<p>So I'm an American citizen and so is my mother. I was born in New York but I never lived there and moved out when I was 2. My dad is not an American citizen and we currently live in a country where there is no income tax. As a result, my dad has never filed a tax form with the IRS as he feels that the US government has no right of knowing how much he makes!
I recently started filling out my Fafsa and I wrote down my dads income and it said that he should have filed a tax return!
Can I file my FAFSA as independent?
I plan on going to Texas for college (pre-med) and I'm thinking of becoming a resident of texas.. Is that possible? even though my parents have never lived in texas? I plan on working part-time, as well as buying a car and i'll be living alone at my uncles house, paying utility bills! Would that help with getting a residency?
I understand I might not get instate tuition fee for freshman year, but can I get instate by sophomore?
P.S My parents can only afford to pay one year out of state tuition fee. They are willing to pay instate for the next 3 years, assuming I get it!</p>
<p>Look all this up and verify yourself, don’t rely on anyone in a forum.</p>
<p>First, you may not file as an independent unless you meet very specific criteria, which it doesn’t seem you do. To be sure, refer to the Student Aid site, these criteria are clearly spelled out.</p>
<p>In order to be reclassified as an instate student you have to make an application to the college. You must meet certain criteria, including proof of intent to remain a Texas resident. I’m not sure how having out of country parents resident will affect you, it may not be possible to get instate tuition that way. You will have to investigate.
<a href=“College For All Texans: Residency Information”>College For All Texans: Residency Information;
<p>If your family wants financial aid it is their business how much your parents make. Otherwise just don’t file for aid. Since your Dad is not a citizen, I don’t know how you show that on fafsa, maybe someone else can point you in the right direction. You should read the FAFSA instructions very carefully to try to see.</p>
<p>I don’t know how FAFSA can say that your dad “should file a tax return.” You have three choices, as I recall: “already filed,” “will file,” or “not filing.” Just indicated “not filing” for your dad. The college may later ask for verification that your dad isn’t required to file. Since he’s not a U.S. citizen, that should be easy to do.</p>
<p>As for gaining Texas residency, I have no idea. That link that BrownParent provided looks helpful - start doing some research!</p>
<p>Quick question…other threads indicate you are planning to attend Baylor. Baylor is a private university. Instate and OOS students pay the SAME costs to attend. </p>
<p>Even if your dad does NOT file taxes in your country of residence, his income still needs to be listed on the FAFSA. As noted, indicate “not filing” for him. He may have to provide a non-filers statement, and he also may have to document his actual income to the colleges.</p>
<p>Simply put, they are NOT going to give you need based aid without knowing what your dad’s income is.</p>
<p>In most cases, it is very difficult to establish residency for instate tuition purposes while you are attending college. Most universities require 12 month residency in the state by the FAMILY (you are not independent) prior to beginning college there.</p>
<p>But you need to check EACH college’s policy. </p>
<p>Because you are a American citizen, you are eligible for FEDERAL AID. But if your parents are living together, you do have to provide income and asset info for them, and you do have to send in something official to verify the amounts. You may have to ask the financial aid offices where you apply, directly as to what constitutes proof that your dad made that amount of money. He does not have to file tax returns, but there has to be some verification of everything. Otherwise the system would be rife for cheating and abuse. If your Dad won’t tell, then no, you don’t get. And those are not grounds for becoming independent which have very specific circumstances which you should look up and read, so you understand very thoroughly what it means. </p>
<p>It depends upon the state school itself as to who gets state residency and how, and even within the school, it can vary what they require and how they enforce it. YOu can take a course at our local CC and even our local SUNY as a local instate person, by just providing a local address, but if you want to be accepted into a degree issuing program, that’s a whole other story, and you do have to come up with some proof of certain conditions. As others have said, for dependent students, which you are, where a parent is living or paying state tax to, is what makes the determination. My parents were overseas when I went to college, and I could not get state residency anywhere because no one paid state taxes anywhere. You often get what you pay for. But , again, each school has its own rules and even within the schools it can vary. Most schools that have a number of OOS kids applying do have strict rules enforced for state residency. The flagships tend to fall in that category. But this is just a general rule.</p>
<p>Does your mom work? If yes, she should be filing taxes as a US citizen (even though she may not have a tax obligation)… Hopefully Kelsmom will chime in. Since your parents are married, the school may minimally require a non-filers statement, if there is a reason that they do not have to file taxes </p>
<p>If you give your GPA and SAT/ACT, we may be able to suggest more workable alternatives.</p>
<p>I think this student is a senior in high school. It’s March 21…getting late for alternatives for 2014-2015 school year.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies!</p>
<p>FAFSA is so confusing,but I’m really worried about not getting in-state tuition fee. Not only is this expensive, but I also want to apply to med school in Texas and my chances would be so much better if I get residency!</p>
<p>@BrownParent I don’t think I can apply as independent since I don’t fit the criteria! But I will be working full-time as well as well as going to college.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom Yup, I did exactly that. But I’m not sure if my application would get accepted!</p>
<p>@thumper1 I did get into Baylor University and I also got scholarship worth $34000 (not great, but better than nothing). But even with it, its still kinda expensive and I don’t wanna take ANY loans during college. I’m not even sure that I can, since parent plus loans are taken by parents and they probably won’t give loans to my dad, cuz he’s not American! I have applied to the UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON and plan to go there assuming I get in. The OOS tuition is cheaper and my uncle has a house there, where I’ll be living alone! </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse My dad has given me information regarding his income and and his assets, and I documented it in the FAFSA application! If I can’t get instate tuition at undergraduate level at all, is there anyway I could get one for med school?</p>
