Does anyone have any insight or experience in regards to receiving and maintaining in-state residency status for child of active duty military? I noticed on their website that the rules regarding in-state tuition for military dependent children have been updated for 2017.
IV. VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES
For purposes of admission and tuition, the University of Alabama shall consider that the term “resident student” includes any of the following:
A. One who, at the time of registration, satisfies one of the following conditions:
d. Beginning with the Fall 2017 semester: A spouse or dependent child using benefits transferred by a member of the uniformed service who is serving on active duty.
And also:
B. To be eligible for resident tuition as provided for in subsection A, and to maintain eligibility, the student shall:
- Have secured admission to and enrolled full-time or part-time at The University of Alabama
- Maintain full-time or part-time enrollment at The University of Alabama
- Satisfy the admission and retention standards at The University of Alabama
C. A student who has previously met the requirements of this section shall continue to be classified as a resident student as long as the qualifying student maintains physical presence in the State of Alabama while enrolled at The University of Alabama.
We are planning on splitting the GI Bill between our two children, so in essence our daughter would only receive two years (18 months) of actual coverage. My question is this: Will she maintain in-state residency status after she exhausts her 18 months of coverage?
I did call the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs for clarification but the young woman that answered the phone seemed to be unaware of the new guidelines. She put me on hold several times to speak with other staff members and the general consensus was she would have to petition for “residency” after her GI Bill coverage was exhausted. However, when I read the guidelines I understand it to mean that she will be granted in-state status based on the fact that she will be using transferred benefits and that that residency status would be maintained provided she maintains a physical presence in Alabama and continuously enrolled in the university. It does not specifically state that she would have to be a recipient of all 36 months to maintain residency status.
Does anyone else have any experience using transferred GI Bill benefits at UA that can weigh in? Any other suggestions for who I could speak with at the university to clarify these new guidelines with? Our daughter has her heart set on UA… our family relocates. A lot. I’m originally from a small town in Mississippi (only an hour’s drive from Tuscaloosa) and love the thought of her living near my family while she is in school. The OOS tuition would be a deal breaker for us, though. We will likely PCS (move) at least twice while she’s in college so having her “stay local” to go to school wouldn’t offer a bit of continuity. She’s already attended eight different schools and would love to experience a little bit of stability during her college endeavors.
So I take it you are not currently stationed in AL and MS or another state is your state of residence?
I would say the “student who has previously met these conditions” clause would help you if the GI benefits are used for the first four semesters but the question is “maintaining physical presence” in summers to not lose residency status. You won’t get BAH for the summer and that is extra time away from your child.
Definitely not stationed in the south and haven’t been for many years. Coincidentally, our daughter did actually attend kindergarten at Columbus AFB in Mississippi and 1st and second grade at Maxwell AFB in Alabama (not that I think that will carry any weight at all). We moved to South Korea for her 3rd grade year and then followed it up with quite a few different state-side locations out west and on the east coast. Nevada has been our state of record for the past couple of years (we bought property there and officially changed our residency). While she could receive in state tuition in Nevada she has no interest in attending college there and we will likely never be stationed there again. We have no family that live in Nevada and none that are really within driving distance, so she would literally be on her own if she decided to go that route.
I do realize we won’t get BAH for the summer but it sounds like, with the exception of her freshman year, we will likely be paying for a 12 month lease on an apartment anyway. Not sure if that would satisfy the “maintaining physical presence” clause. She will likely visit home (wherever “home” happens to be) each summer but I could see her attempting to plug in and get a job/internship somewhere in the state of Alabama as well.
Student renting an apartment even with the lease does not meet the in-state resident requirement
Does she have the stats to get a scholarship?
She’s got the GPA at 3.74UW; 4.1W… she didn’t perform as well on the ACT (27) as she wanted, and she is still waiting on her SAT score. She will retake both again in the fall since a second try is never a bad thing. She was devastated over her initial score and, honestly, I have no idea how she’ll do in September. She’s always been a fantastic test taker and performs well under pressure (insert shoulder shrug here) so I’m not sure what happened. Long story short, as of now… nope, she doesn’t have the stats.
