Correct.
She is currently not earning any income and does not have a full time profession, correct? The colleges know that the children are being supported by parents. She can be considered independent when she turns 24 years of age, but this does not mean that she will automatically qualify for state aid.
Look here:
https://www.ucop.edu/residency/residency-requirements.html
And more specifically here:
https://www.ucop.edu/uc-legal/_files/ed-affairs/uc-residence-policy.pdf#page=11
In all it’s gory details, the policy. But, underlying it all, is that if a student comes to California from out of state for educational purposes, they remain an out of state student for tuition purposes for the duration of their undergraduate career.
Hmm, it sounds that we should consider our child to be paying similar to International Student tuition. I think non-resident and international student tuition rate are pretty much the same.
No, she doesn’t have a job, unfortunately.
It really wouldn’t do her much good to have a job because she would have to work full time to support her cost of living in California, without any help from you. That is really difficult to do in California because no one is going to give a non-degreed person enough money to fully support herself, pay taxes, high rent, utilities and expenses.
She will be paying full fees which is what everyone pays who is not a resident of California. If she doesn’t already live here with a parents, she is not considered a resident of the state. There are other states that are less expensive.
@Siv you haven’t mentioned at all what you can afford to pay annually for college. Really…you need to figure that out. I would suggest you start a Chance Me thread at some point and include all the information you have re: your daughter. Her high school grades, activities, and the colleges she is considering. And…what your budget is annually for cost.
Folks here will gladly give you suggestions. But please…use the format for a chance me thread…and include as much as you can.
You can also check to see if there is one of these near enough to you…or how to contact them. They help students who want to study in the US but are living abroad.
In addition, you posted that your student was enrolled at an International school abroad. Perhaps the guidance folks at that school can provide you with some options.
School prices can vary greatly. Just as one example, out of state tuition at a Purdue is roughly $40k/year.
Once your student has their predicted grades and test scores, I’d suggest doing a chance/match me thread. There are many very knowledgeable posters who will be able to make suggestions at various price points.
Will do that when we have more information. I love that this forum gives tons of insights and we usually plan well in advance.
They do have college counselor, as grade 11 they have started looking into colleges but I also think she’s busy with the current 12th students. I understand more now, I was under an impression that their tuition will be a mix of oos and ios, but it’s not the case so we have to increase our budget.
We’re comfortable paying 200k/child for 4 years, that was my original budget. We’re paying slightly lower at the moment for their education so it’s more or less similar. Of course, if they can get scholarship it will help but my husband doesn’t think we qualify for anything and as someone said(correct me if I’m wrong), as an out of state, they can’t get into many programs(even if their stats qualify). I’m now making a rough estimate that it will cost at least 300k each child.
It’s not what we can afford to pay, rather, we will cover their education. I don’t know if it makes sense, I just thought that’s what parents do.
If your child is a US citizen, there are a few states where they can establish residency on their own, without parents in the country. Utah is the best known and based simply on physical presence. Texas makes it harder (you need to own property), but it is possible.
You may not qualify for need based aid…(if you are paying $50,000 a year for multiple kids to attend school now…it is possible that your income might exceed that where need based aid is awarded…I’m guessing on that…only YOU know your income and assets and you certainly don’t need to share that here!).
But if your student is a strong student, they could qualify for merit aid at any number of colleges (that would be tough to get at the UCs). Merit aid does not consider your income or assets. It is based on the strength of the student application. There are lots of colleges where strong students can get merit aid.
I won’t go into a lot of detail, because you said you aren’t ready to set a budget yet, but both Arizona Star and University of Arizona give guaranteed merit aid to strong students. And AZ is close enough to CA geographically.
In reading this…you will be using regular savings to pay for college. Is that correct?
At most colleges, students do not need to own a car. That is a discretionary expense that is up to you to decide to fund…or not. But do keep in mind that owning a car, maintaining it, insurance, etc…can really be costly. And usually is not needed.
In terms of “expenses for young adult life” I’m assuming you mean spending money for your kid’s discretionary spending. In the Thumper household, our kids were expected to have part time jobs…up to 10 hours a week…to fund their fun money.
Check the colleges of interest…because at some, you will have to pay for health insurance…and that can add several thousand dollars a year to the costs.
When the time comes, and you know more about your daughter’s stats, folks here will happily give you suggestions.
Also, did your daughter take the PSAT this month!
BUT all of this is getting off topic to your question about residency in CA. You would need to move back to CA for them to be considered instate residents for tuition purposes.
I re read the guidelines over and over. I was naive to think my children will have an instate status somewhere along the 4 years. Now I’m thinking, since it really doesn’t matter, maybe we should expand our search and look into privates. So much to learn …
Once you have sufficient info about your student, please do a chances thread. Folks here will give you good suggestions of places that might be less costly than the CA public colleges but are great colleges for your kid.