<p>I saw this on another thread, and it seemed something that would of interest. How do colleges determine residency status- based on where the student went to school, parents live, or some other factor? Now, after one year at the college, would the student still be considered an OOS student? If the residency is based on parents home location, then if the parents establish a residence in-state as soon as the student joins the college/univ, can they then claim in-state status for subesequent years? Would just renting an apartment near the univ establish in-state residency?</p>
<p>I have heard this happening with good public schools where the parents move closer to a school just to send their children to such schools.</p>
<p>As somemom says, a student would have to check the rules for a particular state by checking the college’s website for information about how they determine residency.</p>
<p>Generally though, it’s based on the parents’ residence, the state in which they pay taxes. Very often (virtually always) if you start at a school with out-of-state residency you cannot then become a resident just by attending school in that state. </p>
<p>Renting an apartment is also not enough. The parents need to be residents for purposes of paying state income tax. If the parents move to a state and establish residency, and pay taxes in that state, then the student would also be considered a resident of the state.</p>
<p>It’s not easy to get residency status for purposes of in-state tuition if you are not, in fact, a resident. But you absolutely need to check out each college and state individually. The rules do vary from state to state.</p>
<p>As somemom says, each school has their own rules that you would have to check. The most fairly common and generalized answers to your questions would be:</p>
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Generally residency status for dependent students is based on their parent’s state of residency.</p>
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Yes</p>
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They can apply for it. The time factor would depends on the State. Most state require a minimum of a year of residency before the beginning of the semester for which the residency change is being requested. Some may require more I seem to remember reading that Colorado requires 2, but I may have imagined that).</p>
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No. You must generally prove you are actually a resident of the state. Live there, work there, pay taxes there, change your drivers license etc etc. For instance a parent owning a vacation home in a state does not qualify the student for instate tuition in most cases.</p>
<p>Generally the only way to be considered instate for tuition is to actually be instate for tuition. If there were easy ways round it then there would be no point in OOS tuition existing.</p>
<p>Actually, it’s not too hard to get residency status in Texas. I spoke directly with the office at UT. My son could use his first year at school to count towards gaining residency. He couldn’t come home for long the summer after his freshman year, though. He would need to register to vote, get a driver’s license, and it would be much easier if he owned a piece of property somewhere in the state (even a cheap lot would be OK). My folks own a duplex in Austin, so we could add him to the title. We also couldn’t declare him as an income tax deduction, but it IS OK if we’re still supporting him. I KNOW it sounds too good to be true, but you can call them yourself if you want! I made at least two phone calls down there to clarify. I don’t mind doing this since we’re following the rules. DS would be the fourth generation to go to UT. My dad has been a prof there since 1965 - we get no preferential treatment because of him, though!</p>
<p>In some states, you can take a year off school, move there, support yourself and establish residency. But beware that for admissions, some schools want you to be a resident when you apply not when you matriculate…so you might be in a more competitive OOS admissions pool.</p>
<p>For example, for med school apps, my Dd had to determine the rules in our old state (her university state) and our new state (her new state, too, except she had been away at school so did not have 12 months living there) and she had to be a resident by the June in which she applied (2009) in order to be admitted for classes beginning fall 2010. In order to do that, she had to be a resident by summer 2008, so there is a some serious long term planning and you really really really can end up a resident of no state at all fr admissions if you are not careful, if you have family moving from one state to another.</p>