College State Residency Requirement Help Please

[laurafergie]

DH and I are considering a job that is out of state.

Right now, we live in Virginia and have since 1994, so we are definitely Virginia state residents. DS22 goes to VCU and DD18 just got accepted to UVA and will attend there in the fall.

My question is this: If DH and I do end up switching jobs and residency to another state, what about the DS and DD? They would not be moving with us; in fact, DS already lives on his own. DD would probably just change her permanent address to DS’s (He lives in Richmond, VA). Do colleges follow the residency of the parents or the student?

 

[Skatermom23]

I believe the only way to do this is if you do not provide for their support or pay for tuition and you may no longer claim them on your tax returns. Basically they have to be self sufficient.

 

[Christine]

I believe the only way to do this is if you do not provide for their support or pay for tuition and you may no longer claim them on your tax returns. Basically they have to be self sufficient.

I agree. I think on residency forms, the question really is "Does someone else claim you on their tax forms?" If so, then the residency is determined by the person who is supporting the student. If you don't claim your children and they are filing on their own, paying on their own, and have established their residency themselves in VA, they should be fine.

 

[luvsJack]

Don't know about at that school/state but here if the student is under 21 they have to go by their parent's residency.

 

[blissventure]

DH and I are considering a job that is out of state.

Right now, we live in Virginia and have since 1994, so we are definitely Virginia state residents. DS22 goes to VCU and DD18 just got accepted to UVA and will attend there in the fall.

My question is this: If DH and I do end up switching jobs and residency to another state, what about the DS and DD? They would not be moving with us; in fact, DS already lives on his own. DD would probably just change her permanent address to DS’s (He lives in Richmond, VA). Do colleges follow the residency of the parents or the student?

Laurafergie, Get some GOOD advice on your question of residency. If it were me, I'd first talk to your DD's HS counselor, just ask for very general information. Then, you need to talk directly to the universities involved. You want to make sure you understand all the rules, they can be confusing. You don't want a billing surprise.
I would be (nicely) keeping track of who I talked to, what they said, that sort of thing. That way if there are questions down the line you can call and ask for "Dave" or whoever.

 

[NotUrsula]

UVA's page on this is here: http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/status.html

The page doesn't address this specific scenario, but I suspect that the details are in that state form for application for in-state status.

If you move before your younger child starts school there would probably be a real problem; probably less so if she is indisputably a resident at the time of her enrollment. At least if you are still there when she pays her tuition for this year, she should retain that status for that payment period.

This is one of those things that just burns me about the new financial aid rules. If parents move to another state after a teen has enrolled in a school, most college-age students are not going to go; they will stay with the school to finish the program. It really isn't fair to force them to either pay up or be forced to transfer mid-program (and lose class credit.)

Once you are out of the house most parents are not really going to consider what you want when making their own career decisions, and that is how it should be. Tying students to their parent's apron strings until age 25 is NOT a good way to encourage maturity.

 

[laurafergie]

Thank you all for the replies. If this comes to pass, I am indeed going to speak to UVA (which is really the school we are most concerned about), but was hoping someone had actually gone through this. This year - 2009-2010, is not at issue, but I do need to find out the answer to this to make an informed decision regarding employment.

Thank you very much NotUrsula for the link. It gives me more places to read.

 

[Inigo]

IME, residency is based on where the student lived for the previous year, as well as the student's and parents' driver's licenses, vehicle registrations, voter registrations, etc.

If the schools classify the students as out-of-state, it is an easy process to appeal the classification. I would think this would be an easy appeal to win. Truthfully, I would expect, since the students graduated from VA high schools, they would be classified as in-state students for VA colleges, even if the parents move out of state.

 

[Nette]

PP's experience is consistent with mine.

I went to an out of state college (in Kansas) and my last semester I was at home (Texas) and wanted to take a couple classes so I could graduate at the end of the fall. The Texas college wanted to charge me out of state tuition because I had been living in Kansas for the last 3 years (going to school!). I was already paying out of state tuition at the school in Kansas so I did a bunch of research. Everything I found was that if you were still a dependent of your parents, and they moved for a job reason, that you could claim residency either in their new state, or in the state where you graduated from high school.
I ended up writing a big long letter to Texas State, and they granted me in state tuition, but boy what a PITA.

Hope you get it worked out.

 

[NC State]

Contact each school to see their "state" requirements. I work at a state school in NC and we have set rules on residency. Each state is different but it's best to contact the school themself.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

years ago, I had a friend who paid instate tuition at Iowa. She had gone to high school in Iowa and even though her parents moved out of state that next summer, she qualified for in state tuition. Of course, this may have changed but it's worth looking into what UVA requires.

 

[Skatermom23]

Since this is an issue I could be facing, I did do a little research and found that unless your student can claim to be financially independent...ie..you may make no claim on your tax return, then they cannot claim residency in Virginia. I hope I am wrong and if you find out otherwise, please share with us.

 

[laurafergie]

Since this is an issue I could be facing, I did do a little research and found that unless your student can claim to be financially independent...ie..you may make no claim on your tax return, then they cannot claim residency in Virginia. I hope I am wrong and if you find out otherwise, please share with us.

OP here: This is what I am learning as well the past few hours. Actually claiming her on our tax return is not an issue with us. The past few years financially have been pretty bad, and we are not able to contribute a great deal to her education, but financial aid has been pretty good to DD. So it is not a problem for her to file her own taxes. DS has already done this (and we have not claimed him as a dependant) since he moved out a few years ago.