My dad has a property in South Carolina, is there a way I could use this for in state tuition? I know it says that owning property does not make it in state as South Carolina must be the primary state of residence. Is there a way I can rent an apartment in SC now and use the property tax bill as proof of my residence or something? That way I could be granted in state tuition by my sophomore year.
They said they didn’t have enough space for introductory classes so they wanted me to finish some of them early.
I have some family friends that live in South Carolina, they said they would do whatever is possible for me to get in state tuition, what are the steps necessary to live with them?
@amxn15 all you have to do is google what is required to be classified as a sc resident for tuition purposes- this is not a Clemson rule. It’s a SC law. There are specific things you or or parents would be required to do. It is not as simple as owning property or changing your address to your family friends home. We live in Charlotte and are not thrilled with the out of state tuition expense when our daughter had been accepted at chapel hill and NC state…but we live in NC. Unfortunately, unless we want to move to sc, it is what it is.
@TheMetz I’m thrilled to see your post, as I did something similar for my son and felt that I was alone in this approach.
@amxn15 Yes there are things you can do that will help you. that link I gave you from Clemson gives you a general idea of how you can do that either through dependent or independent routes. It looks like you can live with family friends, but then you’ll have to show that you pay them rent and change your DL and address to that location. Plus, you have to also file your taxes in SC and not be a dependent under your parent’s taxes. If you can show this for one year, you should be able to apply for in-state tuition next school year.
Like I’ve mentioned, you’ll pay out of state for your freshman year, but that’s one heck of a saving from your sophmore to senior year at Clemson. But go back and read through that Clemson link I sent you on how to get in-state tuition.
If a student moves out of state and lives there while attending school, aren’t you still considered an OOS? I am thinking you are became from a FAFSA perspective, if you’re under 24 you are considered a dependent of your parents. I would then believe where your parents reside would be the basis of whether or not you are classified as instate or oos.
This is something that should be looked at further just to ensure you have all i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed before making any efforts to establish a South Carolina residency.
Since I live 5 minutes from the border of South Carolina, if my mom rented an apartment and claimed me under her tax return for 12 months lease and we changed all our documentation, could we get in state tuition starting my sophomore year? I’ve been looking online and this doesn’t sound impossible at all especially since we are so close
Like couldn’t I just claim myself as a dependent of her? Couldn’t it just be like a room with a South Carolina address?
It sounds like you really want to go to Clemson. More than anything. If that is the case take a year off, move to SC and establish residency.
Otherwise you have a 40K yearly scholarship to U of SC? Take it! Go there, find a major you are happy with and enjoy being debt free and make it a great college experience.
Clemson is an expensive school and you aren’t in state. Accept it.
lol what? why would i accept that i’m not in state when i live 5 minutes from the border? i am willing to get in state tuition starting my sophomore year. clemson is my dream school. it seems possible
Yes, it is important to dot the i’s and cross the t’s in such a case. From what I’ve gathered, Financial aid may still consider the student as a dependent for financial aid purposes, but the SC law below that I pulled from Clemson seems to show that you can be independent for purpose of getting in-state tuition.
But, it can be done if you truly want to reside in SC for those years. Clemson’s website actually has a page just for this situation. I’ve posted the independent version of this situation as the the dependent version requires the parents to be SC residents. Below is a copy of that law in SC. The second paragraph should give amxn an idea of everything that needs to be done in order to receive that in-state tuition. It’s not something that should be taken lightly, but it can be done. The key issue is if the student is still under 24 years old. In that case, as stated below, the student must support himself/herself at least over 50% of the cost and cannot be claimed on the parent’s taxes. He/she must file their own taxes as well as SC state taxes. It’s not a this or that case. For this issue, all criteria have to be met:
SC Regulation 62-605. A. Resident status may not be acquired by an applicant or student while residing in South Carolina for the primary purpose of enrollment in an institution or for access to state supported programs designed to serve South Carolina residents. An applicant or student from another state who comes to South Carolina usually does so for the purpose of attending school. Therefore, an applicant or student who enrolls as a non-resident in an institution is presumed to remain a non-resident throughout his or her attendance and does not qualify under any of the residency provisions.
