<p>I just got back from my trip to Colorado to visit the campus at Boulder. I hope to go there but there seems to be one problem: very high out of state tuition, $26,800 vs. $7,800 (in-state). Luckily I recieved a yearly $15,000 scholarship from the Air Force ROTC program, but this still isnt enough. During my meeting in the financial aid building, I was told my EFC was too high (this is bs, my dads salary is $62k per year) for the Perkins loan or a larger Stafford loan (I should get $3,500 Stafford loan according to the financial aid office). They were willing to give me $35,000 Parent-Plus loan on top of the stafford. My parents refuse to accept this loan since there is no way they will be able to afford it. Today, my dad called CU and asked about the petition for in-state tuition. Apparently, being a cadet in ROTC and having parents approaching the age of retirement isnt a good enough reason to get in-state tuition. Any suggestitions on what to do would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Sorry to say this, you need to move on look at other schools as Colorado is not a financially feasible option for your family.</p>
<p>This might not be your solution, but every year a number of hard-working, motivated kids from our town in PA head out to CO to work for a year and gain residency. Many of these kids are skiers and snow boarders, but not all of them.</p>
<p>For the group mentioned here this may be a great alternative if their parents are full freight payers and are not using the FAFSA or applying for any type of financial aid as parents are just writing the same check comprable to the
same check (or co-signing a loan) they would be writing if student was in-state at their own school .</p>
<p>However, if you are using the FAFSA to apply for financial aid and eventually the school will ask for the parents tax forms (especially for a dependent student), it will show up that the parents are out of state residents and for financial aid purposes, you are a resident in the state your parents reside regardless of where you work, vote or register your car.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Requirements for In-State Classification: One year of domicile in Colorado preceding the first day of class. Students whose parents do not live in Colorado must be 22 years old (21 years for students who first attended college in Colorado prior to September 1, 1996), emancipated from their parents, married, or a graduate student, to begin the one-year domicile period. </p>
<p>Unemancipated minors (see preceding sentence regarding age restrictions) qualify if either parent, even if the student does not live in Colorado, or a court-appointed legal guardian has been domiciled in Colorado one year. Court appointments must be in effect one year, and the court appointing the guardianship must certify that the primary purpose of the guardianship is not to qualify the student for in-state tuition and that the parents do not support the student. Proving emancipation requires that the parents cannot provide significant funds of any nature and cannot have made prior provision for the minor’s support (e.g., gifts, loans or trust funds).</p>
<p>“Four-year rule.” Unemancipated minors whose parents were domiciled in Colorado at least four years will continue to qualify for in-state tuition, despite the parents’ establishment of a new domicile elsewhere, if the parents left Colorado after the minor’s junior year of high school AND if the minor enrolls at a Colorado institution within 3 years and 6 months after the parents left; OR if the student maintains continuous Colorado domicile. Parents residing abroad who are not citizens of the foreign country or immigrants in that country are generally regarded as domiciled in the last U.S. state in which they were domiciled.
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<p>Yikes. That is tougher than our state requirements. Do you know, Sybbie, if it is typical?</p>
<p>So there is no way I can use AFROTC as a bargaining chip for additional financial aid/in-state tuition? I know that the AFROTC.com lists subsidies availble to scholarship recipients who apply to certain schools (<a href="http://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/hsschol/subsidyList.php)%5B/url%5D">http://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/hsschol/subsidyList.php)</a>. The problem is that CU at Boulder offers next to nothing (consideration for $2,500 grant off room and board only available to freshmen, basically a coin in the bucket). I know that some of you will suggest fastweb.com for additional scholarships, grants, and private loans, but I won't find out if I get any until after the deadline for the intent of enrollment at CU.</p>
<p>in our experience public universities didnt offer much for * in state* students let alone out of state</p>
<p>We are looking into schools that participate in the WICHE</a>program-</p>
<p>unfortunately Boulder is not one of them
[quote]
Colorado
Adams State College of Colorado
Colorado State University, Fort Collins<br>
Colorado State University, Pueblo
Fort Lewis College
Mesa State College
Metropolitan State College of Denver
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center<br>
University of Northern Colorado
Western State College
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<p>What was it that appealed to you most about CU? It is true Colorado has one of the most stringent residency requirements around. Most public universities will make it difficult (though not impossible) to obtain in state residency, but some offer good breaks for OOS. What state are you from (GA?) What about the Air Force Academy? More info can help others offer more options. Good luck</p>
<p>Glad to see CO state Ft. Collins is back on the list. It was off for 2 years.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Yikes. That is tougher than our state requirements. Do you know, Sybbie, if it is typical?>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>I'm not Sybbie, but I will tell you that this is VERY typical. As a matter of fact, the CO requirement that you be 22 or over is liberal. In most cases, the place of residency for college students under 25 is the state in which their parents reside, unless they meet the requirement as an independent student (orphan, military veteran, married, have own dependent children, over 24 years of age, have first bachelors degree). Remember that state support of instate universities comes from the tax payers of THAT state. The assumption is that the students family has been a resident of that state for at least a year, and is contributing to the economy of that state both through taxes and general living expenses. Bottom line is that if all it took was a year living somewhere to establish in state residency for tuition purposes, MOST (if not all) students would attempt to go that route. It's just not that simple, nor should it be.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>So there is no way I can use AFROTC as a bargaining chip for additional financial aid/in-state tuition?>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Probably not. Remember ROTC is offered at most flagship universities. It's not like you have to be a resident of CO to be in ROTC. If you want instate tuition, enroll in your flagship U and enroll in ROTC.</p>
<p>I agree it is frustrating when an out of state public school is appealing.
