Need Brutal Honesty...Does my daughter have a chance for financial aid for University

She can emancipate herself, become a NY resident, pay NY taxes, support herself. That may not make her a resident for instate tuition purposes (I don’t know) but it will not make her an independent student for federal financial aid until she’s 24.

She could do this in any state. Many 18 year olds leave home, get jobs, pay their own taxes. It doesn’t make them residents for state public colleges or financial aid. Totally unfair. That’s how it is.

Ivygrad, if you went to an Ivy, you were not looking for instate tuition.

@ivygrad09, Students can no longer just emancipate themselves to get more aid. Her parents’ income, assets, and residency will count.

OP, I have 2 children. One is dyslexic, dyscalculic, and dysgraphic. I would never steer my daughter toward schools I wouldn’t consider for my son. Whatever you offer to one, I’d be sure to offer something similar to the other.

She cannot get emancipation through the NYS courts. If she gets emancipated, it will have to be before she comes to NY.

OP’s daughter did not graduate from a NYS high school.

She will not be an in-state resident as a dependent student unless her parents have a physical presence in NYS and file NYS taxes. As a dependent student, she will not be independent for NYS aid (TAp and Excelsior scholarships, without a dependency override) until she is 35

@austinmshauri @blossom @thumper1

I responded to the OP because the situation reminded me of mine way back when.

I did not get a dime from my parents. My mother was in a worse position than the OP.

I got a job and an apartment and enrolled PT in a SUNY, where I eventually got my BA. I did not receive any funding nor did I ask for it.

I applied for and won a merit-based international research scholarship that paid my four years of grad school, living expenses, books, research costs and travel.

My advice is free, based on my experience. OP is free to take it or not. I intend to be helpful.

What puzzles me is the gauntlet a simple post has to endure here.

Ivy, the gauntlet is when partial information, or false information is passed on as facts.

Did you enroll part time in a SUNY when you were a legal resident of Arizona? This is not a trivial matter- this is in fact the crux of the discussion.

Do you know anyone who has successfully become independent for financial aid purposes before the age of 24 without enlisting in the military, getting married, or one of the other legal ways one can become independent?

Do you know anyone who has successfully become emancipated in NYS because they didn’t like their instate options?

If not, your wonderful story (which is wonderful, I applaud you) is not relevant to the OP.

Scores of people post on CC about how they made it through undergrad and their stories are always wonderful. But there is always a nugget of a false comparison there-- they got a parents GI benefits (great if your parent is a vet, useless if they are not); their parent qualified for simplified means testing (again, great if you have assets but qualify for free/reduced lunch at school but not generally helpful to most posters who come here seeking advice) or some other wrinkle.

The OP’s daughter is a legal resident of a state other than NY. So fueling the fantasy that the D will move here for the purposes of going to college and get instate rates at a SUNY, CUNY is just not fair.

That’s the gauntlet.

Emancipation of a minor is a legal process that involves a court procedure and a judicial order. Simply wanting to establish residency in a different state for tuition purposes without parent involvement is not a legitimate reason to go through this process. Not even close.

She would pay at least $12,000 a year for shared rent in NY most likely, and how much is OOS tuition at SUNYs? That would be $30k at least a year she would need, plus food, books, etc.

If she has high stats, might as well take the merit at instate AZ publics, or NM, or UAH, and save money.

I took the comment to ‘emancipate herself’ to mean just becoming an independent adult, paying her own way, makingher own decisions. Most teens, even those who do pay their own way and make their own decisions, don’t go through the legal procedure to become emancipated, especially those who are 17 and seniors in high school, because there just isn’t enough time to make it worth it. Child actors, athletes, or very early high school grads (Doogie Howser) might have a need to do it to be able to sign contracts. In some very rare cases, some have done it to get control over medical decisions.

OP never said her daughter wanted to be emancipated, or even that she’s still a minor.

But even becoming financially independent doesn’t make someone a resident for tuition purposes in every state. One has to check the requirements.

@blossom

I thought need based aid does not depend on whether the student is a freshman, is it not correct?

It depends on the school.
Any federal/state entailment need based grants that you are eligible for you will get. Need based aid first and foremost go to continuing students. So me schools have limited aid while others may have no aid for transfer students. Check the policies.

The best aid packages are awarded to freshmen.

@blossom

Hmm. Tedious. Got it.