You must have a place to live (owning/renting from a third party, not a family member) for 12 months prior to the semester you are wanting in-state residency. You cannot live in university housing while establishing residency or at any point thereafter.
AND To use the date of the above ownership/lease as your start date you HAVE TO MOVE your driver’s license within 90 days of moving into that apartment. If you miss the 90 days, your 12 months begins the date you moved the driver’s license to SC.
AND if you are in full or partial ownership of a vehicle(s), motorcycle(s), and moped(s) they must ALL be moved to a SC vehicle registration within 45 days of moving into apartment. AGAIN if you miss this or the driver’s license your start date begins the date you have moved your last indicia to SC. (indicia is driver’s license and vehicle registrations)
AND if you are 24 or younger you must prove in those 12 months that you supported yourself over 50% of your tuition and fees and living expenses. You will also be asked to show how you will continue that support
AND your parents cannot claim you on their Federal taxes. For example if you are applying for fall of 2019 your parents CANNOT claim you on their 2018 taxes. You will also have to claim yourself and file SC taxes as a resident.
@amxn15 This is not the place to get advice on how to acquire and maintain state residency. Someone posted a link earlier and also said you can easily google and find the state requirements. Many people have tried to help and offer advice, but none of us are experts. I suggest you and your family look up the requirements. Good luck!
If my mom moved to South Carolina, meaning she bought her own apartment and claimed me as a dependent, I changed all my important documentation and driver’s license and everything and met all the requirements, 12 months later couldn’t I be considered a resident? Obviously my mom would establish residency in South Carolina as well. My mom is willing to do this and I think it would be much less of a burden on me to a dependent student.
@amxn15 Yes, that’s exactly what the law says in the link I posted here. As a dependent, your parent would have to establish SC residency. If she does according to the law, then you can become a SC resident and have instate tuition. Just read through that link carefully. And you are correct, in-state tuition will start your sophmore year, so freshman year would be out of state tuition, but over 4 years, you’d still save a lot of money. And this isn’t like one of your parent moving hours just to be an SC resident. From what you’ve said, it’s merely a 5 minute move across the border. Good luck to you.
@amxn15 we were out of state (Georgia) when my daughter was accepted to Clemson, and we moved to SC for a job transfer a week after she graduated high school. We had to rush to appear our residency and it was complicated. We had to show the sale of home in our original state, and the purchase of home in SC (I believe a lease will suffice), we had to all change DL and License Plates immediately (not just the student, but mom, dad and student), and we had to provide a letter from my husbands employer that he was, in fact, now employed in the state of SC. In other words, we had to show we moved our lives, not just our address. We won our appeal easily because we provided all of the above. Our tuition was changed to instate a week before her Freshman bill was due.
The problem you may run in to is that she would need to prove her primary residence is in SC. If she just rents an apartment and still owns a home in the original state, that could be difficult.
Yeah but she would file South Carolina taxes and change all of her documentation to SC. She would essentially not be a resident of North Carolina anymore. The only thing is she wouldn’t move her job. Do you absolutely need to do that?
She would still change her address at work and file SC income taxes
Yes, you have to accept that you are NOT instate. Otherwise you have to move there and establish residency. Those are the rules. Everyone else follows them Why do you think you should not? The only loop hole is to move and typically you have to be established a year before states will consider you a resident.
If she works in SC she will file state SC taxes. If she works in another state, she has to file state taxes there.
If you parents are married and your father stays in the other state, that will raise eyebrows, especially if they own a home in the original state.
I recommend you call and talk to a residency person at Clemson. Because you originally applied out of state, you will have to go through the appeal process now. They can answer your questions for you and tell you exactly what needs to change for a successful appeal. I don’t mean to discourage you, but there are tons of rules to prevent exactly what you are trying to do. I wish it were easier, but it usually requires the entire family uproot and relocate. Even if you became independent and they don’t claim you, you have to prove they don’t support you financially anymore which requires much more than just filing your own taxes. Call them today. None of us are experts on here!