@nursewithgrace the people answering the phone are students but frankly I am not sure that the Staff has the exact answer as this is a new change. Based on the policy above I would say that section C would mean her classification would remain instate for tuition purposes. I believe that they will change the students classification to instate as soon as she uses her Gi Bill, I don’t think that they will then go back and verify Gi Bill every semester. If she gets her score up and qualifies for an admission scholarship, the scholarship then will stack and can be used for additional costs …so the first yr it will offset room and board plus she has her BAH stipend that can be saved. Then the next yr she could save the scholarship money to offset future semesters. Also know that you don’t have to have a full semester’s worth of Gi Bill to have tuition paid for a given semester. So if you give your D 18 months of scholarship she will actually receive 2yrs plus another semester of tuition covered.
Call the university registrar she has the answers to your questions. Know that if you become instate your merit scholarship will follow that as well meaning it will drop to the instate tuition scholarship.
Also for dependents using a transferred GI BILL they will have their semester prorated -meaning if you have 1 month of GI bill left it will not cover the entire tuition for that semester. I am in this situation myself and this was made very clear. Only veterans get the non-prorated tuition if they have only a month left- this benefit is not extended to dependents with transferred benefits unfortunately.
Thank you @sheflourishes!!! I half way guessed her merit scholarship would decrease in accordance with in-state awards… either way, it still makes the cost of tuition much more affordable.
@sheflourishes that is not true, if you have enough days of Gi Bill remaining to cover the first day of classes of a semester your tution will be paid for that semester. From the VA Extension of Entitlement:
Ch30 or Ch33 Semester/Quarter/Clock at IHL (institute of higher learning)
Entitlement exhausts during a term: an extension is automatically granted until the end of the term.
What you are referring to is applicable to the veteran using their own benefit. It is not for the dependent using a transferred benefit. UA Veterans Affairs were very clear that TRANSFERRED GI Bill are benefits day for day and will be prorated to a daily rate if benefit is exhausted mid semester. The book stipend is not and will be paid regardless of how many days are remaining.
@nursewithgrace, it looks like we are in the same boat. Dealing with a daughter that just sent in her application to UA. We were wondering the same thing, will she be considered in state and if the merit scholarship can be used for Room and Meals.
@youngsinga
I spoke with both the registrar and the Assistant Director of Veteran and Military Affairs at UA (Ms. Alex Bynum… she was a WEALTH of information) and received a bit more clarification on how everything works with the changes that were made in regards to GI Bill recipients of currently serving/active duty members. (Choice Act; Section 702)
Essentially, once the eligibility certificate from the VA is received you will submit that, along with a copy of your most recent LES, and your student will be granted in-state status. As long as your student maintains continuous enrollment this in-state status will not change, even if you choose to pay out of pocket for tuition and/or exhaust benefits.
It is important to note that you can’t apply for the certificate of eligibility until after your student graduates OR turns 18.
For us, our daughter graduates and turns 18 within three days of each other (late May), so it is unlikely that the paperwork will be processed in time for her to receive in-state status before the start of the fall semester.
Alex explained that the registrar will not retroactively apply the change and will only update status changes before the start of each semester. Since the certificate of eligibility can take 6-8 weeks to be issued there is a high probability that she will be considered out-of-state for the first semester. My understanding is that once all of the documents are received (certificate of eligibility, LES, application for in-state waiver) it’s a fairly easy process and should be fairly straight forward. My take away is: don’t delay in applying for benefits, and once received have everything else ready to go so that you can make the request in a timely manner.
Great question about the merit scholarship being used for rooms and meals. I would think the answer is “yes”…
“Since the certificate of eligibility can take 6-8 weeks to be issued there is a high probability that she will be considered out-of-state for the first semester”
I know it’s been a few months but I just want to provide some input in case anyone else is in this boat. I recently received my COE in less than one week from the online request date for my sons transferred benefits. I live VA and apply to the Buffalo region. Maybe I was just real lucky.
Yes, once classified as an in state resident by using the GI Bill, she will maintain in state residency status for her continued years even if not using the GI Bill. From our understanding, that can continue through grad school.