My son was just accepted as a fall transfer at UA as out-of-state. We (son, husband, and myself) are life-long, generations-long residents of Alabama – have lived in the same house for 19 years. He has lived his entire life, attended school, and worked in Alabama. He went to an out of state college for fall 2015 for freshman year (where we paid out of state tuition). He was enrolled for spring but had an accident and had to withdraw after three weeks and come home to recover in February. He never worked in the other state, didn’t establishing residency in any way except being a student and living in the dorms for 4 months. He is enrolled in an Alabama community college as a full-time in-state student for this summer semester. He made the decision to transfer to UA primarily based on in-state tuition, rather than return to the out-of-state school. Also, he is 100% dependent on us financially, with 30 years of Alabama state and federal taxes to prove it.
And now he is considered out-of-state with the clock ticking on signing a 12-month lease for off-campus housing in Tuscaloosa for August. I refuse to pay out-of-state tuition in our home state. Period. I’m just so frustrated that we must petition for in-state tuition. Can anyone tell us how long this might take and if they really can require us to pay out of state rates??
Why is he considered OOS?
In reading the UA residency requirements policy, because he had a transcript from an out of state college, they automatically classified him as OOS.
Who is the highest person you have talked to? Your first sentence confuses me, “accepted as a fall transfer out of state.” Was the acceptance pinned to paying OOS tuition? Residence is based on parents if he is a dependent, regardless of whether he left the state for school.
Check out Auburn and see what they say. :). (Just kidding)
We haven’t talked to anyone yet. He just got his UA admission as a transfer letter yesterday and it states he is admitted as an OOS student. I’m so hoping this is a mistake and they can rectify it quickly. Otherwise he will not be attending UA in the fall. I will be on the phone with admissions first thing Monday. Was hoping someone on the forum might have experience with this.
He can’t transfer to Auburn; he doesn’t have the freshman math and science courses they require. He’s a humanities kid and we didn’t want to risk his 3.5 GPA dropping by taking classes we know he will struggle through. And, UA was willing to let him transfer with <24 hours (he has 15 now, will complete 15 this summer). Plus, he just really wants to go to UA. We toured the school a couple of weeks ago and he loved it.
I should have also mentioned that he is 19 – but still a dependent.
I wouldn’t panic - he’s clearly an Alabama resident. Yes, make the phone call on Monday, but I can’t imagine it will be a big deal to get it corrected. I doubt it will happen overnight, but I’m sure it will be done before any tuition payments are due.
I understand that you’re concerned about committing to a lease before this is resolved, but I’m not convinced there’s any urgency there either. There are always plenty of students who decide over the summer that they’re not returning to UA in the fall . . . and their leases will not only be up for grabs, they’ll likely be available at below market rates, because their families don’t want to be stuck with a 12-month lease they no longer need.
Thanks for the confidence, dodgersmom. Good advice.
BTW - he went to University of Wyoming for his first semester. Really nice school, but after a bad snowboarding accident that took me 24 hours to get to him in the hospital, I’ve been relieved he decided to transfer in-state to UA – only 3 hours away.
I agree this had to be done in error. It’s possible he clicked the wrong box on his application and that set the whole thing in motion on the wrong track. I’ll eat my Bama hat if I’m wrong, but there’s no way he’s anything BUT an in-state student.
@MSEinAL, is it possible your son inadvertently answered that he was a “permanent resident,” thinking they meant of AL, when they were asking about US residency? His permanent address in AL should have been enough to get him in-state status.
Here’s a link to a hard copy of the application, but maybe he can go in online and correct any errors?
http://gobama.ua.edu/wp-content/themes/gobama/pdf/ua-app.pdf
I can only see the application status at this point, no ability to edit. His permanent address is in Alabama. In looking at the app you linked, it might be the question:
• Have you resided in Alabama for the past 12 months?
I think he answered “no”, since he was in Wyoming for school for part of the last 12 months. So confusing, should this have been answered “yes”?
Here is the issue as stated in the Residency for Tuition Purposes Policy at:
http://registrar.ua.edu/policies/residency/residency-tuition/
“During the admissions process, the default residency classification is non-resident if any out-of-state information is received. This includes but is not limited to: transcripts, addresses, or other items included in the admissions application. The out of state classification will remain for the duration of the student’s educational career unless appropriate documentation is received demonstrating that the student is a resident for tuition purposes as defined in this policy.”
I understand they need to keep a watch on this, as many students would prefer to pay in-state rates. But I find it hard to believe that all permanent resident students who clearly graduated high school here one year ago, then attended college out of state must prove residency when they transfer to UA. Ugh.
Where he lived shouldn’t matter since he is a dependent of AL parents. If he went to a boarding school OOS for HS, wouldn’t he still qualify in-state because his parents are tax paying citizens of AL? This is the opposite of students who try to claim residence in another state despite being a dependent of parents who live elsewhere.
The point of in state anywhere is that the state is receiving taxes from the student or his/her family. I expect it’s an easy fix by showing an AL tax return with him listed as a dependent. I know it stinks waiting over the weekend.
Oh, and for the record, I’m an LSU guy trying to help an AL family!
I’m agreeing with you, Sportsman88. I keep thinking it was just a mistake. Hey, we don’t hate on other SEC schools around here. My husband is even an Auburn fan! The only time we almost kicked him out was during that “kick six” game a couple years ago. But otherwise we get along great. He even goes to Bama games with the son and I now and then. I told him with a kid at UA he must now formally convert 
I agree that it’s a PITA, but it should be an easy fix. Off the top of my head, I’d say to get ready to email them a copy of his high school transcript along with your Alabama tax return. But even that is probably more than they actually need.
They have his high school transcript already; that was required since he had <24 college transcript hours. I hope it is as easy as sending the tax returns.
The answer to that is “yes,” because he’s a permanent resident of the state and because he’s been back and forth between the two schools. It’s not asking him to confirm that he never stepped foot out of the state in the past 12 months.
The fact that he was paying out-of-state tuition at Wyoming is even more proof. And I assume he’s registered to vote in AL and not WY.
I don’t see any way the university can claim he’s an out-of-state student. Honestly, I think it was just a mistake based on an error in the way he answered some of the questions. I can’t imagine that when you call on Monday, someone won’t fix it on the spot.
