As we say, Google is your friend. You can pull up various informative documents.
“An individual whose initial purpose for moving to Texas is to attend an institution of higher education as a full-time student will be presumed not to have the required intent to make Texas his or her domicile; however, the presumption may be overruled by clear and convincing evidence.
(h) An individual shall not ordinarily be able to establish domicile by performing acts which are directly related to fulfilling educational objectives or which are required or routinely performed by temporary residents of the State.”
And
" (B) Residential Real Property. Sole or joint marital ownership of residential real property in Texas with documentation to verify 12 consecutive months of ownership **prior to the census date of the term in which the person enrolls, **such as a Warranty Deed, with the person or the dependent’s parent having established and maintained domicile at that residence."
At the first hint you’re there for college, a dependent, etc, Texas will defend its position.
A gap year with appropriate employment is a different situation. But I strongly suspect this doesn’t mean a $1 real estate transaction, leaving you with no monthly mortgage and a clear record the home was bought by your parents and transferred to you for a meager sum.
This stuff is serious. You should be digging, if you’re serious. Not us.
I just happen to have read it before. You aren;t the first kid who wanted cheaper costs.
@twoinanddone@lookingforward thank you. I will definitely look into it more and will see if I can get into contact with the friend that supposedly did it years ago.
I’ll say this: you’re also not the first kid on CC to point to someone else who supposedly did this, in the past. Most states have tightened up both the residency proofs and the staff and efforts to vet kids from out of state who want the advantage of instate rates. Read all they print about this. And not just how UT Austin may state it. The TX policy and even what can be gleaned from what, eg, TAMU writes. It’s all part of the same whole.
Remember, the residency forms go in with the freshman app.
As you will apply as an OOS student, ADMISSION is the major hurdle, as that is capped at 10%. Plenty of kids would love UT at full pay (maybe the yield is more like 7% OOS, almost ivy like) that there is little point wasting any time on this lovely diorama until you have some test scores and tangible stats. You can throw this in the reachier reach pile if you have an ACT of over 34, great subjects test, a rigorous curriculum and some kind of hook attractive to whatever UT decides upon in their holistic admission that year. Texas is quite generous with the 1 year rule for your parents should they relocate, a you cite this as doable? a gap year is good only for tuition though, as you will take the year to qualify you will STILL be OOS for the application until your residency reclassification is accepted. Taking you back to the first point.
@Sybylla ACT 35, 800s on Bio Chem and Math II. My school has some weird GPA system but if I recalculate on a traditional scale I have something in the 3.95 UW area. Most of the other kids around my rank usually end up at ivy level schools and I’m in the green zone for UT on naviance. I’m probably graduating with 10+ APs self studying 4 of them. Based on the scores of students past on the exam vs my grades in the class, I should get mostly 5s. Already have one self studied 5 on Bio. And I am only trying to make sure that this is an option than is possible if I do get in. I understand that it is never a guarantee so I’m not heading over to Austin to buy a house right now.
Update: I have found a reddit thread where a few people talked about how they bought a house last year and therefore qualified for in state tuition this fall semester of 2018.
It’s all about reading it all. First.
Naviance can’t tell you how institutional needs play. Nor how holistic UT is for non auto admits. Big lawsuit about all that, you know.
Why not just do this now? If I recall (I could be mistaken) but graduating from a Texas high school gives automatic in state residancy, so buy the condo before your senior year in high school, move to TX and graduate from an Austin area high school, problem solved.
When you call, talk to residential people, not the ordinary help people. UT has loads of public data about the admissions process. There are so many Texas residents with amazing stats who feel penalized by an arbitrary rank system, so OOS students are always going to be held to the highest standards, and being full pay is one way that deal can be sweetened. UT hasn’t yet go to the point of upping OOS admissions just for the money, probably because of said lawsuits. Lots of very savvy people watch the process.
@3scoutsmom I don’t want to uproot my entire life and have to transition to an entirely new school before my senior year and make new friends and everything.
If you’re going to live in TX on your own and claim independence, it seems like you’d be required to support yourself. Owning a condo you didn’t pay for and likely wouldn’t be paying the taxes on doesn’t seem like it would qualify as being self supporting.
Are your parents planning to buy this condo between the day you accept the admission offer in the spring of your senior year and the start of classes that fall? If so, you’ll have applied as an OOS student with the clear intent of going to TX for college. If they buy it now and you aren’t accepted or opt for a school that considers assets, now you have an asset (and rental income if you don’t live there) that could add a considerable amount to your EFC. I think it’s a risky plan.
@austinmshauri That is correct, the plan is to buy a house after I commit to the school. However I have heard from friends that they are ok with this “loophole” since the state would still gain property taxes.
You’ve “heard.” Now go confirm with the documents.
“After you commit” doesn’t get you around the fact that you’ll apply as OOS. It doesn’t get you the gainful employment bullet or make you independent by college standards. It doesn’t get around the fact the clock doesn’t start if you’re there for college. Quote me otherwise.
You’re not the first high school kid to come up with this idea, and you won’t be the last either. You’re not fooling anyone. These admissions people have seen it all. If it’s out of state and you can’t otherwise afford it, then you really need to focus your search on schools you can afford. That’s really the only sensible thing to do, correct? There’s nothing about UT that’s so great and awesome that it’s worth doing something this astoundingly “clever-stupid.” It’s a bachelors degree.
@coolguy40 I’m a real estate broker and have been looking at same idea of buying vs renting in the event my daughter gets admitted…I haven’t seen anything under $200k close to campus actually for a 1 bedroom! Insane prices!
