Qualifying for In-state tuition

Parents Forum
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<p>My son is headed to college in 2 years. Don't know where, how, etc. There is no college fund. I and his mother (we are divorced) plan to pay as much as we can afford and rest will have to be covered by loans. I am inclined to push cheaper, public schools and not private schools costing 60K/year. I am also open to the idea of moving myself (I work remotely and it doesn't matter where I live) to the state where my son attends college, only for the purpose of possibly qualifying for in-state tuition after freshman year. Is that even possible? Lets say, he gets admission to Georgia Tech and we pay his freshman year tuition as out-of-state. I move to Atlanta along with him in freshman year. Will he qualify for in-state tuition in the second year onwards? Thanks.</p>

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<p>You need to look at the specific requirements of whatever U you are thinking of trying to get residency for. A lot of the states are getting tougher to get residency in. It generally helps if the student graduates from HS wherever he wants to become a resident and the custodial parent lives there. For example, if you’re thinking of GA Tech, check out their website – residency info should be clearly set out.</p>

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<p>In California I think you would have to move before he turns 18. Maybe a year before. </p>

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There’s no reason why any adult, facing retirement in a few decades should feel the pressure to ignore this reality. There’s not an iota of shame in sending your kid to only a public school. </p>

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<p>I also think there is nothing wrong with your plan, but you need to look carefully at the rules for each state. I do think moving to the state as he enters freshman year of college if you haven’t been the custodial parent and he didn’t graduate from high school in that state isn’t going to get him in-state tuition in a lot of places.</p>

<p>I assume you can understand why states are tough on this. They fund their public universities using taxpayer dollars, and those in-state taxpayers get a better deal on tuition. </p>

<p>Here is a link that you may find useful:</p>

<p><a href=“In-State Tuition and State Residency Requirements - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;

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<p>We move a lot and have found no consistency amg states. They all have their own laws. One state may require 12 months residency and proof that parenys moved there due to employment and not to gain instate tuition while another state may grant instate residency as soon as place of resident, employment, voting or hunting/fishing license (not kidding) of parent are established within the state.</p>

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<p>There are two threads on the financial aid forum you need to read. They have stick pins at the top of that section of this forum.</p>

<p>Automatic full tuition/full ride scholarships</p>

<p>Colleges with low costs under $25,000 a year (that’s not the exact title, but I’m sure you will find it.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/financial/general/classification.php”>http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/financial/general/classification.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Georgia techs page</p>

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<p>Well, most states are consistent with the rule that you need to have been a resident PRIOR to enrollment. Military families and children of 9/11 victims are often given a special exemption by many states. As was said, double check the website of your target schools.</p>

<p>Also, start preparing a list of relatively low-cost colleges. You mentioned Georgia Tech, a STEM university, so I’ll recommend that you investigate South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, a place I am familiar with. Total COA for non-S. Dakota residents is about 20K. There are other places with similar costs that have rigorous STEM programs. There are also reciprocity programs that reduce tuition costs, depending on your domicile. Such inter-state compacts exist in New England, the Southeast and the Pacific/Mountain west states. Be aware that there may be restrictions on the majors available to students participating in the compacts. Overall, it’s encouraging to remember that in the U.S.A. few people pay the actual sticker price for a college education.</p>

<p>Finally, begin to research schools that give good merit aid to out-of-state applicants. Your child will need to score well and get superior grades. U of Alabama-Tuscaloosa is one such school.</p>

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<p>To the OP…another thing you absolutely need to check. Some universities count ONLY the custodial parent as the residency parent for instate purposes. AND this has nothing to do with tax filing status at all. It is the parent with whom the child resides most. For financial aid purposes, it is the parent who the child resides most with in the 12 months preceding the filing of the FAFSA. For residence, it well could vary from school to school.</p>

<p>Some states do give instate status to children of divorced parents if either parent resides in that state, and has established a domicile there. BUT many do not offer this.</p>

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<p>Different schools have different policy. I don’t think the residency requirement is consistent among states either. Some states just require 1 year to establish residency. In addition, for some schools, you may be qualified for in-state tuition without state residence. For instance, you may be qualified for in-state tuition at Umich if you attend high school in Michigan for 3 years and graduate there.
I think the first thing you need to do is to assess your son’s academic standing and identify some target schools. Look for merit aid opportunity and then decide where would be the best location for quality and affordable education.</p>

