<p>We’re going to buy the property ahead of time, and put it in his name. You can buy lots for cheaper than $20,000 in parts of Texas, and that won’t be subject to gift tax ($10k is allowed from each parent).</p>
<p>We looked into this (just out of curiosity) because of the tuition discrepancy for instate and out of state students in Florida (which has no state income tax!).</p>
<p>Florida is very strict about this and there is no way your child could declare himself a state resident if his parents live in a different state unless he “divorces” them and gets a Florida-residing guardian.</p>
<p>Who knows? North Carolina and/or Virginia may be just as strict. I think for Florida, you need to be at least 25 years old, not claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s taxes etc. to be a legal resident.</p>
<p>In Maryland, we had to jump through a few hoops just filling out the application for a state school. All the questions involved residency and taxes, for both student and parents. I would imagine they ask these questions EVERY YEAR when they ask for tuition!</p>
<p>Here, we perceive that it’s easier to get into VA state schools if you’re out of state, and it’s harder to get into NC state schools (Chapel Hill is veeeeery hard to get into for oos).</p>
<p>Yes, I was surprised that Texas is so lenient. I specifically asked if it mattered if we still paid his tuition and other expenses, but they said they just want to see that he’s not claimed on our income tax return. Of course, we’ll lose some tax benefits and credits, but the difference between in-state and OOS tuition is currently $17,000 a year, so it’s worth it.</p>
<p>From the Code of Virginia ([Legislative</a> Information System](<a href=“Legislative Information System”>Legislative Information System)):</p>
<p>The domicile of a dependent student shall be rebuttably presumed to be the domicile of the parent or legal guardian claiming him as an exemption on federal or state income tax returns currently and for the tax year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement or providing him substantial financial support. </p>
<p>To become eligible for in-state tuition, a dependent student or unemancipated minor shall establish by clear and convincing evidence that for a period of at least one year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement, the person through whom he claims eligibility was domiciled in Virginia and had abandoned any previous domicile, if such existed. If the person through whom the dependent student or unemancipated minor established such domicile and eligibility for in-state tuition abandons his Virginia domicile, the dependent student or unemancipated minor shall be entitled to such in-state tuition for one year from the date of such abandonment.</p>
<p>A student who knowingly provides erroneous information in an attempt to evade payment of out-of-state fees shall be charged out-of-state tuition fees for each term, semester or quarter attended and may be subject to dismissal from the institution.</p>
<p>Wow - there are so many factors. I can understand amazon’s thinking. I also live in NJ, my oldest is a senior in HS. Rutgers and the other state schools are OK. My daughter is not interested and frankly I’m not pushing. So I’ll be footing a larger tuition bill even though I pay about 24,000.00 a year in NJ property taxes and also pay income & sales tax. I have 2 younger daughters and the thought has crossed my mind to move to get more bang for my buck & also make it easier for them to get into school. Maybe not easier but maybe put them on a more level playing field (aka - not another applicant from NJ). As for OOS vs. in-state tuition, we all pay taxes & I don’t really get the whole in-state vs. out of state thing.
Good Luck amazon, the only thing I can suggest is to speak to an accountant/financial planner that can give you advice about changes to your assets and income in regard to retirement & finacial aid for school.</p>
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<p>_me:</p>
<p>$24,000 a year in property taxes? I sure hope that’s a typo!</p>
<p>Unfortunatly it is correct.</p>
<p>I know folks who live in some might expensive parts of NJ and they don’t pay $24K in property taxes. That must be some valuable property (and congratulations on owning in it!!).</p>
<p>Re: the instate/out of state thing. I don’t understand what YOU don’t understand.</p>
<p>YOU are paying taxes to the state of NJ. Those taxes support higher education in NJ and your kids get a reduced tuition as instate students because you are already contributing to the base of financing for the NJ colleges.</p>
<p>I live in CT…I do NOT pay taxes to NJ. Why should I get the same price break as YOU who already are paying a lot to the state of NJ? I get a “break” in CT for the public universities here.</p>
<p>And just for the record…we didn’t push our kids into applying to our instate public universities. They simply were not the right place for either of our kids. </p>
<p>One of our kids did apply to and got accepted at U of South Carolina with a great scholarship offer.</p>
<p>If you aren’t happy with the schools in NJ, why not look for flagship u’s that offer scholarships to kids with stats like yours who come from OOS. There are lots of schools that do so…no not UVA or UMich. BUT even UNC Chapel Hill has a couple of highly competitive scholarships that OOS students can get. Go for it. Easier than moving.</p>
<p>Amazon - Still wondering what your child’s opinion is?</p>
<p>From 5/07 - amazon stated:
“Why not Kelly business school at Indiana? But I don’t know if these are options. I wouldn’t worry about fit as much as I’d worry about the money.”</p>
<p>I don’t think amazon cares about son’s opinion.</p>
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<p>The above is from one of my previous posts in this thread and I have not seen any sort of response to this from the OP. </p>
<p>This is the last time I will post on this thread. I previously responded because I thought the original question was regarding moving to a state with a strong flagship school. It seems to me as if it is really about “how can I get something without paying for it?” and as a resident and taxpayer in Virginia I resent it. I see that several other posters also feel as if this is very wrong and I agree with them. So that is all I have to say.</p>
<p>“We really want a top public school. I think UNC, Michigan and UVA are better than Wisconsin, Florida and Illinois (and the weather’s awful in Wisconsin and Illinois).”</p>
<p>I am just curious as why you think the weather is better in Michigan than Wisconsin or Illinois?</p>
<p>thumper1 - no not that valuable, just the way everyhting came together.
you wrote - Why should I get the same price break as YOU who already are paying a lot to the state of NJ?</p>
<p>Why not?
