i’ll check out those schools and Umissouri since it seems like a solid deal.
thank you so much for your reply! helps a lot
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thank you so much for recommending this!!
The problem is that there is no blanket statement to give you. States have different residency requirements. Some are more lax than others. Same with college costs.
As an example of one - when my D was applying she had costs ranging from full tuition scholarships which would have only left room and board costs of roughly $10K/year to schools costing $86K/year, and everything in between.
We were in the process of moving at the time and had two residences in different states. We had been paying taxes in both places for years but only the one which was our primary residence “counted” for instate tuition purposes. The other said that we would need to have two years of that residence as our primary, and then they would reevaluate D for instate tuition but they wouldn’t guarantee that it would be approved. (I’m sharing just to highlight that it’s complicated).
The issue with transferring from CC to a 4 year is often the most generous scholarships are for incoming freshman.
You’ve gotten some great advice in this thread on some schools to look into and also for some states where establishing residency is easier.
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i see, will definetly check it out
thank you so much for your reply!
im starting to realize this.
also oos tuition and instate seem to be complicated as you have highlight so im gonna have to navigate through this pretty carefully.’
if i may ask, which college was this?
anyways, thank you for sharing your input!
Residency for tax purposes is not the same as residency for tuition purposes. States want you to pay tax, so it’s easy to acquire tax residency (and hard to escape, even if you move abroad, which state were you born in?). They don’t want to make it easy for you to get discounted instate tuition rates.
The fundamental question is if you will be an independent or dependent student. That’s why people are asking about parent contributions. You need to support yourself if you want to be independent, otherwise you are a dependent and then in most states you can’t get residency for tuition purposes unless your parent(s) live there. Utah is a rare exception in that you can gain residency after a year of physical presence even if your parents live elsewhere.
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If your mother is a US citizen, you both could move to (a less populated county in) MI, VA or NYS ( * ) now and go to a public HS - living in a state before HS graduation and graduating from a public HS there should establish you as a state resident for tuition purpose.
NYS is pretty rigid when it comes to placing you in classes etc. But the education system and college network is good. MI has excellent universities as does VA.
Less populated counties tend to be way cheaper to live in. They may have fewer job opportunities and often require one to drive.
Your mother would have to work but regardless of her qualifications there are lots of job openings right now in the US. Same thing for you, you could get a week-end job at a retail place or a restaurant that pays $15 an hour (those do not exist everywhere but you can inquire.)
(* states all have different rules but these 3 states I think have a “attend&graduate HS, be considered in state at public colleges” rule. DO check bc that’s outside my purview.)
Because college in the US is thought of as more than “buildings where you take classes”, you would likely be required to live on campus.
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Exactly -especially if you do score 1450-1500 on the SAT (you’d lose merit aid), as an non state resident (paying OOS fees everywhere), and if you could get into a full-need university (either through Questbridge or just as a Pell Grant applicant).
Full-need universities are good for most majors they offer (there are only 85 put of 3,700 and not coincidentally they’re among the most selective in the US so there simply aren’t any that aren’t good at staples like Chemistry or Psychology. )
You can also look at “origin of PHD recipients, by percentage” (raw numbers don’t tell the full story -a university with 25,000 students will necessarily produce more such students than one with 2,500.)
Another source could be Princeton review’s Best Colleges (any edition 2021 and up).
All 4 universities I listed are known for being solid in the sciences though.
Kalamazoo doesn’t “meet need” but has generous merit aid. Similar in that: College of Wooster, Clark, Lawrence (for instance).
And St Olaf, Denison, and Dickinson would all be excellent choices. Macalester as listed above would be a reach but is also topnotch, as would Grinnell.
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Bottom line, in my opinion:
- Community college can be the most affordable alternative for students who already live in the US because they generally qualify for in-state tuition at their local schools. They can live in the same family home where they attended high school, commute to community college for twp years, then transfer to a 4-year school where they pay in-state rates.
That isn’t true for someone who has to move to the country. And often it is difficult to establish residency for tuition purposes if the primary reason you are in the state is to attend school.
And, as others have noted, some medical schools do not give full value to math and science courses taken at the community college level. And 4-year schools typically give more aid and scholarships to first-year students than is available for community college transfer students.
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For the reasons above, your best bet is probably to attend a 4-year school with generous aid to students with financial need. You have already begun to use the Net Price Calculators to determine which schools will give you the most. Be sure to check to see if the final cost is what you are expected to pay AFTER you take federal student loans or not so you can do an accurate side-by-side comparison.
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You asked about your mother’s taxes, which is not really an area of expertise on this site. But I would note that if her income is low enough, she would not be required to pay taxes anyway. However, there can be penalties for failure to file forms. Here is a website with some general info, but she should contact a tax accountant for accurate advice:
I was a regional public college in OH and full tuition is for instate only.
Two cautions:
- “Meet full need” depends on the college’s definition of “need”.
- If your other parent is alive, both of your parents much cooperate with financial aid forms and both of their financials will be used for many colleges that give good financial aid. Check carefully on each college’s financial aid web pages whether this is the case.
Utah gives allows in-state tuition for community college after 6 months’ residency (established by ID, register to vote, work, address) and after 12 months, for 4 yr college. But the cost of living in Salt Lake City has gotten very high, plus it’s quite isolated from the rest of the country.
Can you be more specific about where your relatives live? If it’s in New York State, you’re golden. Huge SUNY system, and cheap for in-state. If it’s in MA, also not bad. UMass Amherst is an excellent school.
I really like the idea of your coming back to the US for the rest of high school, so that you can apply in-state from an in-state high school.
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i was born in illinois. about the independent-dependent student status, if i am dependent and my parent who is contributing to my finances is living in the same state, would residency be comparatively easy to get?
we did think about this but the only thing is my school year in india ends in february/march and i think the american high school academic year begins at around september/august. so moving (an intercontinental move) during those months would be interfering with my application process which i will have to start by say june? and they would be due all through november, december. jan etc. right? (this is what i thought would be the negative side to this but im not sure) will definitely re-evaluate this idea and do some research on it, thanks
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Each state has different requirements to establish residency. Most often, if you are dependent on a parent, then the parent must have lived in the state for 12 consecutive months prior to the first day of classes. The parent should do things to document the start of residency as soon as possible, like get a driver’s license, register to vote, sign a lease for a home or apartment, file a state tax return, etc., because you may have to prove when residency started.
Some states are strict and do not automatically grant residency just on the basis of physical presence, particularly if there is a suspicion that presence is solely for purposes of attending school and getting resident tuition. So if you know the state you would move to, you should research that state’s residency requirements beforehand so you know what is needed. They are generally posted on the website of any public university in the state and you can google them.
Which state would you consider moving to or do you have relatives at? If your mother is American, where do your grandparents live and could they help you with housing, voter registration…?
Moving at the end of January would have you join the 2nd semester of 11th grade. If you came with strong Dec SATs and could explain your curriculum so they know what is equivalent to Honors or APs it might be possible but it’s true moving in the 11th grade is indeed really hard.
Look into Juniata. It’s a school that likes international students and does have some scholarships for them. I think you would be attractive to them since you’re international but without the visa issues. It’s a good bet you could get admission but a long shot for large enough merit but worth a try. They’re pretty solid for academics and the people I know who graduated from there have loved their experience.
Last year a few students here were awarded significant merit at UofLouisiana Lafayette. Room and board costs less than most northern or urban schools. When seeking out schools look for the regional schools not the flagship (usually) they’re less expensive to begin with and want to attract strong students. Good luck!
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