<p>@sybbie719 NO, my mom does not work. She’s a housewife! </p>
<p>@BobWallace My SAT score is 1800… and my GPA is around 3.8 (out of 4).</p>
<p>I plan on working at a hospital, so I could earn for a living and it would later help me during medical school application!</p>
<p>Again, I don’t know the requirements for establishing residency in Texas, but if you don’t meet them, your best option would be to take some time off from school (I’m thinking one or two years, not just a few months), get a job, and actually support yourself until you’ve been in Texas long enough to qualify for residency. This is not an easy route, and you’d have to make sure you really understand the Texas residency requirements . . . you don’t, for example, want to work full time for two years and then have everything go to heck in a handbasket because your parents send you money for tuition.</p>
<p>So, again, do your research . . . it may be easy to establish residency, or it may be darned near impossible. But, as a rule, MOST states won’t let you count time spent in school towards any “length of stay” requirement. I don’t know the rule in Texas. Since you need to figure this out quickly, I’d suggest contacting someone at one of the state universities to ask for help understanding the rules.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>P.S. I know you don’t have a house there, but Wyoming is one of the easier states for establishing residency (I think they do let you count time spent attending college!), and the tuition rates at University of Wyoming are ridiculously affordable.</p>
<p>Your plan has a lot of issues… one is that working full time and attending college at the same time is pretty nearly impossible, at least if you want to carry a full course load. </p>
<p>As others have said, establishing residency is difficult. One other state where I have heard it is fairly easy to establish residency for tuition purposes is Missouri – I know students who have gone there from out of state and established residency in one year while at U of Missouri. Now… states may tighten these regulations – every state is trying to figure out how to get more bang for their taxpayer’s education dollar, and tightening residency regulations is low hanging fruit for those states that haven’t done it yet.</p>
<p>You are highly unlikely to get in state tuition at the larger state schools. You can look for schools that have easy rules for getting in state status. But the usual rule is that your parents live in the state and pay taxes. You may have to come to the US and stay with friends or family, work for a year, and then look into getting residency for some local state school. </p>
<p>You are very far from even thinking about med school. You have to get your undergrad set up first and things may change drastically by the time that happens. You would be an independent student for medical school and be eligible for loans and have options not to include any of your parent’s financials at that time. Not so for UG. You have to meet very specific situations to be an independent before age 24 as an undergraduate. </p>
<p>Look up the state residency rules for some of the colleges near where your uncle lives and see if you can get state residency for tuition purposes at any of them. Remember, get state residency for instate tuition is NOT the same as getting it for the right to pay taxes, vote, get a library card, register a car, get state ID. It’s a whole other issue. Many schools do have the stipulation that you are in the state for a primary reason OTHER than going to school in order to get it. So going to your uncle’s , finding a job, sniffing out the opportunities, the rules, the enforcement of them, the possibilities in local schools might be your best first step. </p>
<p>Off topic but what country do you live in that pays no income tax?</p>
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<p>As noted above, this does vary quite a bit from one state to another, so one can’t generalize about all “larger state schools."</p>
<p>At this point, you do NOT have instate tuition status in Texas. Simply living in your uncle’s house will not net you that status. I would strongly urge you to read the residency requirements for Texas public universities. Unless I’m reading them incorrectly, your FAMILY must establish a domicile in TEXAS at least 12 months prior to your initial enrollment. If your family moves to Texas during your college tenure, you can petition for a change in residency status. If your parents continue to have their domicile OUTSIDE of Texas, you can establish residency in some limited ways…but it is NOT easy to do so, nor is it meant to be.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom I’m positive by now that I won’t get in-state tuition for the four years of my undergraduate studies. But I did find this link while I was browsing UH website</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uh.edu/graduate-school/prospective-students/Admissions/residency-faqs/”>http://www.uh.edu/graduate-school/prospective-students/Admissions/residency-faqs/</a></p>
<p>“I was a nonresident when I enrolled in college last Fall. Will the college automatically review my file after the 12 months are up to see if I’m now a resident?
No. If you were classified as a nonresident student, the college will continue to classify you as a nonresident until you apply in writing to have your status changed and provide the college proof that you have established a domicile in Texas (i.e., made Texas your permanent home). Application should be submitted to the college well ahead of the official census date for the term in which you wish to be classified as a Texas resident in order for the college to have sufficient time to reach their conclusions.”</p>
<p>Found this FAQ but I’m not sure it’ll apply to me since I’m undergraduate! I will certainly look into Wyoming, assuming the application deadline hasn’t passed.</p>
<p>However, the tuition fee for OOS at UH is $20,000, and my parents have agreed to pay it. I will have to work part-time to support myself for utility bills and food and gas! My only concern is med school, since most med schools favor their own residents and I don’t have any state (how sad)</p>
<p>@intparent My plan isn’t the problem, its my life! Now thanks to my parents, I don’t have a state, and that makes me feel less of an American! I will certainly look into Missouri!</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse I will be doing everything you just mentioned, but theres just no way of getting in-state unless my parents move to Texas and my dad moves his medical practice to Texas!</p>
<p>@Bouncer My parents live in Saudi Arabia but I moved out last year!</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your response! I have emailed UH with my situation and I will let you know as soon as I get an answer</p>