So I was born and raised here in California with my mom’s whole family (I don’t know my dad). A few years ago I went with my mom to live in Seattle, which is where I got my driver’s license and did high school (did not graduate). When I turned 18 last year, I left & moved back in with my family to figure out what to do next. This year I wanna get serious and go to community college.
I’ve put myself as a CA resident without second thought, but according to some threads here, residency is “ONLY determined by where your parents live, nothing else”. Is that true? The whole rest of my family doesn’t mean anything? I was 18 when I left so I don’t think anybody became my guardian (I don’t know if that’s automatic). It also gets even more complicated if I’m “financially independent” from my mom (but not independent from everybody else…)
Normally I’d think this isn’t a big deal, just give my address, but all of my high school transcripts have “Washington” on them, which is apparently a red flag? I also only have my Washington license as ID and don’t have utility bills in my name or anything. I do have Amazon packages, gym membership, etc in my name dating back a year, but I have no idea if that’s enough. What can I do?
I’m a resident, right?
What can I do to prove it?
Or… I’m really overthinking this, and for a $1,110 community college, my address and family’s bills are fine. Please lemme know
If you’re under 24, where your mom lives matters for California residency. So if she lives in Seattle, you are NOT a California resident. The “whole rest of” your family doesn’t count.
Jesus… Considering how long I haven’t been in contact with my mom, this seems like a dumb oversight. Someone other than your biological parent can raise you. Guess I’m not going to college
If you want to be classified as a California resident, you can go to CCC but first, you’ll have to work for two years and pay California State taxes (form 540), live on your own, without help from anyone and pay at market rental rates.
You, yourself have not filed nor paid California State taxes, right?
The definition of resident is different for different purposes. For instance, for state tax purposes, you’re most likely a resident of California. California wants to make sure it’s collecting taxes at in-state rates from everyone who lives in the state and enjoys the benefits provided by the state. For in-state tuition for college, it wants to make sure that the relevant responsible, tax paying adults have made a real commitment to the state. No sending your kid to live with his aunt in California for the senior year of high school to get in-state rates. No claiming resident status after finishing freshman year. So the state has rules about who counts as a resident. Can someone be raised by someone other than their parent? Sure. And I’ll bet the rules cover those instances. But it appears you were raised by your mother, since you moved to Seattle with her and stayed until you were 18. I would bet that if, when your mother moved to Seattle, she left you with family in California and transferred legal guardianship of you to your grandmother or whomever, you might well qualify as a California resident (NB, I’m making an educated guess. I don’t actually know the rules about that.)
People under 18 years old generally have someone who is their guardian. Your mother was your guardian. Yes, other people may have helped raise you, but your mother was the person legally responsible for your well being and entitled to make decisions about you. Once you hit 18, you became a legal adult and no longer had or needed a legal guardian.
The reason for the rules about people between 18 and 24 is to reduce the extent of people gaming the system.
