Thank you! I’ll look into it now! Better to plan ahead as you said
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I think U Arizona’s deadline is May 2nd, and same for fin aid. But I do think that California community college with transfer agreement to UC is your best route.
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If you are considered a non-resident for California, then a CC may also not consider you a resident. You’ll pay a little more, but it wont be as much as a CSU and a UC. Then you can transfer with the articulation agreements.
What county will you be living in? You should be investigating those CC’s in that area.
I think he is a CA resident. His parents own a residence there, and are registered to vote there, and pay taxes there.
Each school including community college can define what criteria they use to determine if an applicant is a California resident for tuition purposes.
Here is one example: A person must have lived continuously in California for at least one year immediately preceding the residence determination date to be considered a resident for tuition purposes . Evidence must also be provided to indicate that the person has intent to make California his/her permanent home.
According to OP, the family does not physically live in California at the moment but in Egypt. Depending upon where this student would like to attend a CA CC, they need to check to see if they qualify for in-state tuition rates.
Proof of Residency Documents
California regulations require that before the first day of each term, new students bring proof of 366 days residency in the state.Examples of these are:
- A valid CA ID or driver’s License
- State 540 or 540A tax forms for the previous year with California address
- Active Military ID card
- Receipt for payment of residential property tax
- Rental or lease agreement showing continuous occupancy in a CA property
- Notarized letter of residency
Assuming that his parents file a CA tax return, maintain a home in CA and pay property taxes on it, he has obtained a CA state ID, he is registered to vote in CA, it is very likely that he would be considered in-state for CA community college. Probably best for him to check with the community college himself.
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There is still the issue with Physical presence to be considered for in-state tuition. California residency and residency for tuition purposes are different. Yes, his family can prove to be California residents since they maintain a home and pay taxes, but many community colleges, all the Cal states and UC’s require the family to be physically present 366 days prior to the residency determination to receive in-state tuition and also in-state financial aid.
Yes, he should check with any of the CC’s he is considering.
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Here is San Jose City Colleges definition for a California Resident for tuition purposes:
Rules Determining Residence
- A student who has resided in the state for more than one year immediately preceding the residence determination date is a resident.
- A student who has not resided in the state for more than one year immediately preceding the residence determination date is a nonresident.
This is only one example.
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He needs to check. He isn’t graduating from a CA high school…and hasn’t attended a CA high school. This will trigger a residency verification…this student doesn’t live in the US now, and neither does his family.
We have family members who own homes, pay taxes, and even have drivers licenses and vote as citizens…but they live abroad. They did not have instate residency anywhere when their kids applied to college.
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OP- I am sorry you have gotten no help or advice from your HS… but this is a good lesson for you- verify, verify, verify. You cannot assume anything on residency… every institution, state, locality gets to define its own requirements and you cannot extrapolate from one situation to another.
For example- I had one elderly relative who owned a home in one state, but had moved to a nursing home in a different state for advanced medical care and then died there. It took months (and two different lawyers) to get one state to agree that the other was the “state of residence at time of death”. It was an important fact- one state taxed the estate starting at the first dollar; the other had zero tax until you hit a certain threshold, so obviously the heirs wanted the preferential location! Get it wrong and you’re paying unnecessary taxes. Or go the other way, and end up with a lien put on the estate by the other state and it will take years to distribute a single dollar.
So please- don’t make any other assumptions about your status before verifying with the particular college (including community college).
You sound like a terrific and mature person and any college will be lucky to get you- just make sure it’s affordable!
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God I feel like this is so complicated haha. I checked the CC I’m thinking about, Foothill college and unfortunately I don’t qualify for in state tuition.
"A person capable of establishing residence in California must be physically present in California for one year and one day prior to the residence determination date (first day of the term) to be classified as a resident for that term.
- A person capable of establishing residence in California must be physically present in California for one year prior to the residence determination date to be classified as a resident student.
- A temporary absence for business, education or pleasure will not result in loss of California residence if, during the absence, the person always intended to return to California and did nothing inconsistent with that intent.
- Physical presence within the state solely for educational purposes does not constitute establishing California residence regardless of length of that presence."
So that sucks… Can you also get a federal pell grant for a CC? Or does it work differently or sth. I don’t really know much about CCs. I’ve read a bit more about them and it seems people usually transfer during their junior not sophomore year. Why?
I’m gonna look at some more, maybe some don’t have that physical presence for a year requirement.
Also got accepted at PSU yesterday, no chance they’ll give me good aid as an out of state right? Eh, not sure why I applied then. I guess mainly bec. they had no essay requirement lol
And ya I learned a lot this year. Definitely didn’t think I would be looking at CCs. But as much as I wish I could go back, I can’t. Just better to work with what I have now.
PS I’m a girl so not a he lol
Did you run the Net Price calculators on any of the schools you applied? NPC’s can give you an estimate for college costs. Since you are studying abroad but a US citizen, you have no home state and will be considered OOS for all public universities. What is your college budget?
Sorry about the “he”. Community colleges still require you to be present in-state for a year before you are eligible for in-state CA tuition.
That said, If you are a US citizen, you can take out Federal student loans in the following amounts:
$5500 Freshman year
$6500 Sophomore year
$7500 Junior/Senior year
If you are Pell eligible (low income) then you can also receive Federal grants. You would not be eligible for Cal Grants which many students use to fund their CC tuition until you are determined to be a California resident.
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Do you qualify for a Pell Grant? Your FAFSA EFC would need to be less than $6000 to qualify. Is it?
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Yes I qualify for a pell grant as we’re lower income. Max we can pay is 15K. However, I don’t want my parents to pay that for a CC. Just not worth it for us. But I don’t we would be paying that much anyway because I’ll be living with them. The pell grant will help too.
What is your FAFSA EFC?
uh I actually don’t know. The only place to check it is the SAR right? It never loads for some reason. I’m a hundred percent sure that I qualify though. It was on the portal of all the colleges I was accepted to. I think SJSU said it was zero.
So do you have any affordable options for this Fall? If not, you and your family should look into moving back to California to establish residency via physical presence. Take a Gap year and then apply to more affordable schools. You would still not be eligible for a Cal grant, but you could be eligible for other CSU/UC need-based aid.
No, SJSU was my last chance at an affordable university. I only had some out of state public universities left after that. Like UCF,FAU,PSU and others. FAU and PSU are the only ones that have replied so far. Accepted to both but no aid info yet. But as OOS not really expecting anything out of them. So not depending on them in my decision rn. Probably will go the CC route, my parents won’t let me take a gap year.
All of this information is listed on each of the colleges websites. You can google “transfer admission requirements”. It took me less than 10 seconds: CSU Eligibility | Admissions
At the public universities in California, incoming transfers are required to have 60 semester units in order to meet entry level requirements. If you attend a CC or another university on the quarter system, then you would need 90 quarter units.
Every college has their transfer requirements listed on their websites.
The universities expect you to come in meeting their minimum articulation requirements, so, finishing up those requirements takes about 2 years. If you’ve taken AP classes, most universities use those units as extra credit units. The schools expect you to take college level courses at CC’s.
Some private universities will accept sophomore level transfers but they may admit you with provisions, which means they expect you to add additional coursework to meet their acceptance requirements. That means you end up paying additional tuition and fees to cover whatever courses they’ve added and want you to take.
Why don’t you apply to University of Arizona? For a 4.0 they will give you a $35,000/year merit award to cover a $38,000/year non resident tuition fee. You need to hurry up though. You need to be admitted by May 2nd.
https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/incoming-transfer
Then you only have to pay for room and board which should be affordable.
https://housing.arizona.edu/home/rates-applications-policies/rates
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