Scholarship vs. Good Education

[Gator88NE]

Here’s a link to establishing residency in Florida for the purposes of in-state tuition. It’s not easy to do, but if your parents are not giving you much support (you can claim to be an “independent person”) and you have family in Florida, it may be an option.

https://www.sfcollege.edu/admissions/discounted-tuition/index

A Florida resident for tuition purposes is:

An independent person who has established and maintained legal residency in Florida at least 12 consecutive months before the first day of the term OR

A dependent person whose parent has established and maintained legal residency in Florida at least 12 consecutive months before the first day of the term. A parent is either one of the parents of the student, any guardian of the student, or any person who has been in a parental relationship to the student.

That would mean moving to Florida for a year, working (and saving $ for college) and then enrolling in a local CC (like Sante Fe) or an University.

At Santa Fe CC, In-state tuition is $2,540, while OOS tuition is $9,189. Living and working in Florida for one year (and being independent of your parents) makes Florida MUCH more affordable. Transferring from a CC is also, in many cases, a much easier path into the Universities. For example, at UF:

Zoology
Complete MAC 2311, CHM 2045 w/ lab, CHM 2046 w/ lab, BSC 2010 w/ lab, and BSC 2011 w/ lab. Must typically have a minimum 2.8 overall GPA to be competitive. Must typically have a minimum 3.0 average on all attempts of these courses.

A 3.0 GPA average is very doable at a CC, and they don’t consider your HS GPA or test scores for transfer admissions. It’s an affordable path into a top 10 public University, but you have to met all of the requirements for in-state residency, or be willing to pay OOS rates. Pay close attention to the requirement for claiming to be an “independent person”.

Good Luck!