Our state- has relatively few instate seats- we have the same number of schools as Montana, but are 2nd in population in the west only to California.
So while California has some great schools that my D is interested in, I have to discourage her from even looking at any that aren't part of the WUE interstate agreement. ( She could look at private schools, which can be a good alternative, as they may offer good aid, and aren't partial to out of state residents- but so far the only ones she is interested in, are a little beyond her reach)</p>
<p>But I agree with ROTC many schools offer that- I even think my Ds private "rich hippie" college had an ROTC program for years.</p>
<p>A site worth checking out:
<a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/international/residency.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/international/residency.html</a></p>
<p>(forget the international part in the title; the site contains a Guide to State Residency); also links to consortiums in various parts of the country</p>
<p>I will vouch for the difficulty of proving in-state residency in colorado. I am over 40 with two kids and a husband and I applied for in-state residency after living in CO for 18 months. it took 6 more months to get it approved. I have to show a signed lease, a letter from my husband's work, 12 months of utility and phone bills, voter registration, car title and registration, car insurance and a library card. It was a major hassle -- every thing had to be "official" and I signed several notarized forms. I can't imagine it would be easy to "trick" the CU officials -- they are obsessive about that residency requirement. I clearly did not move my entire family to Colorado so that I could take a 3 hour course in geography -- but they made me prove it!</p>
<p>How do I emancipate my daughter? Is it simply not taking her as a deduction? It would clearly be worth it if that's the case. She was offered a good package for CU, but it only makes sense if we can get instate tuition after the first year.</p>
<p>Should we register her car in CO sooner? Get a license/insurance in CO? Any insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>TO be considered independent.</p>
<p>Be a ward of the state- and turn 18.
Have a lil' dependent of your own.
Veteran of the military.
Married
be in graduate school</p>
<p>
[quote]
Dependency
A student's dependency status determines whether or not that student's parents need to report their financial information on the FAFSA. A parent refusing to provide support for their child's education is not sufficient for the child to be declared independent.</p>
<p>An independent student is one who is at least 24 years old as of January 1 (e.g., born before January 1, 1982 for academic year 2005-06), is married, is a graduate or professional student, has a legal dependent other than a spouse, is a veteran of the US Armed Forces, or is an orphan or ward of the court (or were a ward of the court until age 18). All other students are considered dependent.</p>
<p>If a financial aid administrator believes that you are not an independent student, they can require you to provide proof of your independent status to qualify, and the decision on your status may not be subject to appeal.
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<p>To emancipate your student would require your child taking you to court and essentially divorcing you (if you are not colorado residents it would still be moot because she would still be considered an out od state student). </p>
<p>Even then she would have to be come emanipated as a minor and not for the sole reason to attend college using in-state tuition (remember she would have no records to demonstrate that she attended high school in colorado as a minor so it would be back to square one where she could not become a resident for the sole reason of attending college).</p>
<p>tomdug -- as I posted before, Colorado is very difficult to establish in-state residence. Your daughter doesn't have a chance unless you (her parents) move to Colorado, she enlists and serves in the military or she has a child. </p>
<p>Normally, students who marry are considered independent for financial reasons -- but Colorado is pretty tough and requires additional proof that the marriage was not done to qualify for better financial aid.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>How do I emancipate my daughter? >></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Oh Tomdug...I do hope you don't mean this. If you truly want to emancipate your daughter, it would mean a court order similar to a divorce as outlined above BUT even more important...for finaid purposes it would mean NO (and I mean not any) contact with your daughter for any reason. Is this something you really want to do? I can't believe anyone would go to this extreme when there must be other college choices that are affordable. Emancipation from parents for finaid purposes requires that the student have no contact with the parents (not even an occasional birthday card), no financial support, no "in kind services" (like letting the child borrow a car, or loaning them furniture). NO contact...none. I'm sorry, but I can't believe this is something that is worth any amount of financial aid.</p>
<p>You also have to understand that legal emancipation still does not make a student independent for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>(<a href="http://www.finaid.org/questions/glossary.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/questions/glossary.phtml</a>)</p>
<p>"Emancipation: To release a child from the control of a parent or guardian. Declaring a child to be legally emancipated is not sufficient to release the parents or legal guardians from being responsible for providing for the child's education. If this were the case, then every parent would "divorce" their children before sending them to college. The criteria for a child to be found independent are much stricter."</p>