Financial aid for a US Citizen Living Abroad

Hi

I am currently a High School Student (12th grade) living in abroad with my Mom who is originally from the US. She went to College and worked in the States until she moved abroad in the 1990s
Next year, I am moving to the US where I’m going to be living with my aunt and I will be attending a community college for financial reasons, after that, I would like to Transfer to a 4-year University (like UIUC) to get my Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. However, any 4-year university will be too expensive for my mom’s salary to cover and of course as a US citizen, I will be applying for financial aid.
Now my question is this:
Will I be able to receive financial aid when my mom hasn’t paid any income taxes in the States for decades?

I believe you would be eligible for financial aid but check the residency rules in IL. I believe that if you are a dependent, your parents have to be living in state for a year to qualify for instate tuition. If you are not a dependent, you have to be living in the state for non educational purposes for the year.

https://admissions.illinois.edu/FAQ/in-state-tuition

Actually, I am pretty sure that I would qualify for residency in Illinois. My aunt (not the one I mentioned before) who lives abroad used to live in Illinois too and her children became residents and got their ID’s very easily. With that in mind I would probably qualify for in-state tuition as my mom has an Illinois Social Security Number and she used to live in the state. I tried to look it up but I couldn’t really find anything for my case…

Having a SSN issued to her while she lived in IL doesn’t matter and ‘used to live’ in the state doesn’t matter. I’ve lived in 8 states and none of them care. I am only a resident of my current state. SSN are no longer issued by state or area but randomly and are a federal identification, not state.

You will be able to file the FAFSA and get federal aid. You might want to apply to private schools where you might be able to get aid from the school. UIUC is expensive for instate, and very expensive for OOS, with little aid available.

But you still live in the US. My Mom does not. She has been living aborad since the age of 25 after having been raised in the states and after having worked there (and ofc paid taxes). She IS an Illinois resident.

Clachuni- there are tens of thousands of dollars at stake here. Do not rely on advice from a bunch of people on the internet. If you are convinced that you are an Illinois resident, pick up the phone (during business hours) and call someone at a State U in Illinois that you are interested in attending and find out how that college would treat your residency case. I’m not sure they would consider a woman who has lived abroad since the age of 25 is still a resident of Illinois (residency for the purposes of college tuition and citizenship are two completely different matters) but it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is hearing from someone who deals with residency AT THE COLLEGE telling you how your case would be considered.

There are thousands of expats living overseas who are full fledged US citizens who pay their taxes who do NOT have instate tuition anywhere in the US. Make sure you are not one of them before you do anything.

Sorry, but she isn’t an Illinois resident if she doesn’t have a presence in IL.

https://admissions.illinois.edu/FAQ/in-state-tuition

Also: "the parent who is required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) must physically reside in Illinois and Illinois must be his/her true, fixed, and permanent home at the time the initial FAFSA was completed and processed by the Central Processing System (CPS); "

Living 25 years in another country pretty much makes you a resident of another state/country. You may be able to establish residency in IL, but don’t count on it. It is very difficult for a student to establish residency FOR TUITION PURPOSES until they are age 24. You can be a resident for all other purposes, like voting, driver’s license, working, paying taxes, but for tuition it is difficult.

I agree with @blossom. Call UIUC directly before you make an big decisions that will be costly to undo.

I also agree with @twoinanddone. I’ve lived all over the US but I’m only a resident of the state where I currently reside and pay local and state taxes. It doesn’t matter at all where you mom “used to live”.

Assuming all that is true, it won’t really matter anyway. As I said, I will be attending a community college while living with my aunt for 2 years or so. The community college considers all student residing in the college district to be resident and therefore must pay in-district tuition.
Anyway, we are actually going to IL this year in December and we will talk with the Community College.
Thanks for your help.

UIUC may differ from IL CCs in residency for tuition purposes.

Also, IL is one of the worse states for in-state FA at its state universities, so even if you are a resident for tuition purposes, the IL state universities may still be too expensive.

