So I was accepted to UC Berkeley as a spring 2017 admit. Like so many other students the financial aspect of school will prove to be the most difficult. This is my situation can anyone attest to my chance of establishing residency while in school.
I’m a 19-year-old living and working in Texas. I stopped living with my parents at 15 to live with my brother and have been personally financial independent from my parents since 15 and from my brother completely since 17. I’m going through an appeal process with the FA department at Berkeley which should be concluded shortly allowing me to finalize my FAFSA as an independent student.
However even receiving aid based on my income alone will still leave paying for school a major burden. As I would like to focus on my classes as much as possible, (and not pay any more in tuition than needed) I’m exploring residency.
If I were to:
A. Receive Financial independence status from Berkeley’s FA department
B. Move to California 366 days before August 23rd, 2017, (the fall semester’s deadline for residency determination)
C. Establish intent to reside in California i.e. license, car title, rent, job, tax return, register to vote.
Do you think I would have a solid chance of receiving the benefits of instate tuition from the Fall of 2017 semester on?
Granted I would have to pay out of state tuition in the spring; however, this can be managed as I’ve saved up enough to afford that, (however not nearly enough for the 4 semesters after that).
I highly doubt it. It appears that the only reason you will be moving to Cali is to go to school. Under those circumstances, I don’t think that you will be granted instate tuition.
Declaring yourself as an independent is very difficult if you not under the age of 24, and at a brief glance it looks like you do not qualify, unless there is something you are leaving out.
@BelknapPoint I would be moving to California now to be working, I currently work at a digital marketing agency and will continue working in that field after moving. @anxiousenior1 The grounds for receiving independent status are from proving my financial independence for two years, (which I have) and proving a “History of extreme adverse home life” I have submitted all the required letters, (from family members, colleagues, and a psychological therapist) and I’m just waiting for approval.
Additionally, I will be LIVING in California, I live on my own in Houston and will be moving to the state because I’m an adult that wants to live there. I will continue living there after school because of the tech job market and will be living off campus in an apartment and working the whole time through school, (just hopefully not full time).
My answer still lingers if granted independence with these factors considered do you think I would be able to meet the requirement for instate tuition?
I will also be contacting the office of residency at Berkeley tomorrow to go over this; however, I wondered if anyone had prior experience .
Be careful of starting under one status (OOS) and then trying to get instate. If I were you, I’d move now, do your appeal, but defer starting until you have the instate status.
I’m not saying you are going to win your appeal, but if you do then wait to start until you have instate status.
@twoinanddone Thanks for this advice. I was very concerned about this and that’s why I’m trying to find someone who went through a similar situation. I tried to see about deferring my admission for a semester but since I was accepted off the waitlist I missed the deadline to apply for deferment. I don’t want to postpone my education any more than I need to but am willing to if it allows me to attend a school as great as Berkeley.
True I was accepted to UT and the whole process of paying for school there would be a cake walk compared to this. However, I’m in love with Berkeley and you know how they say young love makes you do dumb things.
I don’t think I’ll regret it though. I’m a CS major and want to be in the Bay Area.
What was the matter with UT Austin? It’s a great school and you would,have had instate status there no problem.
It is possible you will get the independent status for financial aid purposes, but I don’t see how you would get instate status in time for spring term 2017. The criteria, I believe, is 366 days of residency PRIOR to the start of your term. If you are starting spring 2017, you would have needed to move to CA in spring 2016…which has already gone by!
The date you put for moving instate would be for students starting fall 2017, you say you are starting SPRING 2017.
In addition, you were admitted as an out of state student.
@thumper1 If you would have fully read my first post you would have seen that I acknowledged I wouldn’t receive instate for Spring 2017.
“Do you think I would have a solid chance of receiving the benefits of instate tuition from the Fall of 2017 semester on?
Granted I would have to pay out of state tuition in the spring; however, this can be managed as I’ve saved up enough to afford that, (however not nearly enough for the 4 semesters after that).”
My post is regarding tuition after Fall 2017. And yes I was admitted to Berkeley as an out of state student. This thread is discussing my possibility of changing that while attending school. Something that is EXTREMELY hard to do, but definitely not impossible.
Also yes UT is a great school, my sister went to their law school. But the University of Houston is also a “great school” I don’t understand those that just shrug out that comment to me when I explain how I’m facing difficulty. I’m not content with just a “great school” I want to go to the “best” public university in the world.
I have no idea. You will,have to petition for a change in residency status. That you already will have started college would,support,that you moved there for college. You need to demonstrate to the school that you did NOT move there solely for educational purposes. You ARE moving there for educational reasons.
I think you will,have success establishing independence for financial aid purposes…but that isn’t going to shoe you in for in state residency status…which has different criteria.
In my opinion, you would be better off NOT starting college less than 366 days of residency in CA.
@mommdc Thanks for your encouraging comment! However, if you do your research (aka google “UC Berkeley tuition” you will see that out of state tuition is $38,140 not $55,000. Perhaps you were referencing living expenses? In which case, I will be working, (as much as needed) utilizing all of my government aid offered, even resorting to online messages boards and asking strangers questions when it comes down to it.
I’m not about to be deterred. I simply need advice on the how.
@thumper1 Do you have any advice on how I can avoid starting school until Fall 2017? I have missed the typical deferment deadline but perhaps there are workarounds, like a financial emergency or something of the like? I don’t have any type of family support as this is all on me, so I appreciate all this advice!
@mommdc I wasn’t admitted to UT for CS only Econ and they do not offer CS as a liberal arts degree. So perhaps it would be best, but I wouldn’t be able to study my desired field as I would at Berkeley.
I’m of the opinion that money should not be the determining factor, (or any factor) in your college choice. But I’m just a 19-year-old socialist that should probably keep his opinions and denial of reality to his self on this public forum.
OOS tuition and fees for 2016-2017 is $40,192. Do you have health insurance? You’ll either need coverage that meets the school’s criteria or pay $2,612/year for UC Berkeley health insurance. Estimated cost for books and supplies for 2016-2017 is $1,262. How much government aid will you be receiving? How much do you estimate your monthly living expenses to be? The Bay Area is an expensive place to live.
Being an out-of-state student at a California public school is an expensive proposition. As others have noted, and as UC Berkeley’s website makes clear, being admitted as an OOS student and then getting resident tuition status is an extremely difficult thing to do.
@BelknapPoint Trust me I’ve spent the past 3 months familiarizing myself with the costs and I’m well aware that this isn’t going to be easy.
For anyone else planning on commenting let me just reiterate. I’m not looking for the easiest way to get a college degree. I’m looking for any advice on how to afford/lower tuition at UC Berkeley.
Thank you @BelknapPoint on the information on health insurance, I have it with my current employer but will lose it after moving. I didn’t know Berkeley charged that much for coverage. I don’t have my FA package yet as I’m waiting for the appeal to finalize. I approximate roughly $1500 a month for living expenses. Based off my current budget and adjusting it to meet the prices of the Bay Area. I will have to greatly lower my standard of living especially when it comes to housing but it’s not any sacrifice I’m unwilling to make.
I know this is hard as I’ve mentioned several times I’m just looking for advice on how to do it.
@BelknapPoint Thanks for your constructive er… conservative input. I acknowledged the reality of the world immediately following that comment. I’m talking progressively here, you know, like how we talked about equal voting rights 100 years ago.
Nowadays we’re discussing equal rights to education.
