I want to gain California Instate Residency! Could you look over my plan?

State Forums
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<p>I'm 20, working and living at home in Idaho, and have gotten sick of that life style and want to go back to school.</p>

<p>So I've actually written this up twice already only to have my browser crash so I'm making this post a little shorter then my other ones would have been.</p>

<p>A bunch of my family still lives in the Southern California area. They all have said I'm welcome to come stay with them if I'd like. This is awesome, because all my dream schools (UC Santa Barbra, UC Davis, USC, Stanford, UC San Diego, and a few more) are all in California.</p>

<p>So heres my plan, feel free to shot it full of holes tell me I'm missing something or "oh no it doesn't work like that" because at the end I want a bulletproof plan I can't fail with:</p>

<p>The Plan:
-Move in with my aunt and uncle in Long Beach. Help them come up with an official renters agreement just like if they were renting to anyone else.
-Get my California drivers license, registar my car, registar to vote, and have my parent start to not claim me.
-Get a full time job.
-Come fall, take a couple classes at the local community college as a part time student paying the out-of-state rate
-After doing that for a year, start doing the community college full time and work on finishing my associates degree.(I'm unsure if at that point I'm paying instate or out of state CC tuition.)
-Transfer to my dream school, study to become a physician.</p>

<p>Am I missing something? If you follow the link below, it lists all the requirements
Criteria</a> to Establish Residence for Tuition Purposes</p>

<p>One thing I have questions on is the 2 years of financial independence. Thats 2 years before starting the university right? And is it bad to be going to the community college as out of state?</p>

<p>I have a local back up option, But I'd really like to make this work so I could get the heck out of Idaho for once in my life.</p>

<p>Again, feel free to shoot my plan full of holes because that means I can fix it and make it actually work. And I'll update this thread if I remember any of the things I had written up in the longer posts I made that got deleted.</p>

<p>And thank you in advance! I really want this to work!</p>

<p>-Snork</p>

2

<p>As an Idaho resident, you probably qualify for discounted tuition at many California schools under the WUE program. It isn’t as cheap as in state but, doesn’t require the delay getting started.<br>
[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all)
It may not get you directly to your dream school but, some quality schools are on the list, including UC Merced, Chico, Humboldt and Monterey. </p>

<p>It is certainly worth a look.</p>

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<p>From your own link:

You say you will be paying rent - in order to prove that you paid rent, you will need more than a renter’s agreement. You will need cancelled checks and an income sufficient to pay all of your expenses including market-rate rent. If you are paying market-rate rent you might as well stay in a non-relative rental so that you won’t have to go to such lengths to prove you did not receive free support. If you are NOT paying market-rate rent, then you are not financially independent and your plan will not work.</p>

<p>Also from your own link:

So your plan to attend community college in your first two years would make it appear that you came to California to attend community college (which you did…). You would have to delay your plans even further by delaying your community college start while you establish both financial independence and that you have not come to California to go to school.</p>

<p>Another note: Two of the schools you list, Stanford and USC, are private universities and do not offer in-state rates to California residents. It would not matter what your state of residence was for those schools, the cost would be ~$60,000+ regardless.</p>

<p>And a final note: Establishing financial independence for tuition purposes would NOT make you independent for FAFSA purposes if you are age 24 or younger. Your parents’ information would still be considered on the FAFSA (and on the CSS/Profile for Stanford and USC) in addition to your OWN income (that theoretically would be substantial if it was enough to support you in California).</p>

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<p>I actually knew USC and Stanford were private but I got on kind of a roll listing schools.</p>

<p>So it would be like another 5 years till I’d be finishing school, a year just working living in an apartment somewhere, 2 years of community college, and then 2 years at whatever school I transfer to…</p>

<p>To me this doesn’t sound that bad. I have this crazy dream of traveling around being a journalist or photojournalist for National Geographic or Vice or filming snowboard movies. I wonder if I could get that lifestyle out of my system and by the time I make it into university I’ll have already had those dreams crushed and major in something more reasonable and become another 9-5er and save my passion for travel and seeing new places for my vacations. The idea of living out of a backpack or Tiny House sort of appeals to me though.</p>

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<p>Sounds fun. If you are traveling around living out of a backpack you will not be establishing California residency.</p>

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<p>Well obviously.</p>

<p>But is there really no chance of making this work? (the residency part) Its sort of my dream for school…</p>

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<p>There is a tuition discount for California residents at the UCs.</p>

<p>You are not a California resident.</p>

<p>You state that you would like to come to California to attend school. Residency rules expressly state that if you come to California to attend school you will not qualify for in-state tuition. </p>

<p>The answer to your question is, as you say, obvious.</p>

<p>If you lived and worked in California from now until after you are 24 without going to school, you might have a tiny chance of gaining in-state rates. Before age 24 it will not work in your circumstance.</p>

<p>Looking at your other posts and your difficulties with motivation and working toward your goals, I would not advise that (postponing college until age 25) for you. Finish at the college where you started, get that great job you dream of, and consider attending a UC for grad school - when your residency will be determined from where YOU live rather than from where your parents live (assuming you have been living in California while NOT attending school for a couple years - again, if the only reason you are in California is to attend school, it’s not gonna work).</p>

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<p>As for Stanford and USC, if you qualify for significant financial aid, those may become options for you (assuming of course that you are accepted - both are very competitive). The UCs will not provide aid to cover the OOS tuition supplement, but for those with significant financial need per the FAFSA and the CSS/Profile private universities in California that meet need may be a better bet.</p>

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<p>No my parents make too much to get any finalical aid, not enough to pay a substantial out of state tuition price.</p>

<p>Could my plan work in any other states? Oregon, Washington and Colorado would be at the top of the list. Maybe Montana.</p>

<p>I know Utah makes it really easy to gain residency, just live there for 12 months (and you can go to school during that time) switch over your drivers license and all that and boom, instate tuition for the other 3 years of school.</p>