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<p>North Carolina has some awesome low cost schools. I think I would look into that state and those schools.</p>

<p><a href=“List of colleges and universities in North Carolina - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_North_Carolina&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>September 12, 2015
October 24, 2015
December 12, 2015</p>

<p>Is it OK to shoot for those three dates or is too late for him? Thanks.</p>

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<p>Your son is a rising junior. he should take the SAT and ACT during his junior year. the dates you have listed are too late for first tests. those are senior year dates and should be taken to RAISE existing scores.</p>

<p>have your son take the ACT and SAT this fall…see how he does and predict where he may qualify. what state do you and the mom live in?</p>

<p>If your son will be an engg major, there is no need to go OOS to GT or similar. Virtually every state has excellent engg programs. Dont be misled by rankings. new enggs get paid the same no matter where they went to college. Employer X will not pay your son more money because he went to GT rather than Cal Poly, Iowa State or whatever your state school is. </p>

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<p>Also, run the Net Price Calculators: if you make under 100-120k some private schools may be cheaper than some public, instate options. Not the case for Georgia if your child qualifies for Zell Miller, or CA with Cal Grants, or NY, etc, but check.</p>

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<p>If thinking of moving to a state that offers state sponsored scholarships (Georgia’s Hope Scholarships or Florida Bright Futures, for example), check out the scholarship requirements.</p>

<p><a href=“https://secure.gacollege411.org/Financial_Aid_Planning/HOPE_Program/Georgia_s_HOPE_Scholarship_Program_Overview.aspx”>https://secure.gacollege411.org/Financial_Aid_Planning/HOPE_Program/Georgia_s_HOPE_Scholarship_Program_Overview.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The residency requirements (for In-state and scholarships) may require that your son moves to the new state/school by the end of his junior year.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

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<p>Note that if the school requires the Non-Custodial parent profile or other financial information from both parents (you said you are divorced), then the calculator won’t be very accurate.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids, where did you find that quote about engineering from the OP? Don’t see it in this thread… But if it is from another thread by the same poster, I agree that those dates are far too late. You want to visit and do your testing junior year. Senior year is stressful enough with college applications and all the other activities that revolve around senior year without being able to finalize your college list because you don’t have your final test scores. Plus, there is very little time to study between the dates if you plan them too close together – you don’t even get scores for a few weeks, too. And kids are busy with school, etc. during the months when the tests are offered as well, so we went with an “every other testing date” cycle for our kids when planning their testing schedule so they would have time to study if they needed to take a 2nd sitting.</p>

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<p>If you really think your DS will want to go to Georgia Tech then you should move to Georgia NOW. If he graduates from a Georgia High school and goes to Georgia Tech then he would be eligible for the Zell MiIler Hope scholarship which is free tuition assuming he graduates with at least a 3.7 GPA. Other wise if he were graduate with a lower GPA but at least a 3.0 and he would be eligible for the regular hope scholarship that would pay a percentage of his tuition at a Georgia college. There are other states that have similar programs but you need to move at least a year before he graduates from high school maybe longer. Note it is also slightly easier to get in to Georgia Tech for an instate student however there are plenty of qualified students that don’t get in…</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, he can’t go to school in Georgia. His mom and I are divorced and he is in boarding school in another state. His mom would never agree to my moving him to Georgia for school.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the wonderful feedback. I was just using Georgia Tech as an example. He may not have credentials to get admission to that school. His GPA is 3.8 but he struggles with testing like ACT. I know because he fared rather poorly in PSAT. He will be spending considerable time and effort on ACT prep over the next year.</p>

<p>I will start checking on schools and states to see what their policies might be. </p>

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<p>Typically you would need 12 full months of residency before he starts college. Not sure how custody rules affect his residency status- shared custody may mean either parent’s state counts. Sometimes if the parents move OOS after the student goes to college the student can claim residency if graduated from an instate public school.</p>

<p>You need to consider a whole host of issues, not just instate college tuition. Your cost of living, including housing and state taxes, for the years you live there may not offset the tuition differences. Also consider where YOU want to spend those years. Your social network and other quality of life issues make a difference.</p>

<p>How can you guess which state flagship he will want to attend and will get accepted at? Seems like too much of a gamble to move over a year in advance just to qualify or instate tuition.</p>