<p>My husband and I are moving to Delaware in the summer. My step-daughter, who lives with us, never got her act together to apply to a four-year college, and is now planning on attending community college. Our problem is that she won't be eligible for in-state tuition in either Delaware OR Pennsylvania (where we currently live), since we won't be residents of Delaware long enough, and she won't be eligible in PA because we don't live there anymore. Of course, we could pay out-of-state rates in Delaware for a semester and then qualify for in-state tuition, but she really wants to go to Delaware County Community College, and they have an AA degree that is exactly what she is interested in. </p>
<p>Her mother, however, will still live in PA. Can she move in with her mother and qualify for in-state tuition, assuming her mother then gets to claim her as a dependent, etc.?</p>
<p>Have her check the instate tuition policy of the specific school IN the state where she wants to attend college. The policies regarding parents/instate tuition vary by SCHOOL in many places. Some states actually allow students who have divorced parents to have residency in that state (regardless of the tax situation or where the student lives). You need to check. Other schools have different residency requirements for instate tuition for kids who have parents residing in more than one state.</p>
<p>Many students don’t have parents living in two different states- When their parents move, they are assumed to be residents of the same state where their parents live.
Does the community college really require a length of time to be resident in the state if her parents live there?</p>
<p>If she won’t be living in Delaware for three months before the qtr/semester begins, I would talk to admissions and see if you can get an over ride for instate tuition.</p>
<p>Since the school she wants to go to is in PA and she is both a PA resident and has a parent living in PA, I don’t see why that would be a problem…providing her mom has space for her to move in!</p>
<p>When I checked into this many states would allow in-state status if parent had JLC and had lived there requisite time, generally one year. Its tough when parents move during kids senior year.</p>
<p>Totally irrelevant if SM thinks kid couldnt get her act togethor.</p>
<p>I don’t see the big deal. Up to this point, both bio parents live in PA. Student attends HS in PA and lives with dad.</p>
<p>Dad and SM will move in the summer to another state.</p>
<p>Student wants to go to college (CC or ??) in PA. So, student will live with bio mom to continue instate residency. Student will never move to other state.</p>
<p>I think when student applies to schools, she should use mom’s address to avoid issues. At some point, the student will probably have to give her HS her mom’s address …maybe around graduation?</p>
<p>Whatever you do, make sure D knows she should never, ever, ever “fib” about her residency. It can take many weeks for the admission staff to sort out residency status – but thousands of dollars are at stake so you can be certain that this is a topic that is checked out throughly – and it is very easy to do. For one thing, the high school transcript comes with an address and zip code. </p>
<p>No one wants to go through the embarrassment and expense of being booted from a college on an honors violation – or being forced to cough up the Out of State fees before term grades are released. It just can become a nightmare scenario. </p>
<p>Since this student hasn’t been pro-active, it might be worthwhile for you to check out the residency language for couple of the colleges she is considering (She may be in the “I’ll hope this will work out” camp and you need hard details). This would at least give you an understanding of how residency language works – and definitely look at least at two different colleges so you begin to see how they can differ. </p>
<p>But a huge thing here is “how are things with Mom?” Is that a situation that is going to unfold well? Perhaps D spending spring break with Mom might be a good thing . . .</p>
<p>I don’t see any reason to lie. The student goes to school in PA…parents live in PA…and she’ll move from one PA address to another…and will still list a parent.</p>
<p>I checked both community colleges (in PA and DE), and found out since I’ve worked in Delaware for the last four years, my SD would get in-state tuition rates even if we didn’t live in Delaware. So that’s one problem solved. She could possibly move in with her mom, but, well, that’s a whole other can of worms. Right now my biggest issue is convincing both my husband and SD that the college in Delaware Tech is just as good as DCCC.</p>