Dear CollegeConfidential,
So here’s my specific situation. I’m from Minnesota, went to undergrad in TN, now going to graduate school in NY.
I’ve paid all income tax from working during undergrad in MN. My parents are still paying for car registration and insurance. They are still willing to continue that during graduate school, but if I switch residency to NY, then I’ll need my own registration and insurance. If I establish residency in NY and have my own insurance/registration, then I should pay for that on my own.
Establishing residency has no benefits for my tuition (no state-resident conditions for 2nd year or anything) as it’s a guaranteed full assistantship for anyone in the position. The only benefit I can think of is that income tax in NY is a bit cheaper(?) and registration is about $15 cheaper/yr for my vehicle weight class.
Is this a clear-cut case of not switching residency? I’m going to call the city police department, potential landlords, etc to see if any of them definitely say that they require residency-status, but if none of them don’t, is there a case for switching to NY residency?
Thank you
Typically, living in a state to attend college is not basis for establishing state residency.
^^grad students, who are considered independent adults, and may be in town for 5-6 years, can easily establish residency in most states.
OP: I don’t think that there is any income tax-break…no real reason to change. But check on NY laws regarding car registration…do they have a registration exemption for students? (I really don’t know.)
Yes, grad school is different - it’s usually pretty easy for a grad student to become a resident of their new state. I did this in NY when I lived there while attending Columbia.
The other benefit is voting - voting in person rather than doing an absentee ballot for MN. Another thing is filing double state tax returns. If you work in NY but are a resident of MN, you will have to file an income tax return for both states even if you don’t necessarily owe in both.
I can’t imagine a landlord caring about your residency status, as long as you pay rent on time. Don’t call the city police department, either - they won’t care. The main thing to worry about will be your registration, I suppose. You are supposed to change your tags within 30 days of establishing residency…but if you never establish residency then I think it’s a moot point.
I guess I would say - what is the benefit of not switching residency and maintaining a Minnesota resident status? For me it was just a question of me being an adult and wanting to be a resident of the state I actually lived in.
Are you doing an MA, PhD, other kind of grad degree? You might want to consider changing residency if it’s longer-term, but if it’s short term, then I don’t know if you should.
I’m in a similar boat (starting my MA at a neighboring state) and won’t be changing my residency/car tags/etc. I’m going to sign up for an absentee ballot and just hope I don’t lose my license while I’m there (it’s still a longish ride back to my home state if I need to get a new license).