<p>FIrst of all, most colleges in this country, nearly all of them, are need blind in terms of admissions for US citizens and permanent residents. It’s when you are international, that it can make a difference at a number of schools as to whether you have need or not. International students are not usually entitled to federal and state aid, and have to show that they can pay their way to get visas necessary to get into the country. Your DD is a citizen, so except for a small number of colleges, it won’t matter if she has need or not.</p>
<p>Do look at the rules of the state universities you are considering to make sure that your moving here as an international, leaving your daughter abroad will indeed entitle her to in state rates. Colleges individually make their own rules about who is entitled to in state tuition, and those rules do not necessarily match what the state considers “in state” or other colleges even within the same state. Getting in state status at our local SUNY is a piece of cake. They don’t care or even verifiy. At BInghamton, or Penn State or UMD or UVA, it’s a whole other story. They do care and look into it very carefully. </p>
<p>YOU are not applying for anything. Your daughter is and when SHE deals with the universities and fills out the forms, that should be clear. Most selective universities do not like to see the parent orchestrating the whole show. Are you planning to stay in state while she completes her studies? A lot of schools do determine the residency of the student by where the parent lives. There are threads, one that was recently featured, discussing that. Moving into a state a year ahead of time, establishing residency and then moving is not permitted and is fraud. THis is a tough situation many families face with a kid at State U, and the family has to move. The student is often then considered OOS for tuition purposes. And, yes, there are always people who commit fraud, cheat, steal, kill…yes, that is the case.</p>
<p>I think you are mixing up the British terminology in using the term “public”. State universities and colleges are all public schools. They are designed to primarily benefit those families living in that state and paying state taxes which carry part of the costs of the school. Therefore those students living in that state get a discount on the costs, paying in-state tuition for those public colleges and universities in their state. If the student chooses to go to an out of state public school, that student has to pay the out of state rate, which is more. Usually, in state kids get some preference in admissions and for financial aid at their in state schools.</p>
<p>If you move to Virginia, the public schools in Virginia will be in-state to your DD if you meet their individual requirements for their definition of in-state for tuition purposes. The public schools in Maryland and any other state will be Out Of State, (OOS), for your daughter in most cases. Some exceptions would be agreements some states have with others or if you DD gets a scholarship that gives her in state rates even if she is considered OOS. </p>
<p>Then there are the private schools. They tend to cost the same for anyone from anywhere (sometimes there are exceptions but that is rare) whether they are in state, out of state, out of country. They also tend to be more expensive. Usually the public schools, even if they are OOS, are less expensive in tuition costs, thought there are, again, some exceptions. There is a group of these school that admit to being NEED AWARE in admissions, which means, that if you have financial need, it can affect your admissions chances. Those schools that are openly need aware, tend to meet financial need to those they accept, but they control how many students they accept that have need and how much. Some of these schools are highly rated, are highly selective and highly regarded. It is a relatively small group because most colleges in this country cannot and do not meet financial need. It’s a “too bad, so sad, your problem to get the money” response if your student’s need is more than the college can give. Some colleges basically give nothing, zero of their own money towards a given student’s financial need. </p>
<p>Those schools that are need blind in admissions AND guarantee to meet 100% of need (as they define it) can fit on a very short list and include Harvard, Princeton, Yale, the rest of the Ivies, Amherst, Williams, Stanford, Duke and a number of other such schools. Schools like Johns Hopkins, Gettysburg, Wash U St Louis are need aware in admissions, though they do tend to meet most of a student’s need if and when accepted.</p>
<p>THe sad fact is that except at a few colleges that do have the funds, and do tend to be highly selective, there is not enough money to meet need for college. FAFSA generates a number called the Expected Family COntribution (EFC), and that only guarantees those from families of very low income only up to $5K or so in grant money which is a drop in the bucket of what it costs for a student to go away to school. It also allows the student to borrow as a freshman up to $5500 from the government. Much more than that comes from the states themselves or the college itself. THe colleges are the source of the bulk of financial aid</p>