Deferring a year?

[JJ Bittenbinder]

Hi! I have some offers for multiple schools that are all expensive and either have pricey in state tuition (Tufts) or expensive OOS tuition (Cornell, Georgia, Wisconsin, PEI). Looking at the debt I will be accruing freaks me out quite a bit. I am waitlisted at NC State & would absolutely go if I got pulled, but it's impossible to know whether that will happen.

So, to my question: Is it worth considering deferring for a year, moving to my school of choice and becoming an in state resident? I know for the applicant pool I have been classified as OOS, and I haven't talked to any of the schools about whether this would be possible, but I was wondering if anyone on SDN heard of someone doing this? I would lose one year of future vet income (planning to specialize), but also the tuition/costs would potentially be considerable less expensive. It's not really something I want to do (I'd like to get started on vet school because I already took a gap year) but the financial benefits are persuasive.

Thanks!

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[finnickthedog]

I think an important question is whether the schools will even allow you to defer for a year to gain IS tuition. If the savings are significant, then it would certainly be worth it. But if the school doesn't allow it, then it's kind of a moot point.

 

[EngrSC]

From my understanding it requires extenuating circumstances to defer. I have a friend that successfully deferred a year due to mental health reasons and there’s a gal floating around SDN that deferred due to pregnancy. But I’m not sure how you’d approach admissions in a way that would be compelling enough to grant a deferral for monetary reasons? They would probably have a lot of deferrals if they granted them so admitted students could gain residency prior to matriculation

 

[JJ Bittenbinder]

Hmmm, good points. Another option would be to decline and move to a state and try to gain admission, but that seems like a bit of a risk.

Thanks guys!

 

[PppermintTwist]

I believe most schools would not allow you to claim residency if there is a clear connection you moved for educational purposes.

 

[britzen]

I doubt the school would allow you to do this - if you're admitted as OOS you have an OOS seat. Even if they let you defer a year and you moved there, they would probably still make you be OOS when you started. Your residency when you applied is the residency that is used to allocate your seat. Also, they likely will not let you defer without a good reason, and being OOS is not one.

Some schools (like mine) do not allow you to change residency at any point unless you have extenuating circumstances (married a state resident, some statuses related to being a veteran or dependent of a veteran/servicemember using gov't benefits). Even people who had lived in Virginia for over 4 years due to undergrad were denied IS because they moved here for school.

You can ask, but I almost guarantee the answer will be no.

Also, for NC state, even though they have historically allowed for changing your residency mid-program, the state recently changed the residency laws so you may want to check whether that is still the case as it seemed like changing residency to IS after 1 year would no longer be allowed for incoming vet students.

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[JJ Bittenbinder]

Yeah, I figured it wouldn’t be allowed. But im trying to figure out all my financial options.

I doubt the school would allow you to do this - if you're admitted as OOS you have an OOS seat. Even if they let you defer a year and you moved there, they would probably still make you be OOS when you started. Your residency when you applied is the residency that is used to allocate your seat. Also, they likely will not let you defer without a good reason, and being OOS is not one.

Some schools (like mine) do not allow you to change residency at any point unless you have extenuating circumstances (married a state resident, some statuses related to being a veteran or dependent of a veteran/servicemember using gov't benefits). Even people who had lived in Virginia for over 4 years due to undergrad were denied IS because they moved here for school.

You can ask, but I almost guarantee the answer will be no.

Also, for NC state, even though they have historically allowed for changing your residency mid-program, the state recently changed the residency laws so you may want to check whether that is still the case as it seemed like changing residency to IS after 1 year would no longer be allowed for incoming vet students.

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At the accepted students day they said the most recent class went through the new rules and didn’t have trouble. They have a lawyer who works to get residencies for vet students. It is something to consider though!!

 

[britzen]

Good to know that NC is working on that for students! Good luck!

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