Question about In State tuition for Indiana University Bloomington

Paying for College
1

Hello all. I have a question regarding how does in state tuition work at Indiana University.

For some background information, my family and I are US Citizens, living in a foreign country. After applying to colleges and reviewing my options, I have committed to IU-Bloomington. As of now, I am an out of state resident, as my parents currently have no state residency. They are planning on moving with me to Bloomington, if not immediately, than at most in a few months. My question is, how soon after they move to Indiana can I claim in state tuition? Can it be right in the second semester? Or will it only be in the next year? If in the second semester, how do I go about claiming residency? Again, my parents don’t have a state residency currently, so I am assuming that the process of actually gaining residency in Indiana should be fast.

2

Why are your parents moving to Indiana? If it’s because you’re going to college there, they will consider it a move primarily for educational purposes and you will not be granted instate residency.

Here are their policies: http://policies.iu.edu/policies/categories/academic-faculty-students/university-student-services-systems/USSS-07-rules-determining-resident-nonresident-student-status.shtml

And how you can contact them: http://registrar.indiana.edu/policies/residency.shtml

Contacting them will give you the most definitive answer. You can call anonymously if you want.

3

Thanks for the links! No, my family wants to move back to US, to settle there at least for the next ten to twenty years. Would you know how I would go about proving that? If my father gets a job, and my family rents an apartment or a house, would that be enough?

4

Read the rules in the link provided. If your parents move to Indiana for the primary purpose of being with you while you go to school there, or for the primary purpose of establishing Indiana student residency for you, that is not sufficient to qualify you as an in-state student.

5

It appears it is easier to establish you, along with your family, are residents of Indiana than in many other states. The list of things to do also appears in the link above (jobs, residence, driver’s license, voting registration)

6

^^
The key language here is that the parent reason for establishing residence in Indiana must be “predominantly for reasons other than to enable [the student] to become entitled to the status of ‘resident student.’”

7

Thanks @twoinanddone . I wonder though, would you know how to prove that the move was predominantly for reasons other than education? I would have to convince a committee, I suppose?

8

Job, family in area, job, register to vote, get a driver’s license, get a job.

If they didn’t want people to be able to qualify for residency for tuition purposes, they wouldn’t word it this way. Many state do not allow for a tuition reclassification once the student begins school in the state. Indiana does, and even allows it in under 12 months.

9

Ah, I understand. Thanks a lot, @twoinanddone !