We live in Idaho and are retired. My husband is very tired of snow and wants to move somewhere near the beach. Our last child is going to be a junior and is looking at colleges in NC. She is taking several dual credit classes this year and senior year. Not sure how many of those will actually transfer out of state. I have been looking at beach properties in NC and they are very affordable. If we move to NC right after graduation and she attends a CC there are her classes more likely to transfer? Also after the following year can we establish residency so she could transfer to a 4 year university as an in state student?
It might work. http://www.northcarolina.edu/sites/default/files/documents/state_residence_classification_manual.pdf
How about she retains her very valuable freshman status for scholarships by taking a gap year while you establish residency?
NC and VA both have terrific public universities. 
@MYOS1634, depends on the stats of the kid.
She’ll need a fair amount of merit money to beat out the total costs of 2Y’s CC (while living at home) + 2Y’s in-state costs.
“How about she retains her very valuable freshman status for scholarships by taking a gap year while you establish residency?”
She hasn’t tested yet but will next spring. For some reason despite almost all A’s in advanced classes she isn’t the best state test taker. Like the lower end of advanced. So by reading through this web site doesn’t seem like she will really get much merit unless she really surprises me in her testing. We really need to get in state tuition to keep costs affordable. The East Coast seems to have a lot more opportunities then where we are at.
“depends on the stats of the kid.
She’ll need a fair amount of merit money to beat out the total costs of 2Y’s CC (while living at home) + 2Y’s in-state costs.”
I’m hoping she will only need to do about one year at a CC due to her dual credits (that’s hoping most will transfer). Then she could transfer as a junior to a university. It would be about $4000 to attend that one year while we obtain residency. So maybe around $20,000 for her undergrad. I wonder if it is possible at this stage to find out if her classes would transfer? At the rate she is going she is suppose to be at or close to having her AA degree when she graduates but I’m sure not all will be accepted. I guess I’m hoping at least a years worth will transfer. I am very ignorant about how this dual credit thing really works. Especially between states! I’ve been trying to read about it but it is quite confusing.
You would have to contact the specific college to see if the courses from her current CC will be acceoted towards a degree at the new college.
So…until you have an actual destination, and community college at that spot, it’s going to be hard to get this answer.
For AP credits, NC can be very generous. Most of our CCs have transfer agreements with the state schools so you will know what credits will transfer. For out of state CCs, you need to contact each school.
The 20K budget for the final two years at a state school will be tough even if your student can live at home and commute. If the 20K doesn’t not include the 7,500 student loan then it would be doable if she commutes to school.
UNC-CH meets full need but they also use the Profile. However, the state grants use the FAFSA.
I would call each school to see of your plan for becoming a resident will work. Have you consider moving before she starts Junior or Senor year?
@megr - Taking a gap year isn’t just a good idea for merit purposes. It also gives you more choices in finding your new home. I’m assuming that not every great beach community in North Carolina is an easy commute to a good community college. A gap year would allow you to choose a new home anywhere in the state without regard to CC access.
I just discovered a tool on my daughter’s school’s registration page that converts transfer credits. You find the school you are transferring from and put in the course number, and it tells you what course is similar at her school. If you put in French 1015 from the community college, it may come out as French 1185 at her school, and would transfer directly as 3 credits of French. Quite a few of the courses in came out as “3000” general elective, so may not meet a particular requirement for a major but would help with core requirements.
You could check a few public school Web pages and see if they have a similar tool. I looked under ‘transfer students.’
“general elective” means credit added toward degree but doesnt count for any requirements (whether gen ed or major).
If your university calculates tuition based on number of credits only take credits that match a specific class and meet a specific requirement.
The issue THIS poster has…she wants to know if CC courses taken in another state will transfer to wherever they plan to relocate.
Really…the best place to get THAT answer is at the college the student plans to attend next.
