t find a job?
You’re assuming that Florida will immediately give you a loan of $30k per year after you establish residency. As noted above, you need a person/consigned willing to sign for huge student loans.
Well, if the colleges that you apply to, NOTE that you’ve immediately applied for student loans, and that you came for educational purposes, you will still be charged OOS fees.
You have to work for a year, almost full time, and it doesn’t sound like you want to do that.
You can’t use private loans until Spring 2018 at least.
I don’t agree that a private loan, even if co-signed, is support from the parents. It’s the student’s debt and if that’s how she wants to finance her life, she’s still self supporting. I don’t think it is a good plan, and I don’t think it will work to plan to borrow all the money to be a full time student (instate at a Florida university is about $29 COA), but borrowing doesn’t make it aid from the parents.
It is possible to be self supporting, live in Florida, work at a fast food place or office or even Disney and make $10/hr, work 40 hours per week. It’s not a great life, but it can be done. In fact, I know hundreds of people who do it. What really can’t be done on that salary is to save money in order to quit and go to college full time and still be self supporting without borrowing a ton of money.
If OP moves to Florida in June, does all we’ve said about getting a license, apartment, job, utilities in her name, etc., it’s possible, maybe even likely, she’ll qualify for instate tuition by Sept 2017. With transfer credits, she may even be a sophomore. Great. If she quits the job, goes to school, what’s going to happen the following year? Will she still be independent? She’ll have to prove where that support money came from. Maybe she still has a job, savings, etc and does support herself. She just has to be careful with documents and prove it.
Another option is to qualify for instate tuition another way. FSU has some study abroad programs that, if you start with them and return to FSU campus, you get instate tuition. Another option is FL A&M, also located in Tallahassee but it is an historically black university. They have a ton of different options for instate tuition or even free tuition. Another option is Flagler College, which is private but has low tuition and some good merit scholarships.
^^The danger in that plan is not being able to maintain FL state residency if something untoward should happen and OP needs financial assistance from her family. Then she doesn’t have IL state residency either. If she wants to move to FL, it would be faster and likely easier to get a degree first, then just move there as a new college grad.
I think she’d maintain her Illinois residency, based on her parents domicile.
Hey, she’s taking a chance but nothing wrong with that. Why not? She’s young, she wants it to work, so why not make the move? What is the worst thing that can happen? She moves to Florida, she works, she does not get instate tuition. She can either go back to Illinois or try again the next semester or next year in Florida.