My son recently earned a generous scholarship to a university in North Carolina and is very motivated to attend and take advantage of this scholarship. Unfortunately, we are out of state (Michigan) and out of state tuition is significantly more compared to instate cost.
Does any one have suggestions or ideas on ways to apply for in state tuition? Are there any programs or ways to establish residency in North Carolina? Can one establish residency after attending school for a year in North Carolina and then be able to qualify for in state tuition?
Thanks in advance for feedback.
Unless you move to NC, I wouldn’t count on getting resident tuition unless is comes with the scholarship.
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Somewhere on the University’s website should be information on what is considered a resident for in-state tuition purposes.
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is one of the few state schools that meets need. Generally, schools that meet need calculate what they think your family can pay and pull together a scholarship package that brings your net cost down to that number. If they figure you can pay $25,000 and oos costs are $50,000, you’ll get a scholarship of $25,000. If you suddenly become an instate student they still figure you can pay $25,000 and your new scholarship will be $0. In other words you’ll still end up paying the same net price.
Some state schools offer large oos merit scholarships that are not based on need. But usually these are specifically for oos students to reduce the oos tution costs. For example a school that costs $50,000 for out of state, but $25,000 for in state students may offer a $25,000 oos merit scholarship to reduce the net price to what in state students pay. If you read the fine print you’ll see it is only for oos students. In that case becoming an in state student makes you ineligible for the scholarship and you’ll pay $25,000 as an in state student.
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You also have to consider that these public state universities are being funded by state taxpayers so the coffers are not deep. State taxpayers want their students to attend their own universities at affordable rates. OOS students haven’t been paying resident taxes, so the schools charge OOS rates.
Did your student apply to any instate universities?
Yes I understand how state taxes play a role we are just exploring all options.
I see many universities in our region that if a prospective student is awarded a tuition scholarship it typically is adjusted for it to cover the OOS cost.
Thanks everyone for the feedback so far.
It depends on the school. UNC Chapel Hill won’t adjust to offer in state tuition differential (at least, as far as I know). A smaller state school that is seeking to beef up its profile “might” be willing to offer a tuition reduction to in state. However, I do have experience working in a state university financial aid office (in Michigan, actually) … and we had very strict policies set by the way-higher-ups that dictated what we could & could not do.
Residency depends on where the parents live (and pay taxes) except in Utah and Missouri. Some States offer instate tuition scholarships but it’s apparent in the scholarship award letter.
Most public universities expect OOS students to help fill the financial gaps in their budgets.
Also, the size of the scholarship matters less than the final total you have to pay (many kids see “15K” and"10K" and think 15K is better… even if university 1 costs 50K and university 2 costs 38K).
Which college in NC? At most your undergrad kid’s parents (this means you) would need to relocate to NC at least a year before the kid matriculates. It’s too late for that to happen for a current HS senior.
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