<p>I have a friend who is thinking of using her vacation home to establish residency so her children can get in state tuition..She realizes you need establish residency for 1 year, prior to getting the in state tuition...trying to gently prod her to the fact this is iffy, as she will ive in another state 90% of the time...the planis to have one of her children live in the home,so bills ,etc will show some sort of proof..... Any thoughts which i may pass along?</p>
<p>Unless she pays taxes in the state, it will be nearly impossible to establish residency for in state tuition. This in turn requires she spends more than 6 months of the year in the state. If it was easy to change residency, a lot more people would claim Florida as their residence, since there is no state tax.</p>
<p>You got the state correct. ;)</p>
<p><a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>Will her children also be changing high schools? If they attend hs in another state red flags go up. It may not kill the deal, but there is a lot more explaining to do (ie why is the transcript coming from another state).</p>
<p>It really appears that a parent would need to be employed in Florida and have a drivers license, car insurance and bank accounts there. I would think they would want to see where the parents are employed.</p>
<p>I researched this for a student in VA (one of the best states for having a bunch of instate good schools to want in state rates). At least for medical schools, (and I think it is true for other levels) you need to have the “primary income source of support for the student” (ie parent or for grad school might be spouse) living, working and paying taxes in state for one year to be qualified.
Interestingly, if you meet this criteria after starting at the school, you can petition (say for the last 2 years of school) to be changed from out of state to in state tuition!! Apparently often needs a lawyer to figure out the process, but is successful. But you have to have the worker proof (so non income earning student cannot file after just living in state for over a year, when parents, whether or not providing tuition, live out of state.
I also know a family that successfully moved to GA once daughter was accepted to have instate tuition (after a year?)
Each state has it’s own rules for what qualifies for in-state tuition. Some states also have reciprocity. (interesting little known one for here is if you go to an engineering program in some other states (eg GA Tech) that does not exist in state in VA (aerospace engineering for ex. ) then you get reciprocal in state tuition at the other state school.</p>
<p>I’ve written about our experiences on other threads, but in a nutshell, I don’t see how it would be possible in most states. </p>
<p>We are military, so don’t pay state income taxes in the state where we reside. We had already lived here for 7 years when my oldest was filling out college applications. In order to qualify for instate tuition at our state flagship, we had to supply a copy of:</p>
<p>My husband’s orders (proof of employment in this state).
The deed to our house.
My son’s drivers license.
My son’s voter registration card.
My son’s state tax returns from his part time job.</p>
<p>These questions were asked as a part of the application. Once we answered Yes, we were applying for instate status, and No, we do not pay state income taxes, a number of additional questions popped up. We had to mail copies of the above documents to the admissions office.</p>
<p>We had to prove, in essence that we actually lived in this state, and, more importantly, that my son considered himself to be a resident of this state.</p>
<p>We were thankful to be considered to be state residents for purposes of tuition. </p>
<p>While you could use the vacation home’s address, the child does not attend high school there, nobody in the family pays state income taxes there, and nobody in the family has made other steps that imply an intent to establish residence in that state That will be an issue for any state university.</p>
<p>Here is some more detail,currently her S2 is a soph in a state other then Florida…they have a second home in Florida,but just used for vacations…not even an investment property. S2 is planning to attend a college in florida and live at the florida property,knowing that for at least 12 months he is still considered out of state,but of the belief that after 12 months,he qualifies as a state resident…she plans to shortly become a ‘resident’ 
to allow S3 to come as a state resident after he graduates HS in another state…no plans to actually live there more then on occassion…</p>
<p>She is doesn’t legally derive income reportable to IRS,her DH is the income generator,so this whole scheme may fall apart from what i’ve read from replies above</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>short answer…she is trying to gain residency in a way called FRAUD. She knows she really isn’t a resident of Florida. There are thousands upon thousands of folk with vacation home in Florida. The schools there are well versed in terms of knowing who really RESIDES and has instate residency…and who does NOT. The reality is that the PARENTS would have to relocate to Florida a full year prior to the student enrolling…and establish residency for the family.</p>
<p>This kiddo will have a ton of red flags…graduation from a high school in another state will be the first red flag. If the student applies for financial aid, the addresses MUST match those on the tax returns…red flag number 2. </p>
<p>I would suggest you post this query on the financial aid forum here where folks will give you much more information.</p>
<p>Brownalum, I believe both UVa(mechanical and aerospace) and VT have aerospace engineering. If that is not correct,please advise.</p>
<p>Florida is one of the toughest states to pull off this kind of scam in. Maybe in the past, people would use vacation homes or Grandma’s house to try to claim residency and they toughened up. Florida doesn’t even participate in the Southeastern Academic common market at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>Thumper, i agree about fraud,lol…S2 is currently a sophomore in college,and transferring to a Florida college in Jan 2012…</p>
<p>You’re correct, VaTech, Uva and ODU all have aerospace, (5 yrs ago they did not when my son was looking at eng programs) GaTech has Nuclear, Environmental and Paper Science programs that I believe are not offered at state schools in VA at the undergrad level. Used to be a few students from VA going to GATech for fiber engineering (design high tech fibers etc) paying in state tuition, but they don’t have that program anymore. I know of other programs out of state in fire fighting engineering also with that deal. ODU does have nuclear in engineering technology school, but not in full engineering program so I don’t know if that would qualify. (and of course I would be very careful in checking if this reciprocity still exists. I know there are students who come into VA Engineering programs from some other states in Ocean/naval engineering who are paying in state tuition.</p>
<p>It use (back in my day) to be really easy to establish FL residency. You just had to attend school for a straight year and then you qualified. However, it is much harder now and nearly impossible.</p>
<p>If the student were to take a year off and work, then it might be possible but if parents are sole support, then it probably won’t work.</p>
<p>I would think that even 5 years ago, there were Virginia schools that had aerospace? My kids are both engineers and we are in Virginia.</p>
<p>I think as the economy tightened it has become harder everywhere for families to “gain residency” immediately before or during the student’s tenure at the college. I know our flagship in particular in Michigan scrutinizes kids and families and will often have kids fill out residency paperwork if they have been in another state for the past three years or attended a high school outside the state (even prep school). I know my girlfriend was surprised when she,a lifelong resident, had to fill the paperwork out for her D who went away for most of high school. Proof of employment specifically a letter from the employer is just one of the requirements for new Michigan residents also who hope to enroll with Michigan residency tuition. It isn’t easy.</p>
<p>@ sevmom - You are correct. VT’s program goes back to 1941, started as the Aeronautical Engineering Department. UVa added Aeronautical Engineering as an option to Mechanical in 1931 and as it’s own department in 1956. Mechanical and Aero have since been combined again at UVa.</p>
<p>My son looked into both programs last spring.</p>
<p>qdogpa… a couple of thoughts…why aren’t they looking at public universities IN the state they really have residency in? And also…if this student is a top student, don’t you think the public university in Florida will wonder why he’s not using Bright Futures? </p>
<p>These folks are really playing a game that could end up costing them a lot of money AND jeopardizing their kids college educations. Why do they feel that lying about this residency is an honest thing to do. It’s not.</p>
<p>^ One of the times I wish there were a ‘like’ button on cc. Agree on all counts thumper1!</p>