Yes. This applies to the student, not the parent; “application” means “to UMN TC”.
The student must have moved to MN and be self supporting for one year until application time. 1 or 2 classes at CC don’t “count” since the primary occupation is seen as the job (ie., 6 credits + 30 hour job = person who works and takes a couple classes, vs. 15 credits + 12 hour job = full time student.) The person needs to prove the existence of the job. I wasn’t told about about changing driver’s license and voting registration to MN but I assume OP could do it just in case.
The example I was given is this: if a transfer student applies for Fall 2017, they need to have moved to Minnesota by March 1 2016, and be self supporting for a year in order to be considered “in state”.
I don’t expect droves of students will move to work for 18 months until they can start college, sharing an apartment somewhere in the Twin Cities. But such a policy is nice. It’s a bit similar to New York State’s but the low cost of living areas in NYS aren’t very conducive to finding jobs for self-supporting young people; Utah and Missouri actually have even more lenient policies. California has one of the strictest.
Obviously, this only applies to citizens and permanent residents.