Financial aid and starting college

[Firas95]

Hi,

I have moved to NYC from London on September 10th.

I want to start college in September 2016.
When do I have to start applying to college?

Some one told me that I cannot apply for financial aid and college (I think) until I have been in the country for a year! Is that true?
I know I cannot get financial aid until after a year but can I not apply for college and start college in September 2016??

[TomSrOfBoston]

Are you a US citizen or green card holder? If not you cannot get federal or state grants and most colleges do not offer need based aid to internationals, regardless of how long you have been in the US. You can certainly apply for colleges and pay for it yourself or hope for merit aid.

[Firas95]

I am a US citizen and I am currently waiting for my green card. It should not be too long.

[TomSrOfBoston]

??? If you are a US citizen then you do not get a green card. ???

[mom2collegekids]

US citizens do NOT get green cards.

Are you an American citizen? If so, WHO told you that you’re getting a green card???

how old are you?

did your parents move here too?

Are you applying to NY public univs??

[Firas95]

Sorry I misunderstood, I am not a citizen. I am a resident.

[MYOS1634]

What are your GCSE results? Do you have AS results?
Are you enrolled in HS? Are you in 11th or 12th grade?

If you are a senior, hopefully your green card will arrive before January 1, otherwise you need to wait until it arrives.
BUT
you need to start preparing everything. Some public colleges have their best scholarships for December 1st so apply by then; CommonApp colleges have deadlines on Jan 1, 15, Feb 1, 15, and March 1st depending on the college. The top colleges have their deadlines in January. You need to be done with testing by then (ie., if you haven’t already, take the ACT in October and December, and SAT Subjects in November and December.) You need to start “prepping” ASAP.

[sybbie719]

If you do not have a green card, then you are not eligible for federal or state aid. The only aid that your will be eligible for is merit aid that directly comes from the college.

Are you under 24 years old?

If yes, are your parents also living in NYS?

If yes, then your residency is determined by the residency of your parents.

If you are a green card holder living in NYS and your parents are not NYS residents, you will not be eligible for TAP.

CUNY Residency

@CUNY

Qualifying for the Community College Resident Tuition Rate

A community college student qualifies for the resident tuition rate if he/she is a U.S. citizen,
permanent resident or in a qualifying immigration status and meets both of the following two
conditions:

(1) continuously maintained his/her principal place of abode in the State of New York for a
period of at least twelve consecutive months immediately preceding the first day of classes. A
student who has attended a high school in New York City or State for the two semesters
immediately prior to the first day of classes, satisfies this condition, and either (2) (a) or (2) (b)

(2)(a) continuously maintained his/her principal place of abode in the City of New York for at
least the last six months immediately preceding the first day of classes. A student who has
attended a high school in New York City in the semester immediately prior to the first day of
classes, satisfies this condition, or

(2) (b) presents a valid certificate of residence to the CUNY community college from his/her
home (New York State) county. The acceptance of this certificate pre-supposes that the
student’s home county has, as per Section 6305, Article 126, Title 7, of the State Education
Law, “…elected to participate in and pay an appropriate share of the expenses involved in the
local community college program…” A more detailed discussion of this topic is included in
Section VII.E. of this Manual.

Some students may also be entitled to pay the resident rate because they attended a high school
or received a GED in New York State.

Qualifying for the Senior College Resident Tuition Rate

To qualify for the senior college resident tuition rate a student must be a U.S. citizen, permanent
resident or in a qualifying immigration status and must have continuously maintained his/her
principal place of abode in the State of New York for a period of at least twelve consecutive
months immediately preceding the first day of classes. Some students may also be entitled to pay
the resident rate because they attended a high school or received a GED in New York State.

http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/la/tuition-fee-manual/residency.pdf

IF you are a dependent student, you will be flagged by CUNY if you fall under the following

@CUNY

** Circumstances Requiring Review of Residency Status**

Colleges are only required to review the residencies of all students flagged by UAPC as
questionable. However, a college’s registrar, admissions officer or either of their designees may,
upon review of a student’s admissions application or other available data, determine that a student
who has not been flagged does not qualify for the University’s resident tuition rate. If any of the
conditions below exist, the student’s residency is otherwise questionable, or a student requests that
the College review the residency determination, the student must complete The City University
Residency Form (See the Addenda for a copy of this form) in order to qualify for the resident rate:

a) the student’s records indicate that the last high school or college attended was outside the
City (community colleges only) or State of New York (except if the student’s transcript from
the out-of-state institution indicates a New York City/State address or the student has
maintained the same address as in high school); or

b) for dependent students, both of the student’s parents, or legal guardians reside outside the
City (community colleges only) or State of New York; or

c) records relating to the student (either community or senior college) indicate that he/she has
lived at a State of New York address for less than twelve months preceding the first day of
classes or for community college students residing at a City of New York address for less than
six months; or

d) the last residency determination which had been made with respect to the student resulted in
his/her classification as a non-resident (a non-resident student does not qualify automatically as
a resident student simply because he/she has been attending a New York college for the
previous twelve months); or

e) a college official determines that there is reason to believe that the student may not be a
resident of the State or City of New York; or

f) the student is not a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident (resident alien).

SUNY Residency

@SUNY

Individuals who are financially dependent and whose custodial parent(s) lives in a state other than New York are generally not eligible for the resident tuition rate. However, students of divorced or legally separated parents may acquire a New York State domicile if the custodial parent is a New York State resident or if the student resides with a non-custodial parent who is a New York State resident and the student intends to continue to reside with that parent throughout their attendance at SUNY.

Note: Non-resident students may be eligible for resident tuition if they have graduated from a New York high school or received a NYS high school equivalency diploma within 5 years of application to SUNY. See below for details under exceptions to the Domicile Rule.

https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/residency/

this mean for SUNY, if your parents are not NYS residents or if you did not graduate from a NYS high school, you will not be eligible for in-state tuition.