May seem like I really really really dumb question but I’m new to this whole college thing. My son will hopefully be the first to complete college in all of our family.
My question has to do with the difference between In-State and Out-of-State. It seems that the listing on tuition prices is always cheaper as In-State. Why then doesn’t everyone register as In-State?
My son is considering Texas A&M and we live in Jersey so he will definitely have to dorm there. I’m sure there’s a very simple solution that I’m not seeing but it seems that it’d be better to register as in-state and independant, isn’t it?
Most states’ rules make it difficult for students to become in state for tuition if they (and parents if under 24) were not previously residents of the state for a year.
In most states, the student is dependent for financial aid and determining the state of residence for tuition purposes on the parents’ state of residence. Your son can become an independent for many other purposes (voting, state taxes, car registration), but for tuition and FA, he’ll remain tied to you.
It’s not a choice. Your child will get in state tuition only at public universities in New Jersey unless you move to Texas (or whatever other state he’d like to go to school in) at least a year before he starts school there and meet all their criteria. The only simple solution would be to attend school in the state where you live.
You are residents of the state of New Jersey. You are not residents of Texas. As residents of NJ, you pay taxes which help support the public universities in your state. Folks residing out of state do not do so.
You are NOT a resident of Texas. You don’t live ther,mand you don’t pay taxes to the state of Texas. Your student will be considered an OT of state resident in Texas. You don’t reside there.
Out of state residents pay a higher price to partially compensTe formthenfullfor that their families are not supporting public universities as residents paying taxes.
You can’t just “decide” to declare yourself as an instate resident. First of all, your child will be graduating from a HS in New Jersey. Your permanent address is in New Jersey.
It will be quite obvious to the Texas public universities that you do NOT qualify for instate status.
As noted above, your student will qualify for instate tuition status at all of the public universities in New Jersey…because THAT is where you reside.
ETA…your son can’t declare himself as an independent student just because he feels like it. There are very specific criteria for being declared independent…and it is highly unlikely that your kid would qualify for this status.
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My son is considering Texas A&M and we live in Jersey so he will definitely have to dorm there. I’m sure there’s a very simple solution that I’m not seeing but it seems that it’d be better to register as in-state and independant, isn’t it?
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He can’t register as “in state” just because he’d have a dorm there. He’s OOS because his PARENTS live in NJ. Living in a state to “go to school” is not considered “being a resident”…AND, you’d have to MOVE there as his parents. And, you’d have to move there a YEAR before he started school there.
He can’t register as independent because he’s under age 24, not married, not a vet, etc…so he’s considered a dependent of his parents (for school purposes.)
Unless you’re willing to pay the high OOS rates, or your child qualifies for HUGE merit at TAMU, he needs to change his list.
And @SergioCastenada
I am sure you hoped to hear that getting instate tuition status when you don’t reside someplace is easy. It’s not easy. It is purposefully difficult, and requires much documentation that your kid is actually a resident.
And one criteria no one has even mentioned…in state status is NOT granted if your reason for living in the state is to attend college.
For comparison:
Rutgers instate tuition, $11,400 +11,700 for room and board = $23,100 annually
Texas A & M: out of state tuition $30,000 + $11,000 room and board = $41,000 annually plus travel cost
Rutgers wins all the way in my book. Great school affordable price.
However if you can afford it, then that opens up lots of possibilities. The state of Texas is not traditionally generous with scholarships or financial aid for OOS’s to its 2 big state school (A&M and UT). It can be had but will take some doing, I am an OOS in Texas and am pretty familiar with the in’s and out’s of the Texas system.
Private colleges do not differentiate between in state and out of state. Tuition is the same for everyone.
Each college has a net price calculator on their website. You will want to put in your family’s financial info to see what your costs may be.
Here is a link to the story about the Virginia man who falsely claimed Georgia residency to get in-state tuition in GA.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional/police-accuse-man-of-faking-residency-for-daughter/ngfpx/
There are some states that make it easy for a student to become a state resident (I think Utah is one). It used to be common some time ago. Now states with crimps in their budgets are making sure they can get their $ from student parents.
Be careful if you’re getting advice from people who went to college 20 or 30 years ago. It used to be relatively easy for a student to get independent status and register as an in-state student. You might run across an acquaintance who encourages you to do this because they did it themselves. Heed the warnings here. Things have changed and in-state status is much more restrictive.
If your son is competitive for Texas A&M and he really wants to go to school out of state, you can start looking for schools that offer waivers, scholarships, and tuition breaks for students with his stats:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html
“In state” and “out of state” are distinctions that are relevant to PUBLIC colleges.
Just like public K-12 controls free enrollment of students to those students whose parents live in the district that is funding the schools, public colleges control subsidized (lower instate tuition rates) to those students whose parents live in the state that is funding the subsidy with state tax revenue.
You can’t just arbitrarily declare yourself a resident of a state for tuition purposes. There are strict guidelines for providing documentation that you live in the state. Otherwise, everyone would just declare themselves a resident.
PRIVATE colleges don’t make a distinction about state of residency. Private colleges offer the same rack rate for everyone irrespective of state of residency.
If your son wants to go to school further afield and needs financial assistance, then best to target schools that award generous need-based financial aid (if you’re a low income family) or generous merit-based scholarships that are awarded irrespective of income.
The public colleges that give need-based FA to non-residents, tend to have large endowments and are very selective: UMich, UVA, UNC Chapelhill.
There are also some public colleges that give generous merit scholarships to non-residents. These tend to be the less selective ones that are keen to attract higher stats students to bring up the school’s average.
Private colleges make their need-based FA & merit scholarship awards irrespective of state of residency.
University of Michigan meets full need for all admitted IN state students. They are working towards doing the same for OOS students but do not do so at this time.
^ UMich is not meeting the need of all OOS students but for lower income ones already. One should really check their current NPC.
State colleges and universities are supported in part by state taxes. That is why it is cheaper to go to an in-state public college. As noted above (at least in most states) your son cannot simply declare himself to be a resident of the state where he goes to college.
Each public college will tell you how establish residency; http://registrar.tamu.edu/Catalogs,-Policies-Procedures/State-Policies/Residency/Establishing-Residency
If the student’s parents live in different states, the student could be in-state in 2 states. Some schools also give in-state tuition for students who graduate from a HS in their state. Finally, check on tuition reciprocity agreements between states.
This is true for NY. No matter what state you live in, if you graduate from high school in NY you are eligible for in-state tuition at SUNY schools. This applies primarily to students who reside in New Jersey and go to high school across the river in NYC, or to Connecticut residents who might go to private schools in Westchester County or Riverdale.
https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/residency/
As often happens on CC this discussion has moved beyond the O’s question. A family that resides in New Jersey will NOT get in state tuition in Texas.