When someone has a family of 3 living on $20,000, the emergency is on.

Daughter might do well to strike out on her own. No one prevents her from choosing a place to live, getting a job, and taking classes. This is America. You are allowed to move.

OOS for some SUNYs is a little more than $2,000 for a 3 credit course. For instate it’s much cheaper $600+. I was respecting her interest in NY and suggesting a way to become a real resident, in the sense of authentically living and working in NY. Paying taxes there, and then working toward a diploma.

I never envisioned her enrolling as a fulltime student. Nor misleading anyone on the facts of her residency.

They’re bailing water, that family. When that happens each person must take responsibility to shape survival.

Daughter has modeling options, and NYC interests.

This platform seems bent on a middle class (or higher) idea of how college works. Without apparent awareness of what it’s like to be in danger of homelessness and hunger.

I haven’t posted here in awhile and only made a suggestion because my experience was similarly difficult.

Often the suggestion is to look instate, see where the best bargain is for college. We see kids (and their parents) saying that they don’t want to go to Rutgers, to NM, to any schools in the south. That’s fine, they can have those opinions, but other schools aren’t going to work financially.

Many parents believe, and thus lead their kids to believe, school is the same as it was 20-30 years ago. You could move, work for a year and get instate tuition rates. There are very few states that allow that now. In the past two years California has changed from granting financial aid to OOS students to not giving anything, not even SEOG or work study.

CC may seem a little harsh at times, but the advice is meant to get the student into college. The OP has asked a question, she and her daughter are moving toward the application seasons, and D really wants to move to NYC or LA and immediately start college. It’s just not going to happen on the budget they have. The thread is captioned ‘Need Brutal Honesty…’ Yes, her daughter can go to school, but not USC, not NYU, not the schools on her list. Too expensive.

NY residency rules for in-state tuition purposes at SUNYs:
https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/residency/
https://www.suny.edu/sunypp/documents.cfm?doc_id=402

@ivygrad09, Tuition rates are tied to where the parents live until students are 24. Yes, OP’s daughter can move. That doesn’t mean she’ll pay in state rates.

FA is tied until age 24. Tuition rates, and whether the student qualifies for them, is not tied to age. The student may never qualify for rates if a dependent, may qualify at age 21, may qualify if the student becomes a resident with a 1-2 year waiting period. Every state is different.

@sybbie719 would be the expert here on what it takes to gain instate tuition status for SUNY schools.

I don’t think simply moving to NY State herself will get this young lady instate status at the SUNY schools.

@Thumper1, did @sybbie719 answer that in post #62?

Op the will not get in-state residency by moving to NY. Her mom also has to move to NY, live in NY her for at least a year and file NYS taxes. If mom does not have a physical presence in NYS and is a NYS resident, Op’s daughter will never be eligible for NYS aid or the excelsior scholarship. Should mom come for a year and then leave NYS, OP would lose her residency.

It is not unusual for us to get kids from outside NYC to enroll in NYC high schools. While they may be here 3 years and graduate making them eligible for in-state tuition, many of them are not eligible for NYS aid because their parents are not physically present in NYS.

Even if OP came to a NYC public high school senior year, she would still be flagged, because her NYC DOE transcript would only have senior year grades all other grades would simply have CR/NC as grades and transfer codes for courses causing a flag for the previous school transcripts.

Thank you for the clarification about instate tuition again, @sybbie719

“That is exactly what I did”
“because the situation reminded me of mine way back when”

IvyGrad09-

My Dear hubby did the same- “way back when”.
so what?

what blossom and others are TRYING to tell you , and inform the OP, is that what YOU were able to achieve- “way back when” -is IRRELEVANT today.

Admission rules, financial aid rules, state Residency rules for students wishing to enroll in public colleges- have ALL changed. Tuition costs at MOST PUBLIC Colleges and U’s for OOS students have climbed through the roof because the tax payers of one state are no longer will to subsidize the educations of children raised in other states. And those SAME states have made it MUCH harder students to move in and be able to enroll in college and pay lower instate tuition rates. Too many tried to game the system,and succeeded, so the rules were changed and now its harder for all OOS students.
So it is all well and good for you to boast about what YOU were able to do- “way back when”- but it is of NO help to low income 18 Year old students applying to public colleges In states OTHER THAN WHERE THEY WENT TO HS THESE days.

Got it??