Dad lives in Cali; can I apply as a Cali student?

[kingkouture]

<p>Hey, how you doing, thanks for coming. Anyway, to the point: my parents are divorced, and although I live in Portland, OR with my mom, my dad lives in San Jose and works as a public school teacher for "disadvantaged" kids.</p>

<p>I really like UCLA and Berkeley; I visited both and am now considering both for college. My question is... because my dad is a Cali resident, can I apply as in-state, and even reap the rewards of in-state tuition and much better admissions chances?
Or will I be one of the ferocious OOS fighters for a spot at one of the top two UC's?</p>

<p>I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to apply OOS; I'm valedictorian, I will have taken 8 AP's, 2 Honors, and 2 College-in-highschool classes by the end of my senior year, and I got a 2180 on my SAT.
But I'd much rather be a shoo-in (who wouldn't?).</p>

[mikemac]

<p>it isn’t so much the difficulty in getting in OOS that keeps people out, it’s the $40K+ per year it costs to attend. Given the 23% admit rate to both schools I don’t think too many people in CA think of themselves as shoo-in’s.</p>

<p>Unless you move to San Jose pronto and live with dad for a year before ucla starts, you’re not going to get in-state tuition. You did do a web search for residency requirements, right?</p>

<p>

In order to establish residence the student must be physically present in California for more than one year and must have come here with the intent to make California his or her home. Physical presence California solely for educational purposes does not constitute the establishment of California residence, regardless of the length of stay.</p>

<p>Q. What if my parents are divorced or separated?
You may be able to derive California status from a California resident parent if you move to California to live with that parent on or before your 18th birthday. If you begin residing with your California parent after your 18th birthday, you will be treated like any other adult student coming to California to establish residence.

If you move to CA and live with dad after you’re 18 you face the same rules as any other adult – in other words, difficult to impossible. As they so kindly point out

Note that the financial independence requirement makes it extremely difficult for most undergraduates whose parents are not California residents, including transfer students from community colleges and other post-secondary institutions within California, to qualify for classification as a resident at a University of California campus.

Come here after you’re 18, that’s you :(</p>

<p>Take a few minutes and peruse the info at <a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/faq/residencefaq.htm[/url]”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/faq/residencefaq.htm&lt;/a&gt; Cal, being a sister campus, has the same rules.</p>

[kingkouture]

<p>Aha. Well, that pretty much sums it up. Thank you, mikemac.</p>