We are all paying to support one college or another through all different kinds of taxes - sales, state, local, federal, income…
I know it’s not going to change and I understand the the way it works. I’m just asking why does it work this way. I’m pretty sure all state schools accept federal money, don’t we all (well most of us) pay for that somehow?</p>
<p>We DID move to NC from CA over 6 years ago when all 5 kiddos were high school/college age. Researched for over a year various in-state university systems around the country and NC won out hands down.</p>
<p>As a single parent looking at 5 undergrad and grad school tuitions plus cost-of-living, income opportunities, housing and energy costs and growth NC was our choice.</p>
<p>Kiddos graduated from NC high schools, did well academically and athletically (coming from extremely competitive hs in CA) and some ended up in-state WITH great scholies and some went OOS with great scholies and opportunities.</p>
<p>Middle son is finishing up undergrad in NJ at a private and has enjoyed his stay at the uni but not so much NJ. He claims a huge difference than NC living and people. Has learned much and has come to truly appreciate his southern home!</p>
<p>The cost of living he has observed (family in NJ) is significantly higher in NJ (he is an econ major) and can truly see the value of our move now and even more so as he looks at med school and MBA grad programs. HUGE difference financially. HUGE. Daughters in grad school and vet and dental are also EXTREMELY appreciative of our move, even more than for undergrad.</p>
<p>Fellowships are plentiful for Phd programs but not true of the professional schools and with their peer counterparts and friends looking at $200K debt for said professional schools the $10K tuition for in-state’s here is our family’s definition of winning the lottery.</p>
<p>To move here was the best choice for our family and it turned out better than ANY of us could have dreamed. It allowed the kiddos to really take risks and to dream bigger than I would have imagined.</p>
<p>And yes UNC Chapel Hill is THAT good. Cap at OOS at 18%. Very hard for OOS, tough for in-state but with 16 UNC campuses there are many to choose from.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Thank you katwkittens. </p>
<p>Perhaps the people who posted “what does your son think” should read your post. My son is 15. We have moved a lot because of my husband’s job. Neither of my kids ever wanted to move but we needed to go where the job was. </p>
<p>I think that if my son gets to graduate from a great school without debt and has an opportunity to go to graduate school for a lot less money he will someday realize the wisdom of what we’re doing. We’ve only been in Jersey for less than 2 years at this point so it wouldn’t be a huge thing moving.</p>
<p>I also agree that schools should be a federal thing. It’s not really fair that people who happen to live in one state vs. another should have such a windfall. And people from New York and New Jersey pay MUCH higher taxes and if you look at inflows and outflows New York and New Jersey bleed money into the rest of the country. Look at Europe. Everyone who deserves to go to college goes to where they belong and cost is not an object.</p>
<p>Btw - katwkittens - what high school district did you move into and did any of your kids get into UNC?</p>
<p>One thing to consider - UNC does not have engineering so if there is a chance your son would want to do engineering, he would end up at NC State which is not a top school. (Illinois has one of the best engineering schools in the country contrary to what you say).<br>
Wisconsin is also a top school and Madison is a very nice place to live. (I would agree with you on Florida though)</p>
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<p>Why not? The residents of California built their excellent UC system by choosing to tax themselves at high rates for many decades. Residents of other states have made other choices. Nothing unfair about that. We all live with the consequences of our choices. (Whether CA can keep the quality up through the current era of tough times is an open question.)</p>
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<p>If the political leaders in NY and NJ are not spending the tax dollars on education and are wasting it on other things contrary to will of the voters, then the voters need to start sorting that out at the very next election.</p>
<p>Attended Wake, largest district in the state and another yes to admittance to UNC-CH for several children. The Morehead became a factor however he opted for other schools.</p>
<p>Since we are centrally located between 3 universities the summer opportunities + research + access to college-influenced athletics also played significant influences in their hs/college years. All extremely affordable for our family. The community college system is just as accessible and affordable at $50 per semester credit with many great programs. </p>
<p>The high schools within our district also offer Early college which allows high school students to complete their AA while in high school in a 5 year period vs. 4 at no cost to the student. No cost for tuition or books or supplies. This program also includes besides the AA programs for transfer to UNC for radiology for a BS, a BSN, physician’s assistant, medical microbiology and many other emerging healthcare fields.</p>
<p>Since Wake and Orange and Durham counties house UNC Chapel Hill’s Med school, Dental School, NC State’s Vet school, and Duke’s Med school and large cancer center in addition to RTP the need for healthcare related degrees, biomedical research and others is HUGE.</p>
<p>Hence, the large job growth for those industries. Son while in high school worked all 3 summers at UNC Med and Duke med, and daughter and other son practiced and trained at UNC with their respective club coaches.</p>
<p>Oldest son was a senior in high school when we moved, yes, he was not happy at the time but things have a way of working out. Especially if a lot of planning is involved.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I would be amazed if my son wanted engineering. Right now math is the only subject that he’s not doing honors. My husband was a math major in college and he didn’t even want to do engineering so there’s probably no interest there.</p>
<p>I really don’t want to get into one of these political discussions but does everyone in California choose to invest in higher education and everyone in New Jersey choose not to? Are we responsible for the path that our state higher education policies have taken over the past 50 years? Could any individual change these policies? It amazes me how people take personal responsibility for things which are just dumb luck.</p>