The transfer tool works for classes taken in another state, at community colleges or universities. To use the tool, you picked a state, the college you took the class from, and the course number. My daughter was looking at taking a semester in our home state and then transferring back to her school. In playing with the conversion tool, it looked like she’d get credit for almost anything she took, but not specific credit. Because she’s a sophomore, less is going to transfer as a specific requirement. More of the lower level courses that a dual enrollment student would take (English, math, history) had direct equivalents.
I will have to check out the transfer tool, great thanks for that info. I probably have to wait till school starts to get the correct class numbers she is taking. Hopefully they transfer. I would think some will.
There are actually quite a few community colleges near the beach areas. We will go next summer and check them out so we can determine where she will attend. I’m guessing that most of the schools will be pretty consistent throughout NC on this issue but that is something we will find out, lol. We will also know more once she does SAT testing, maybe all this is a mute point and she will get some great offers somewhere!
I can’t imagine she will want to transfer now before she graduates as she is quite a social kind of kid. I actually was surprised she wanted to go out of state as important as her friends are too her. But she is also very goal oriented and seems to know what she wants. I think she realizes that life will take major turns after she graduates and she needs to stay focused on her future.
@MYOS1634 You may not be able to retain freshman status over a gap. For example, in my state public university system, students going directly from high school to college, or those with no college credits, are freshmen. Those who got some dual-enrollment credits and took a gap are always transfers. Read the admissions rules carefully.
What state is that? Dual enrollment classes for high school graduation disqualify?
Gap year students cannot take any class at all indeed. But classes not taken during the gap year?
All in all it sounds like the OP’s child wouldn’t qualify for the merit scholarships and special honors programs, although if she’s taking dual enrollment classes as a junior she ought to be pretty academically advanced.
“The issue THIS poster has…she wants to know if CC courses taken in another state will transfer to wherever they plan to relocate.”
You are extremely likely to be able to transfer credits earned in CC after high school from one accredited school to another. That’s one of the purposes of accreditation.
Where schools vary is in whether: 1. they accept credits earned through dual enrollment WHILE the student is in high school and 2. whether they will grant credit toward the major and distribution requirements at the four-year college (as opposed to accepting the CC courses as elective credits). The best way to avoid problems with the second issue is to take traditional meat-and-potatoes liberal arts courses (English, calculus, science cores, introductory social science surveys, etc.). The vast majority of 4-year schools will accept Western Civ 101, Organic Chemistry, etc. for major and distribution purposes.
Here’s a quick shorthand for what’s meat and potatoes: if it was on a liberal arts curriculum in 1950, you probably won’t have trouble transferring it.
Well I just found out the dual credit classes she is taking in the fall are (Eng 101, Hist. 111, Bio 100) 2nd semester (Com 101, Hist. 112, Bio 101). The only issue I am worried about after reading threads here is these are all being taught at her high school. I read something about colleges not accepting them if they are not taken at the college itself. Seems like if it is the same college curriculum it shouldn’t matter but I really don’t know much about it.
Another question is she has been taking all honors classes but now is changing to dual enrollment. Is that a bad idea if she were to go straight to a university? Are dual credit classes considered more difficult like the honors classes are?
The reason they teach the classes at the high school is for students who wouldn’t be able to take them otherwise. The community college is a distance away, especially for students that don’t have a car. Also the state pays for the classes so there isn’t any money out of pocket for us parents. Really good value there but not if they aren’t accepted as credits anywhere else. Maybe that is why they do it at the high school to hopefully keep students in state!!!
@Hanna makes a good point. The community college or even four year school might “accept” the credits but not allow all of them to apply to a degree program.
My DD had dual credit courses and AP too that were accepted by her school. NONE of them were applicable to her degree program…so they were just extra credits she had kicking around.
Also, this could be NOT an advantage at some schools which charge more for upperclass students (which would be students with more than a certain number of credits).
“I read something about colleges not accepting them if they are not taken at the college itself.”
The location isn’t the issue. The fact that they are being taken as part of the high school curriculum is the issue. They need to be 100% college to be broadly transferable.