<p>I was wondering how hard it is to establish residnecy in Virginia if one is an out-of-state student. The reason I ask, is I love UVA and would like to maybe go there for undergrad and Grad. school, but I don't know if I can afford the tuition. My sister tried to get instate in Illinois, and it proved to be essentially impossible, so I was wondering if the same is true for Virginia. And if it is possible, what is necessary?</p>
<p>2 years of living there, working there, and paying taxes. I think there might also be an exception for neighboring state residents who work in VA and so pay Va taxes. But it sounds like you're out of state anyway, so you might as well just set up in Virginia. Then you get to prove to them that you really do intend on staying in Va. I looked it up back when I first considered UVa. Or, you could go marry a nice military man/woman.</p>
<p>Instate or Out of state, UVA is still a great buy in education</p>
<p>Ranked number 11 for "Great Deals at Great Schools" by US News</p>
<p>Establishing residency is quite hard if you start as out-of-state. If you are getting any support at all from your parents and they live and work out of state, forget about it. If you are pretty much supporting yourself, then it takes two years as Littleol'me stated.</p>
<p>In my case, my parents moved into Virginia the summer before I started at UVA. We paid out-of-state rates the first year. For my second year, we were initially turned down for in-state rates but appealed and, with the help of a lawyer, got the decision reversed. We had some extenuating circumstances - my father was a UVA employee by then, and my mother's family were long-time Virginia residents.</p>
<p>How hard is it to say, transfer guardianship from my mother to my grandmother, who lives in Virginia? If I succeed in doing this, can I then apply for in-state tuition? Or is this just a whacked-out idea that I should just skip?</p>
<p>If you have already provided them with an out of state address on the application, I would expect them to look at such a move quite carefully. For one thing, they will ask you to show that you are no longer receiving any support from your mother, even indirectly through your grandmother. If they later find out otherwise, they would bring you up on an Honor Code violation and have you expelled if convicted.</p>
<p>Even if you have not given them an out of state address, they might get a bit suspicious if they notice that you are living with your grandmother while your mother is still alive. I am sure they have seen and seen through this kind of dodge before.</p>
<p>I am actually wondering the same thing. I don't see how a state can dictate your life so much however. You are a legal adult when you go away to school, and there should be no reason that you can not become a Virginia resident by simply living there and paying taxes. Just because your parents stay behind should not affect anything. Plenty of kids move away from their parents when they turn 18. For that reason, it seems immoral to expell someone because they decide to become a legal Virginia resident (who pays taxes, votes, and has a lisence) just because their parents stay behind. Yes, it is trying to beat the system, but at the same time, you are doing what every other Virginia resident is doing-paying taxes, therefore you should have every right to instate tuition.</p>
<p>I've been a resident of Va for 6.5 years. The first time I applied they sat on app for a month while they determined my residency. Even though they established that I was a resident the first time, they again questioned my residency this time. I had to fill out a four page questionaire. Even though I provided them with a copy of their original residency letter, it still took them 2 weeks to determine my residency this time. </p>
<p>I wouldn't try to game the system. As we saw with the Harvard hackers, if they catch you they could file an honor code violation. Ask yourself "how much it's worth in order to avoid that?"</p>
<p>This is one area where the law is fairly explicit even though some may not consider it fair. For purposes of in-state tuition, if your parents claim you as an exemption on their tax returns, you are not considered independent. If you live in their house for something like two weeks a year, you are not considered independent. If they pay a small part of your school expenses, even indirectly, you are not considered independent. If they provide your health insurance, well, you get the picture... There are other requirements that I no longer remember and I believe that some of them specifically apply up to age 24 or 25, even though you are considered a legal adult in almost every other sense at 21.</p>
<p>UVA or any state school would stand to lose some big bucks if even a small percentage of students could get away with this. With the state giving them less and less money each year, they are probably even more cautious than they used to be. As Stumper points out, they will delay as long as possible and place the burden of proof on you. If they decide against you, you can appeal, but a panel of people selected by the University still has the final say.</p>
<p>If both you and your parents keep meticulous financial records, and if you can demonstrate that you have enough income and savings to support yourself and pay your college expenses, then you might be able to convince them to give you in-state status after two years. The amount of taxes that a student is likely to pay on wages from a part-time job is small compared with the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition. The school realizes this, the state realizes this and they have passed laws that make the rules pretty clear.</p>
<p>From the state's point of view, it is not dictating your life. After all, you could have applied to a state school wherever you were residing during high school. They will not expel you for becoming a resident of Virginia and paying taxes. The UVA Honor Code, however, requires that you be expelled if you are convicted of lying, cheating or stealing. </p>
<p>When granting residency for tuition purposes, they make you sign a paper that states you meet all of the legal criteria. If they later find that you do not meet any of the criteria (and they did do some checking in my case), they potentially have you on all three counts.</p>
<p>i have a question pertaining to this. one of my friends lives in texas, but her dad has been working in virginia for more than 2 years. she/ along with the rest of her family is supposed to move to virginia this summer. but she applied as in state applicant? is that legal?</p>
<p>BassDad, since you seem to have some experience in this department, would having a savings account in your name with a lot of money in it count as financial independence? My parents have a savings account with all my college funds under my name. That money alone would get me through college if I were only paying in-state tuition, without even needing to hold a job (other than in the summer of course).</p>
<p>I think it could be legal if she has a parent upon whom she is dependent paying taxes in Virginia for at least two years. As long as her parents are still married or her father is making child support payments if divorced, she is probably OK. However, I am not a lawyer, so please do not take that as definitive. If they used her father's Virginia address on the application, then UVA might not even know or care that she was in Texas.</p>
<p>First of all, you are likely to be paying out of state rates for at least the first two years unless you have been working in Virginia yourself. Second, your parents have to be willing to forego all tax deductions that are related to you. Third, are you sure the money is solely in your name? If you have that much money in an account in your name, you can kiss any chance of financial aid goodbye because the EFC formula hits your savings much harder than your parents' savings. Also, if they give you sole access to all that cash at once, they couldn't stop you from spending it on a BMW rather than tuition.</p>
<p>Assuming you are correct and the money is completely in your name with no strings attached, then you will still encounter a very skeptical set of people in the bursar's office when you apply for in-state rates. You will need a lot of supporting documentation from both you and your parents to convince them to see things your way. They are perfectly within their rights to consider you an out-of-state student dependent upon your parents unless you can prove otherwise to THEIR satisfaction. I don't say that it can't be done, just don't expect it to be easy.</p>