So I currently live in Texas but plan to apply to some of the UCs. (San Diego particularly)
If I apply and get accepted (I’m currently going into junior year), my parents will move with me permanently and purchase a house there before the school year begins. I will be staying with them.
My question is if we show intent to live permanently in California (register to vote, get driver’s license, etc…) and cut ties with Texas (sell our house, etc…) when will we begin to pay in-state tuition instead of out of state tuition?
You would H ave to move to CA before your senior year of HS, not after you get accepted to college…if you want instate status as a freshman… You have to establish your residency 12 months before college begins (but do check CA…some states it’s more). And you would most definitely need to graduate from a CA high school.
Also…not sure about CA…but in some states…if you start as OOS…that is how you stay until you graduate. So do check carefully.
ETA…was yoir family planning to move to CA anyway? To quote another terrific poster…do NOT do anything for college purposes that you weren’t planning to do anyway.
What happens if you move to California and do not get into a UC?
You (or your parent) must be physically present in California on a continuous basis for at least 366 days immediately prior to the residence determination date.
Residency may not be established in absentia and the prior residence must have been relinquished.
You or your parent must be able to demonstrate physical presence in California with sufficient documentation.
Within the 366-day period, you or your parent can be absent from California for a total of six weeks.
A residency classification will not be granted for absences that exceeds six weeks.
You (or your parent) must demonstrate the intent to make California your permanent home and relinquish ties to your previous place of residence. Examples of establishing California legal ties include but are not limited to:
obtain a California Driver’s License or State Identification card within the first 30 days of arriving in California
register vehicle in California (if applicable) within the first 30 days of arriving in California
register to vote in California (if applicable) within the first 30 days of arriving in California
file California state income tax returns as a resident or part-year resident on all taxable income earned in or out of the state after arriving to California
file out-of-state income tax returns as a nonresident or part-year resident on income earned prior to arriving to California
All of these requirements must be met by the residence determination date (the first day of classes) of the term for which you request a resident classification. Parents of dependent students under the age of 24, who claim California residency, must fulfill all UC residency requirements as well.
I don’t believe what you are proposing will work. Also, I don’t believe it’s possible to pay for a year or two of out of state tuition and then switch to in-state. @Gumbymom might have more information as I’ve seen her post extensively about this topic. Good Luck.
Actually, your plan has excellent odds of succeeding, as long as you know that you will be required to pay OOS for your first year. You will have to appeal after your Frosh year, and after your 'rents have relocated, but the appeal will likely be granted. In other words, you will definitely pay OOS fees during your Frosh year, but you would appeal during the summer before your second year.
At worst, your appeal is denied for Soph year, but if your family is still instate by your Junior year, it would be extremely hard for UC to turn it down.
So this students family would,leave their jobs in Texas, sell thir home in Texas, buy a house in CA…and pay over $50,000 for freshman, and maybe sophomore year of college?
My family wants to move for job reasons, but they don’t won’t to move immediately because they don’t want me to change high schools.
I understand that we have to wait at least one year and we are OK with paying OOS tuition for the first year.
@Gumbymom Do you know perhaps whether or not one’s in-state/OOS status is reevaluated each year so that one could potentially pay in-state their second year of college after establishing residency. I found these residence determination dates https://students.ucsd.edu/finances/fees/residence/dates-deadlines.html but I do not know if I can make the switch in my Sophomore year of college.
^^yeah, I don’t get the point either, particularly since Texas has some great universities less than the cost of UC instate, but the OP didn’t ask about the wisdom of the idea, just whether it was possible. And it is.
I would not count on it. Universities frown on establishing residency for educational purposes. Especially if you already attend the school and then seek reclassification.
If you really wanted to live and go to school in CA you might have to take a gap year and apply to UCs once your famiky is there long enough and deemed a resident.
But please check into the laws and regulations yourself.
But is it worth it? Can you guarantee that your parents will get jobs, will be able to sell their house in Texas? The cost of living is very high in CA.
Instate COA for UC is still $35k or so I believe. You could go instate to Texas or other OOS publics that give merit for that cost or even less.
Please make sure your parents are fully aware of the cost of living in SD. Comparing salaries on the Internet can be deceiving. They would be moving from a state with no income tax to one with one of the highest state taxe structures. I know TX has higher property taxes than some areas but I expect SD is equal. Also real estate, utilities, and gas are higher in SD.
So is this wishful thinking on your part…or did your parents agree to leave their jobs, sell their home, buy another, etc…IF you get accepted as an OOS student to UCSD?
Also assuming that your parents won’t pack up and move again right after you graduate college, they will face this higher cost of living and taxes looking towards their retirement years.
Are they truly willing to settle there long term? Do they have family ties in Texas?
I agree this plan sounds very shortsighted.
The UCs are not the be-all, end-all of colleges.
Some kids can’t even get into Texas unis because they are OOS and wished they could.
While true in most states, California instate residency for tuition purposes is relatively easy to obtain once one’s nuclear family has been living here for a year and “intends” to stay.
Even if the initial impetus of the move is to attend college, from a practical matter, it is nearly impossible for UC/Cal State to prove that the now new residents are not domiciled instate, or that they don’t “intend” to stay, as long as they follow the guidelines*. The state regs are clear.
*From Cal’s website:
You and/or you parents must demonstrate the intent to make California your permanent home and relinquish ties to your previous places of residence. Examples of establishing legal ties to the state of California are as follows:
obtain a California Driver’s License or State Identification card within the first 30 days of arriving in California
register vehicle in California (if vehicle is owned and used in California) within the first 30 days of arriving in California
register to vote in California (if registered to vote in previous state of residence) within the first 30 days of arriving in California
file California state income tax returns as a resident or part-year resident on all taxable income earned in or out of the state after arriving in California
file out-of-state income tax returns as a nonresident or part-year resident on income earned prior to arriving in California
designate and use a California address as a permanent address on all school, employment, and military records
So yeah, its definitely doable. But still a lousy idea, unless the family was moving west anyway.
Wow, so your parents plan to move after you are accepted to SD?
I don’t think you will get instate tuition for 4 years because you are moving, with them, for “educational purposes”. They are not moving for promised jobs; they are moving for you. It will be difficult to prove, chronologically, to the FA offices, that they didn’t move for educational purposes. If they can’t find jobs, which is very likely, you and they will be stuck.
If they are worried about tuition costs, wait until they get hit with our housing costs. In addition to high California State property taxes, transportation costs, health insurance, and just day-to-day meals, everything here, in San Diego, has fees and taxes. Their W-2 deductions will floor them, their cell phone bills have California fees; we pay taxes on everything!! We call it the “sun” tax. Unless your parents are needed in the high-tech or medical fields, decent pay will be limited.
I work with an agency that works with the homeless. Most of our “clientele” are like your parents; very naive about what it takes, financially, to move here. They end up overspending on rents and then losing their savings. Jobs with decent pay are almost non-existent because the competition for jobs is fierce. The competition for housing is fierce. Their dollar won’t go far in California for property. The housing is smaller, non-existent yards looking directly into the neighbor’s dining room, and extremely expensive.
Those of us who live here, who can survive, have had properties, for a while, that have ballooned in value.