<p>Okay, so I've been looking for the answer in every possible place I could think of and I've contacted U-M's registar's office to no avail... I'm really trying to figure out whether I am considered in-state or out-of-state for admission purposes. Here's the short story: My family moved from Michigan to Florida when I was younger, and I lived there through high school and the completion of my associate degree. I moved to Michigan shortly after to start out on my own and I was accepted to Eastern Michigan University as an OOS - understandably. After a bit more than a year attending EMU, I realized the engineering program wasn't for me and worse - it wasn't ABET accredited so I decided it was time to take a break and really think about what to do. I realized that U-M was always a reach for me academically, but not financially so I figured the best thing to do was pursue a long time goal of serving in the military. I enlisted about 2 years ago, and I'm almost done with my contract. Now that I have a GI Bill that will pay for most of the costs (I will forever be grateful to all the supporters of GI benefits!) and my pre-reqs are almost done I should be looking in great shape to apply as a transfer. </p>
<p>Okay, back to the question: with all that information, what would my residency be? I lived in Florida as a college student, moved to Michigan as an out-of-state student, worked a near full-time job while there... now live in Oklahoma as an active duty service member and still pay Michigan taxes... takers anyone?</p>
<p>Unfortunately paying Michigan taxes is not enough. Have you read through the guidelines listed online? [Residency</a> - Office of the Registrar](<a href=“http://ro.umich.edu/resreg.php]Residency”>Residency | Office of the Registrar)
If you can prove that you qualified before entering the military then you have it - the problem is that being a student at EMU does not qualify you:</p>
<ol>
<li> Circumstances that do not demonstrate permanent domicile</li>
</ol>
<p>The circumstances and activities listed below are temporary or indeterminate and do not demonstrate permanent domicile. Individuals whose presence in Michigan and claim to Michigan resident status are based solely on one or more of the following are not eligible for resident classification:</p>
<p>■enrollment in high school, community college, or university
…
a. Absence for Active Duty Military Service (U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Officers in the Public Health Service), Non-Administrative Missionary Work, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, or Similar Philanthropic Work</p>
<p>If you are domiciled in Michigan at the time of entry into active military duty, missionary work, Peace Corps, or similar service, you are presumed to retain your eligibility for resident classification as long as you are on continuous active duty or in continuous service and continuously claim Michigan as the state of legal residence for income tax purposes. </p>
<p>Regardless you will have to file an application for residency which can take awhile to process.</p>
<p>MAG734…You do indeed have a complicated situation, but I don’t think U of M is going to grant you IS residency status without at least an appeal process. It sounds as if you maintained an address in Michigan as your home of record while on active duty, but since the primary reason you attained the Michigan address in the first place was to attend a university as an OOS student you were never considered a Michigan resident by U of M’s definition. Had you attained that status before entering the military, you would have been allowed to retain it even though military service took you out of state but I don’t think that applies in this situation. You can read through U of M’s residency requirements and definitions via the link below, but I think they’re going to always come back to the fact that you completed high school in another state and came to Michigan to attend a university in OOS status. Hopefully for your sake I’m incorrect. Make sure to read through the list of things that don’t qualify you for residency as well (paying Michigan taxes is one of those listed).</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful replies. I was really more concerned with the admission aspect rather than the financial. The GI bill will cover almost everything for tuition, and Michigan’s involvement in the Yellow Ribbon program guarantees payment of the rest. I really want to know how they will consider me for a transfer admit though. I know OOS students fill less spots because U-M still remains a public institution of Michigan so of course the first students accepted will be in-state. </p>
<p>I’m really not concerned about my standing academically since I’ve done stellar in college. Right now I’m maintaining a 3.87 GPA with 110 CHs. There are a few disadvantages I have though; first I have a lot of credit hours accumulated since I switched my major, so I really want to portray to Michigan that I am completely willing to transfer the 60 credits that I really need and take the rest at U-M. Secondly, I’m a non-traditional student coming in as a transfer… U-M will either embrace that or else push me to the side for that particular reason. I just want to do everything humanly possible to increase my admit chances into the CoE. I think the fact that I’ll be a vet and Michigan’s increasing military friendliess may help me out a bit though.</p>
<p>If you’re not concerned about how they BILL YOU then I personally think you’re fine. I believe they’ll give you some additional consideration as an in-state transfer due to the EMU courses. I do not suspect your non-traditional status will have any negative effect whatsoever. Good luck!</p>