Claiming Residency on college applications...

Applying to College
1

<p>I've filled out several college applications because I'm transferring from a Community College to a 4-year college.</p>

<p>I am a British Citizen living in the US and am a permanent resident of FL.</p>

<p>On one application it said if I'm 24 or older than I can claim independent. Then on another application it says if I'm 25 and younger I have to claim dependent. On another application it said I can claim independent if I'm 24 or older and pay more than 50% of the income and blah blah blah.</p>

<p>This is such a headache and how can I claim independent on one app and then claim dependent on another. Why are they making things difficult?
I have a green card and proof of living in the country for for well over 12 months and each application has a different idea of what dependent and independent is.
(I was born in the UK (left when I was young) and raised in the US for the past 20-something years, only recieved a green card a few years ago after being on my parents visa)</p>

<p>Why can't they be more straightforward. I also don't exactly get by what they mean by 50% more cost of supporting myself? I have a job and pay for all my own stuff, but I don't pay bills and my parents help pay my tuition. So then do I have to claim dependent then on the Residency section? B/c on one of my apps it said if I'm 24 I can claim indpendent and claimed myself, and then now I'm wondering if I had to claim dependent and if it'll be an issue for that certain uni b/c of that.
This is really frustrating. Any help would be appreciated.</p>

2

<p>How old are you?</p>

<p>Usually, if you are applying to colleges within Florida the same rules apply. From what I understood, if you are 24 and applying to college, you are considered independent.</p>

3

<p>There’s no straight answer for you because different colleges are more and less lenient about this. They make the rules. You can definitely be eligible for one and not another. No easy way about it.</p>

4

<p>yeah I’m 24, but on some apps it’s saying I’ll have to send in my latest tax returns to prove I’m independent…but last year when I did my tax return I had to say dependent b/c I was 23 and you can’t claim indendent then.
Hmm, I think I’ll just put independent and if they need more confirmation or anything then I’ll just go from there. I don’t think they’ll deny me from a college if I did happen to make an error on the residency section…since they only need to know for tuition purposes anyway.</p>