If I buy a house in PA, will I be able to qualify for PA residency after a year?
Ah, the age-old question. The answer is probably not, maybe not, or somewhere in between. There is an appeals process, but if you ask the Fin Aid people here, they roll their eyes and say forget it, it will never happen. I say, well, there's an appeals process for a reson, right?
It will also depend on the rest of the case you can make. It's tougher here than most states to establish residency after you start school. The only thing you can do is try... things counting on your side would be:
`official change in residence (license, paying taxes here, etc)
`voting record in PA (just that you did!)
`spouse having residence here and working here
`word of intent to remain in PA for an extended time after your graduate (I fall just short of saying verbally committ to practicing here-- they're not stupid, they know residency could potentially take you away)
`parents state of residence could play a large role
I haven't heard much from people who have done this successfully in the past, but I haven't heard much about anyone even trying. I'm not sure why this is, since surely some do try. And in some cases it must be granted but I bet it's not an easy battle.
Sorry the news is (at best) bleak. Unless you're bringing your parents with you!!
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