<p>Anyone has good suggestions of this obstacle? My son is 16 (still a little bit) but we are thinking of GA tech... but not sure if that is where he wants to be in. If we buy a condo in there or even any other state and then he decide not to go there it is a complete waste of time and money. .... Scholarships? I think we will still ultimately pay for at least more than 50-60% of the $42,000+ a year. </p>
<p>The way to get instate tuition for your son is for your whole FAMILY to move to Georgia before the start of his senior year in high school. Your son’s residency for instate tuition purposes is where YOU, the parents, have their residence. Buying a condo in Georgia will not establish YOUR residency there unless you PARENTS move into that condo at least twelve months before your son starts college…in Georgia.</p>
<p>And it won’t be a challenge for the colleges to figure this out. Your son will graduate from high school in a different state. </p>
<p>You could use the money you would pay to buy a condo to pay the out of state cost differential.</p>
<p>If you want to pay instate tuition costs, start looking in the state in which you reside.</p>
<p>If you can afford to buy a condo in order to fake residency status (which would not work anyway) you should be able to afford the OOS tuition. </p>
<p>Here are the hoops we had to jump through to gain instate tuition status for our son. </p>
<p>On the application,
- Have your parents paid income taxes in this state for the last x years
No - Why not?
Military, with residency in (for tax purposes) in Y state - Send a copy of your parent’s orders proving that he/she is stationed in this state.
- Do your parents own your main residence in state x?
Yes - Send copies of your deed.
- Do your parents own property in any other state?
No - Do you (the applicant) have a drivers licence in this state?
Yes - Submit the license number.
- Has the applicant ever filed income taxes in this state?
Yes - What years? Send copies of tax returns
- Has the applicant registered to vote in this state?
Yes - Send (? Copy of voter registration card? I don’t quite remember)
- Did the applicant graduate from a high school in this state?
Yes - How many years did the applicant attend school in this state?
- Does the applicant or parents own cars?
Yes
What state are they registered in?</p>
<p>In other words, most public universities want to know that the APPLICANT considers the state to be his home state. Has the applicant attended high school there? Hold a drivers license there? Registered to vote there? Held a job there? Paid taxes there? Where is the parents’ permanent home of record? Where are the cars registered?</p>
<p>We had a few more hoops to jump through, because we are military, and do not pay state income taxes in this state. But we own a home here and our cars are registered in this state. Our children have attended high school here, hold drivers licenses here, those who are old enough have registered to vote here. They CONSIDER THIS STATE TO BE THEIR HOME.</p>
<p>Look it up on the university site. Each public university is pretty clear on what their criteria is for in-state tuition.</p>
<p>Also not a very good example to set for your son. </p>
<p>It is not an “obstacle”. State colleges exist to educate students of parents who have been supporting the school through the payment of income taxes. </p>
<p>GA Tech’s website state that a parent must have established residency 12 months before the first day of classes and the student must have graduated from a GA high school, or a parent that has lived in GA for 12 months declares him/her as a dependent on his/her income taxes. Lived in does not mean owning a condo, but actually residing and paying income taxes.</p>
<p>If it were an easy obstacle to overcome, there wouldn’t really be a point to schools charging nonresident rates.</p>
<p>Pectin, I believe you KNOW where you are an instate resident for tuition purposes, and hope there is some loophole to get your kiddo instate status in another state. There are no loopholes.</p>
<p>@Eastcoastcrazy, hopefully your detailed post will help the people who think its easy to establish state residency to think again. There are currently a few threads around with people asking what it takes to get one up on the system.</p>
<p>I know it is not easy. We are still trying to figure out if moving or getting a vacation sort of small home/ condo/ etc in GA might be an option. We just know GA tech and Emory are good schools but uncertain if that IS the option. We are NOT trying to evade instate sort of thing as he has also mentioned Berkley for music.</p>
<p>Emory is also private, so even a successful residency scam won’t lower your bill. </p>
<p>A vacation home will NOT gain you instate residency. There are lots of folks with vacation homes. Those are NOT their permanent residences. Your son will NOT be graduating from high school in the place where you have a vacation home.,when you submit your IRS taxes,and link to the retrieval tool for FAFSA, YOUR address will NOT be instate where your vacation home is located. </p>
<p>Emory is a private university. Your state of residency has no bearing on your cost of attendance.</p>
<p>If you can afford Berklee for music, or Emory, you can afford the OOS feels for GA Tech.</p>
<p>Honestly, this thread has a ■■■■■ like feel. I mean really…why would anyone who can afford Berklee or Emory be concerned about OOS costs for GA Tech?</p>
<p>And YES, you ARE suggesting evading OOS residency costs. That is the title of your thread!</p>
<p>Eastcoastmom, How long ago was your experience? As of the Higher Education Act of 2008, your son would be guaranteed instate tuition in the state in which the military member is stationed or resides. None of that other stuff matters - if military, though it definitely would to anyone else. We just had to show orders and the LES; it was a simple process that we used for two kids. </p>
