im an immigrant in california holding a green card and currently on my first year of CC, paying for out-of-state tuition. will i be able to qualify for in-state once i reach 1 year (i have been here for around 9 months already) even if my parents are not here with me? they have a permanent resident card as well but they stayed in my home country while i live with my aunt and uncle here (both are U.S. citizens).
im about to get a driver’s license, already have a bank account, and i basically plan on living here for good. but will my parents actually have to move to California permanently and find a job in the U.S. so that i will be eligible for in-state tuition for CC/university after transfer? the reason why my parents can’t come live with me is that their job/source of income is from back in my home country. Moving here entails finding a new job, which is incredibly hard since they do not have American degrees. OOS tuition will be even more expensive after transferring (even with financial aid) and that worries me.
I will definitely follow up with my school but just wanted to ask here for the time being. thank you
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In order for you to have been eligible for instate residency, you would have had to have worked for two years (full time) prior to attending any college, and worked to pay your own taxes (California form 540) and being self-sufficient. All of these documents would have had to been dated prior to your attendance at a CC. California is known to be very tough to almost impossible to gain instate residency if you didn’t attend 3 years of high school and have parents who reside in California.
Additionally, you would have had to have no help in your living expenses from your aunt and uncle: like rent, utilities, transportation and food; paying market rental rates with no help from anyone: relatives, roommates, or parents.
Since you started at a CC, you are considered, by the California public schools, to be here for educational purposes.
You started at a California public school:
*without your residency determination budget forms,
*without covering your own full-time state taxes,
*without W2 records for full-time work,
*without receipts, in your name, for a residence, at market rental rates,
without a dated residency determination budget sheet from a California public school.
*and without parents who reside with you. (Aunt and uncle’s status is irrelevant).
The above is the definition of an OOS student.
You will be paying OOS rates for California because you will not be considered a resident for California.
A green card allows you to stay in the US. It’s a federal document. It does not give you state residency to every state in the Union.
California is out of money for education. They need the OOS dollars to help fund other resident students.https://www.ucop.edu/general-counsel/_files/ed-affairs/uc-residence-policy.pdf
No, you won’t. Your parents need to be in California.
(Note that if they’re permanent residents they need to spend a majority of their time in the US or they lose their green card).
They could move to California and work for a year, while you don’t attend school and also work for a year. Then you could apply for in-state tuition. But they’d need to find a job - are their degrees recognized?
Another alternative isnfor you to stop school or only take one course while you work full time till you’re 24. When you’re 24 you’ll be considered instate without regards to where your parents live.
@MYOS1634 is correct. Your parents need to spend a majority of their time in this country to maintain their permanent resident status. How do they plan to do this? Presumably they had jobs here at some point…otherwise, how did they GET permanent resident status.
But back to your question. No, you won’t be able to get instate status in CA for public college tuition purposes.
thank you. to answer your question, my family was actually petitioned by my aunt that’s why we got a permanent resident status. my dad’s planning to give it up since he wont be coming back anyways and because of his job. My mom however, has been coming here once or twice a year to visit but has no plans to stay permanently like me. i am aware though that she has to spend a majority of her time in the U.S. and immigration will definitely catch up to her at one point; we have actually already been questioned by immigration officers regarding prolonged stay outside the U.S. before i decided to move here for good.
anyways, it unfortunately looks like im stuck with paying OOS tuition. but again, thank you for the answer
Now that you have this answer, you should start looking to see if you can find transfer opportunities that will cost you less than 2 years at a CSU (and almost anything will be less than UC for you). It might mean being open to going to school in a state other than California for two years.
Your mom has to be in the U.S. for more than just small vacations to maintain her permanent resident status.