You came here asking if you’d be eligible for financial aid. People have given you answers, but you are arguing with those trying to point you in the right direction. Here’s a summary of what you need to know:

  1. You and your mom are NOT residents of Illinois. You are not residents of any U.S. state.
  2. Living with your aunt for two years may have ZERO relevance to whether you are considered an in-state student at UIUC.
  3. Attending community college in Illinois may have ZERO relevance to whether you are considered an in-state student at UIUC. They may -- and likely do -- have different residency rules.
  4. There is not just one simple definition of residency. The residency definition for voter registration can be different from the residency definition for driver licensure, which can be different from the residency definition for in-state tuition at community college, which can be different from the residency definition for in-state tuition at UIUC. That's four different definitions. In other words, being registered to vote in IL or having an IL drivers license does not necessarily mean you are eligible for in-state tuition at UIUC.
  5. You may get better financial aid at a private college than at UIUC. State schools -- especially the ones in Illinois -- do not generally give good financial aid.

Read this thoroughly, and if you have questions call the office of University Academic Services and Programs. Contact numbers are listed on the linked page. https://www.uaps.uillinois.edu/student_programs/residency_information/

What makes you think that someone who hasn’t lived in Illinois…and also hasn’t filed taxes as an Illinois resident…is a resident of Illinois? Think about that.

Your mom is NOT a resident of Illinois. She hasn’t lived in Illinois for 25 years, you say.

It sounds like you have never lived in the United States…so what makes you think you are a resident of any state.

You aren’t.

The community colleges have a different “bar” for granting instate status than the four year universities do.

If you really want instate status in Illinois for college tuition purposes, both you and your mom need to move to Illinois 12 months before you plan to attend ANY college in Illinois.

Otherwise it’s going to be pretty clear that your move was not for domicile purposes, but rather for educational ones.

Do you happen to have any relatives in other states? Illinois is a tough one for not just residency reasons but because even once you’re a resident you won’t get much in the way of scholarship/subsidy.

Utah is an example of a state that’s very friendly in residency requirements regarding college students. The colleges are inexpensive and you become a resident quickly - they want to attract college students. Do you have any relatives in other states? Might be worth checking into the residency requirements for those states before you decide what to do and where to live.

If Illinois was the last state where your mom lived, she is an Illinois resident for voting purposes, and so are you if you are still abroad when you turn 18. However, being a resident for voting, and a resident for tuition and fees purposes are two very different things.

It is likely that your mom should have been filing federal income taxes all of these years that she has been abroad. It is quite possible that she would never have owed any money in income tax. She needs to investigate her tax filing responsibility and get that straightened out. You will need her tax information when you file the FAFSA.

It is important for you to know that many many people complete their college educations while working full time and studying part time. If you find that is your only option, you certainly won’t be alone. In fact, you could consider focusong on a technical training program at your community college first. If you choose one that leads to a reasonably well-paying job, you can then work at that job to make the money for the rest of your studies.

No, she isn’t.

Your mom hasn’t filed US income taxes? I believe that she’s going to have to file. I don’t know if or how far back she’ll have to go to file.

As others have posted, the community college can have different standards for residency than the state university.

For what I understand, if your mom was required to file a federal tax return, you will be inelible for federal aid until the taxpayer files the necessary tax returns or “not required to file” forms.

You really need to look at the requirements of the CC you want to attend, they can be be very different from school to school. We are US citizens and have lived in Texas for 11 years and pay a lot of taxes. But it turns out that even through the CC is only a few miles from our house we live in an ETJ and none of our property taxes go to the CC so we are considered the same as out of state for tution purposes. It’s much cheaper to send our kid to state schools because we are “in state” for state schools but not at the local CC. From what you’re said you would not be “instate” for any state state school in the US.

@happymomof1

Could this place you recommend to students abroad help this student with this process?

@thumper1 - It’s certainly worth a try!

@Clachuni - Where are you living now? In most countries, there is an EducationUSA office or an AMIDEAST office. Both of those organizations are funded by the US government and provide advising for international students who want to study in the US. In many cases, the counselors there have experience advising US citizens who are living abroad. Check both websites to identify the locations of the Advising Centers that are closest to where you live.
https://educationusa.state.gov/
https://www.amideast.org/

Regardless of my state residency, my original question was about FAFSA and whether or not I would be able to get financial aid as someone whose mother hasn’t paid any taxes in the US for a very long time. We already did my FAFSA application and from what we said they have estimated my aid but still, the process isn’t finished yet and I’m really nervous.
Sorry if I came out as arrogant of argumentative, that wasn’t my intent and I was just saying what my mother was telling me.