<p>Our son graduated high school in 2009. A second son graduated high school in 2011. The same process applied for both. Instate tuition was guaranteed, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have to prove we actually lived in the state, and that the applicant considered it to be his home. Husband’s original orders were to Washington DC. We do not live in DC (commuting distance from DC). We live in a state that touches DC. It was an extra layer of complication. It was not a difficult process, but we did need to provide orders, deed to the house, and the rest of that information. Probably the extra information had to do with the fact that the orders are to DC but we live in a neighboring state.</p>
<p>In other words, if we were trying to gain instate tuition for Georgia because we own a home there but my husband’s orders were to DC the questions about drivers licenses, voter registration, high school attendance and car registration become more relevant to the determination for instate tuition. </p>
<p>Just owning a house or property in a state isn’t enough for anyone to claim instate tuition.</p>
<p>Probably the extra information had to do with the fact that the orders are to DC but we live in a neighboring state.>></p>
<p>OK, now it makes sense. We were moving to VA, school was in VA, but DH’s command was headquartered in MD. He just made sure his orders said he actually worked in VA, or I suppose we might have had to do some of that also. </p>
<p>If your DH was a resident of GA, his LES would show that and they might not make him do the other stuff.</p>
<p>"“I know it is not easy. We are still trying to figure out if moving or getting a vacation sort of small home/ condo/ etc in GA might be an option. We just know GA tech and Emory are good schools but uncertain if that IS the option. We are NOT trying to evade instate sort of thing as he has also mentioned Berkley for music.”""</p>
<p>buying a vacation home will NOT establish residency. You would have to move NOW so that you’d be living there for a year before he starts school.</p>
<p>Emory is private so residency doesn’t matter. </p>
<p>If your child has the stats for Emory/GT, and he wants to go OOS and you dont want to pay full freight, then look at schools that will give large merit for stats.</p>
<p>1st. Thank you to all military family’s for their service.</p>
<p>2nd. Curious - Are your kids eligible for in-state tuition in two states. Can you get in-state tuition in your home state of record and the state you currently live in. So if you live Maryland, but home state is Michigan, could you have one kid at UMCP and one at U of Michigan and pay in-state for both.</p>
<ol>
<li> I think military kids should be able to get in-state tuition in all 50 states.</li>
</ol>
<p>@pectin232 Residency is taken very seriously in GA. The state universities require parents/students to jump through multiple hoops to prove residency. This is because the state legislature refuses to give undocumented immigrant students in-state tuition, regardless of the fact that they live in GA. Thus, my child will have to produce additional documentation if enrolling in a state university. There is simply no way for you to get residency for you child unless your family moves here. You should research scholarships at GT to see if any grant a tuition waiver, but keep in mind all those scholarships are highly competitive.</p>
<p>I would expect GT have top students enrolling, all with very high stats. You should see what merit they offer you as OOS. My son was accepted to UGA for 3 year grad program (OOS) and was offered merit award for all 3 years and then in state tuition on top of that for years 2 and 3. Guess in grad school it is easier to claim residency anyway.</p>
<p>Your son is young. Post stats, major, etc when ready and maybe you can come up with a list you are happy with where your son will get decent merit aid. </p>
<p>“There are no loopholes.”</p>
<p>That’s not <em>completely</em> true. Certain schools that want to attract more young people may award in-state tuition to those from neighboring states, or to OOS students who successfully complete their freshman year at OOS rates and establish personal residency, even if their parents don’t move. However, predictably, these are likely to be directionals or flagships without much national draw (such as the University of Utah). Schools on the order of Ga Tech have no reason to do this.</p>
<p>@Mom24boys, we can’t play it both ways. If we owned a home, had our children get their drivers licenses and register to vote there and registered our/their cars in our home state of record, then they might qualify for instate tuition there, but then we wouldn’t qualify for instate tuition in our state of residency. </p>
<p>Many military families use Texas or Florida as their home state of record for tax purposes (no state income tax there). But in terms of in-state tuition, the universities are looking at the place where you actually live, and for proof that you really do live there.</p>
<p>We are already getting a huge break by not having to pay state income taxes in our state of residency. Our children, however, do pay state income taxes in our state of residency. They live here and work here, hold drivers licenses here, etc.</p>
<p>Also, the military member who has served since 9/11 qualifies for four years in total of instate tuition (plus a stipend for living expenses) that can be used by the member or gifted to a spouse or children. It is four years in total, so we could use it all for one child, or split it on a year by year basis among our children.</p>
<p>We did not use that benefit for our oldest who went to college instate. Our second child is at an out of state public flagship university. We used three years of the GI benefits, plus matching funds from the university (one of many that participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program), so that our tuition is paid at instate rather than out of state rates, and most of his room and board is also covered. Our youngest will use the last year of that GI benefit when she goes off to college in a year.</p>