Right after my daughter graduates from high school, she and I are permanently moving to Maryland. My family is in Maryland and I can now telecommute out of state with my job so I want to be back home and stay there.
I told my daughter that she should look for her in-state colleges in Maryland and not where we live now because, after I move out of our current state, she loses her in-state residency in a year (unless she’s over 24 years old). She would be looking at UMD College Park among other schools.
I know the first year we live in Maryland she will be out of state if she goes to a public university. But after a year, I see we can petition to change status. But how hard is it to do? I will live in Maryland and she will share my address, we will both have Maryland licenses, registered to vote in Maryland, I will pay taxes to Maryland, etc. I know a lot of people try to get in-state status for educational purposes only, so I assume the process is detailed. But for someone who is legitimately relocating permanently for reasons not related to education, what’s it like?
We were supposed to move to MD after my D graduated. Despite having a second home there for years, we were told it would be a 2 year process before she’d qualify for instate tuition.
Why two years? Everything I’ve read on various college websites say 12 months before the last day to register for classes. Was it something special to your case (maybe the time of year you moved)?
Your student would probably not be eligible for in-state tuition until her junior year. They require a Maryland tax return or combination of returns showing a full year of residency so if you move in summer 2021, you wouldn’t have a full year of completed tax returns to submit until tax season 2023, if my thinking is right. It really is convoluted but the entire system is designed to be difficult to keep people from taking advantage and from not just moving to a state for a few years so their child can get in state tuition. You might have an advantage in that you’d be able to show that you have relatives in MD. There are lawyers who can advise you on this sort of thing if you’re willing to pay for their help.
This is a tough situation. Could she apply to state schools where she resides now? They don’t usually check residency after you first apply. Alternatively, could she apply to universities in states that give very generous OOS scholarships (Miami of Ohio, Alabama, Univ. of Kansas, Univ. of South Carolina)?