<p>S got residency at UCLA ('05) midway through his junior year. He got a CA driver’s license, registered to vote, worked part-time during the school year, full-time during the summer (came home for a couple of weeks at the winter holidays but only one week during the summer), and proved that he was financially independent through savings bonds that had been given to him over the years since he was born. Because those were in his name, he was the only one who could use them.</p>
<p>He was a dependent the first quarter of his freshman year because he had been living at home during second semester senior year of HS. Beginning with the second quarter, he demonstrated financial independence by paying his tuition bills himself. After two years, he received residency. And he continues to live in CA.</p>
<p>I knew someone else who was able to get residency for his kid before the kid even matriculated. Have no idea how he did it.</p>
<p>In Maryland, three months residence will qualify you for in-state tuition/fees at the community colleges. 12 months are necessary for the state universities. The student would have to either move here with his/her family or for a job in order to qualify for in-state residence.</p>
<p>Sorry, I can’t find a specific link today. When I do, I’ll post it.</p>
<p>Also, in CA the residency requirements are different at different schools, UCs are much more stringent than CSUs. I was surprised to learn DDs OOS friend could become a resident for CSU tuition after a year.</p>
<p>My experience has been that community colleges make it easier to gain residency status. I have a son who wanted to enter a Firefighter program at a CC. When he went to register, they told him if he signed up for an online course, he would pay resident tuition for all classes, so that’s what he did. He was considered a resident for the remainder of the program.</p>
<p>I’ve wondered if starting at a CC and gaining residency might be a way to meet residency requirements when transferring to 4 year college.</p>
<p>Cal State U Trustees passed a new regulation 41905.5 in Nov 2009 requiring financial independence for residency reclassification. Goes into effect in Dec 2010, but CSU schools had already implemented it. They are desperate for money and somehow think they can balance the CA budget on OOS money. It used to be that you could get residency after a year even without financial independence. It is rigged now.</p>
<p>As a California taxpayer who’s been supporting CSU for 20 years, I really don’t see a problem with tuition being “rigged” in favor of those who make California their home for reasons other than educational bargain-hunting.</p>
<p>I have to agree with LasMa (and I don’t live in CA). Public Us are supported by the state so the rules should be set to make it difficult to allow easy entry for that.</p>
<p>I hope it’s ok to provide this link to the College Board’s “Guide to State Residency.” It has links to each state’s requirments. Most public universities also have the info on their web sites.</p>
<p>There is no requirement to own land. That is simply false. You can be required to show a utility bill that shows you are domiciled in the state, but a requirement to own land to have residency violates the constitution.</p>
<p>Some states require that you demonstrate how you are earning a living (or qualified for public assistance) to prove that you are not just getting money from a relative.</p>
<p>^^^glido, feel free to call down to the University of Texas, but owning land or a home is definitely one of ways you can establish residency. If it violates the constitution, I guess someone needs to challenge them on it. There may be other ways, but this is one way.</p>
<p>I have a friend who lives in Maryland. Their family has lived there for years. Her son was recently admitted to Towson and U of MD. He will be attending one of the schools. In the meantime, his parents have decided they need to move in with the husband’s elderly mother to help care for her in South Carolina. They expect to do this by June. They don’t own their home, so there won’t be any need to sell a house first.</p>
<p>My friend’s question: How will this affect their son’s tuition? He is 18, but still their dependent. He has a 24 year old sister who lives and works in Maryland. Also, an older half brother. </p>
<p>Some schools specifically state having a summer or vacation home does not make you a resident for tuition purposes. Otherwise half the kids from Chicago would get instate at Wisconsin. They don’t.</p>
<p>LasMa and Erin’s Dad,
I don’t mind CA schools having a bias toward in-state students. I have a problem when the system is rigged in violation of state law and their own regulations. If they want to be more restrictive, then change the laws and regulations, and then implement them. Don’t implement them before the regulations go into effect.</p>
<p>Review your school’s residency requirements. In this case, in Illinois, as long as the student maintains his/her primary home in-state, he/she will be considered a resident.</p>
<p>But for the first year will a *dorm *count as the “primary residence”? Or should he use his 24 year old sister’s address? That’s where he’ll go for holidays since it’s not too far from either university in MD. But his tuition will still be paid by his parents after they move to SC.
<p>Nova10 wrote:</p>
<p>Review your school's residency requirements. In this case, in Illinois, as long as the student maintains his/her primary home in-state, he/she will be considered a resident.</p>
<p>As a person who lives in a state with fairly expensive state colleges paid for with MY tax money, I find this subject morally wrong. Families that live in a state should be the only ones benefiting from in-state tuition.</p>
<p>Dorms do not count as residences. Most schools do NOT allow you to establish residency WHILE you are attending college in the new state. He can’t use his sister’s address…his parents are supporting him. </p>
<p>We have two kiddos who attended college out of state and very seldom came home. Their state of residence was OURS (the parents’), not the state where their college was located.</p>
<p>He needs to check the state’s policy for students who have families that relocate. This varies. Some places will allow a one year grace for a student…in other words…if the parents move, the following year they are still considered in state, but in subsequent years OOS. Some schools establish residency when you are an incoming freshman and it never changes…so if you are instate as a freshman you stay that way. If you are OOS, you stay that way.</p>