A good friend and I were discussing getting in state tuition at out of state public universities. She said that if you have a family member (not a divorced parent but an aunt, cousin etc) in another state you can just say your kid lives at that address and get in state tuition. I told her she was crazy…everyone would do that! But she was adamant about it - anyone ever heard of this?
Sure I’ve heard of it. It worked just fine in the 70’s, but not so much now.
States determine how one qualifies for instate tuition rates. Most look at where the parent(s) live, where the parents are registered to vote, where their cars are registered, leases or mortgages, etc. It doesn’t work for the parents to just buy real estate in the other state either. The schools don’t even care where the student is a legal resident, just the parents.
Most state colleges want proof of residency and each state differs. One school D is applying two has 2 entire pages of questions to determine in-state residency. And it can even vary by colleges in the same state, so I don’t see anyone being allowed to just say they live with someone and get in-state rates. My older D went to a college in her dad’s state and when she applied to state colleges had two different sets of rules-one considered her a state resident, one did not.
Sure, there’s probably a handful of colleges that this would work at, but not the vast majority.
If for no other reason, they’ll see your out of state high school transcript and it’ll raise lots of flags.
Public university systems all over the US are having a budget crisis. They’re not going to just give away cheaper tuition, no questions asked, to anyone w an OOS high school transcript.
Can you lie? Sure.
Will you get away with it? Possibly.
Can you then call yourself an honest person? Not in my eyes.
OP, your friend is crook.
Thanks everyone. I don’t think my friend is a crook - she is not doing this but she is very stubborn and thinks she know everything. We do have a mutual friend who’s son just got accepted to an out of state college as an in state student but his father lives in that state. I told her that is probably true but then they will have to use his fathers income on the FAFSA. Dad makes a lot more than mom!!! But the in state will make the difference I am sure.
Yes. Some states allow the student to be considered in-state if a divorced parent is a resident (I think FL is one). Some states make it easy to become in-state (I think UT is an example). The vast majority are much more stringent.
States with top ranked flagships make it extremely difficult to get in state tuition for obvious reasons.
There was a story (and a thread here on CC) with a family getting charged for trying to game the system like that. Actual criminal charges, not just having to reimburse the school (which they also had to do).
Your friend is wrong.
And colleges have seen it all. They can figure out who is a resident…and who is not.
- Your HS transcript will be from a different state.
- Your parent tax returns will be from a different state...so if you apply for need based financial aid, that will be a hint.
Your friend needs to understand that colleges expect honesty. Being dishonest to gain instate rates is not well regarded by the schools. She runs the risk of losing her admission offer as well as any need based aid awarded. And she could very well be asked to pay the out of state tuition money she owes.
UGA Fraud charges. http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/lynchburg-man-accused-of-university-of-georgia-tuition-fraud/article_11fcc97e-0d1b-11e4-b91f-0017a43b2370.html
Because tax payers fund the universities, what matters isn’t where the student is, but where parents pay taxes. She could move in with her aunt, her parents would still pay taxes in another state.
She could move to Utah or Missouri, which make it rather easy to get instate tuition.
Utah apparently is not too hard to get residency for tuition purposes in after a year, even if one came just for school.
http://admissions.utah.edu/apply/residency/faq.php
It is likely that the difficulty of getting residency for tuition purposes depends on how popular the state schools are for non-residents who willingly pay non-resident tuition.
If the student’s high school was in another state, how would the parent claim that the child was living with the other relative.
Some schools will allow instate rates for divorced parents living in two states, but many schools won’t.
Your friend is largely wrong.
Florida does not require that the parents are divorced, just that they are separated and one of the parents live in-state for 12 months. Each state has different requirements for determining residency for college tuition purposes, so any blanket statements will undoubtedly be wrong for some states. A quick googling can usually find the relevant rules.
One strategy I have seen for OOS students is to get accepted to a University, and defer admission while the “student” physically relocates to that state and take a job until such a time that they qualify for instate tuition. One family I know did this at the University of Colorado, and the kid worked at a ski resort town for the year having a great time. The cost savings from the in-state tuition more than offset the loss of a year.
The OP is not talking about a divorced parent. He is talking about other relatives like aunts,or cousins.
You cannot establish instate residency by using the address of a non-parent relative who happens to be a resident of another state…that relative is not your parent or guardian.
And you are not a resident of that state yourself!
NOT TRUE! The student would only use the custodial parent on the FAFSA. Some states allow students of divorced parents to have in state status even if the student resides in another state. This is because the non-custodial parent is a taxpayer in that state…and that state allows instate status for that circumstance.
BUT this has nothing to do whatsoever with the filing of the FAFSA. In all cases for diorced oarents, the FAFSA ONLY includes the custodial parent, which is the one with whom the student resides with most,in the year prior to,the date of the FAFSA filing.
Some states do require the instate parent to take the student as a dependent on the tax return. Divorced parents can give the other parent the deduction if they want to, but as thunper1 said, the FAFSA definition of dependent is different than the IRS rules.
There was a commercial company ‘helping’ students obtain instate rates, and one of the states they were doing this in was Colorado. They’d advise on establishing residency by getting driver’s licenses, registering to vote, getting jobs, etc. It really didn’t work very well and just the student moving here doesn’t work as the school still looks at the residency of a parent (divorced parents, even without custody or taking the dependent deduction on taxes works). Working as a ski bum just won’t do it for an 18 year old.