<p>Hoping the experts here can point us in the right direction:</p>
<p>My D is a newly minted college grad who attended school out of state. She will be starting a new job shortly in the state where she attended college. IN 2010 we claimed her as a dependent and treated her as a resident of our home state. </p>
<p>If she starts a grad program will she be considered a resident of the state where she lives / works? Will our income still be considered for FAFSA purposes? </p>
<p>The grad program is at Univ of Michigan. My D will contact and discuss with the school but I thought it would be a good idea to know the lay of the land before proceeding.</p>
<p>Since your daughter has a job in the state other than her home state and is currently living there, she is most likely to be considered a resident of that state.</p>
<p>Grad students are independent for FAFSA and most grad programs do not require parental financial info. (Professional schools–med and law–seem to be the largest exception to this.)</p>
<p>Grad students do not get automatic state residency simply by attending school someplace, just like undergrads don’t get automatic residency. She will need to take steps to make Michigan her official state of residence once she moves to Michigan. (Like registering to vote there and changing her driver’s license to Michigan .)</p>
<p>However, most public universities will waive the OOS tuition differential IF a student is awarded an RA, TA, or GA or works for the university in some other capacity. (IOW, she’ll be treated like a state resident and charged only instate tuition rates even if she is not a Michigan resident.)</p>
<p>I don’t know if she’d get immediate residency status …or if she’d have to wait one year. But…Wowmom is right…often assistantship offers come with waivers for OOS tuition costs.</p>
<p>That said…what is the school saying about funding her grad program? Are they offering her anything? Or is she in the grad process? If so, has she looked to see if that program offers any kind of assistantship? Will her job pay for her education? </p>
<p>If she’ll have to pay, and she won’t have residency for a year, then it’s a no-brainer for her to wait til she has residency. </p>
<p>BTW…filing out FAFSA for grad school does not result in “free grants.” At this point, FAFSA is mostly for grad school loans. So the fact that only your D’s income will be used won’t mean that she’ll get more free money with a low EFC. Free money for grad is largely dependent on merit awards for stats (GRE scores & GPA).</p>
<p>What kind of grad program is your D interested in?</p>
<p>She is in Teach for America and there is a grad program in education at U Mich that is tailored around their teaching schedule. She will be finding out more in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Look for the UMich residency form, see what they ask. Some of my kids changed states after graduation and we planned a year ahead to make sure there was no issue. One school said they wanted 12 months residency before beginning classes another said 12 months before the application was submitted, so check the details.</p>
<p>So, she’ll be getting a grad degree in Education? or something else?</p>
<p>I don’t know how grad school for education works…everyone that I know has had to pay for grad degrees in Education with personal funds/loans. Perhaps others know differently.</p>
<p>“She will need to take steps to make Michigan her official state of residence once she moves to Michigan. (Like registering to vote there and changing her driver’s license to Michigan .)”</p>
<p>Don’t count on doing this after starting as a non-resident. If you start as a non-resident, it can be nearly impossible to get resident status for tuition. (I tried as a Michigan law student 24 years ago.)</p>