Married couple moving to Maryland- do we change our state of residency?

[notanorthobro]

Hey everyone,

I'm an incoming M1 at a private institution in Maryland. My significant other (we are married) is moving with me, so we will both be living there for the next 4 years. While I will be a student, my SO will be working full-time. Normally, I imagine I would not have to change my state of residency considering I will be there solely to attend an educational institution. However, considering my SO will be there working FT, I'm not sure if we would be allowed to maintain our original state of residency (Michigan). Ideally, I want us both to have residency in the same state. Has anyone else ever been through this? Thanks in advance.

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[Dee2daK]

I mean, residency isn’t difficult to change. It just depends on what your question is.

For legal purposes, you can easily change your residency to Maryland, and you should if you have a vested interest in participating in local politics or don’t want to potentially pay taxes to two different states. Getting your driver’s license and vehicle registration and whatnot and keeping them current is also much easier to do in the state that you’re located in than it would be to do remotely through Michigan.

Generally speaking, once you matriculate, your residency status for tuition purposes won’t be changed by your institution, regardless of how long you’ve lived there. School policies may differ, however. For some private schools, it also doesn’t matter as they charge residents and nonresidents the same rate. YMMV, and honestly, my best recommendation is to speak to someone in your school’s financial aid office about this if you want to know about the school side of it. Nobody here will be able to answer that specific aspect unless they’re already involved with your school.

 

[notanorthobro]

I mean, residency isn’t difficult to change. It just depends on what your question is.

For legal purposes, you can easily change your residency to Maryland, and you should if you have a vested interest in participating in local politics or don’t want to potentially pay taxes to two different states. Getting your driver’s license and vehicle registration and whatnot and keeping them current is also much easier to do in the state that you’re located in than it would be to do remotely through Michigan.

Generally speaking, once you matriculate, your residency status for tuition purposes won’t be changed by your institution, regardless of how long you’ve lived there. School policies may differ, however. For some private schools, it also doesn’t matter as they charge residents and nonresidents the same rate. YMMV, and honestly, my best recommendation is to speak to someone in your school’s financial aid office about this if you want to know about the school side of it. Nobody here will be able to answer that specific aspect unless they’re already involved with your school.

Thank you for your response. In terms of what the school considers me, it does not matter to us. It is a private institution and they've already awarded me a need-based scholarship. The reason why I made this post is to make sure my SO will not "get in trouble" for not changing their residency status since they wont be affiliated with any educational institution. Normally, if you move states you have to register your car in the new state, get a new driver's license etc. As a student, I'm under the impression that I won't have to change any of that for the next years. However, I'm unsure if my SO will have to.

 

[Dee2daK]

Thank you for your response. In terms of what the school considers me, it does not matter to us. It is a private institution and they've already awarded me a need-based scholarship. The reason why I made this post is to make sure my SO will not "get in trouble" for not changing their residency status since they wont be affiliated with any educational institution. Normally, if you move states you have to register your car in the new state, get a new driver's license etc. As a student, I'm under the impression that I won't have to change any of that for the next years. However, I'm unsure if my SO will have to.

Your SO should need to. My response was addressing your status. Because they are not moving for educational purposes, and unless the job they are taking is considered seasonal/temporary, then their legal residency should match wherever their primary dwelling is. Many states allow part-time residency if you’re consistently back and forth, but if you’re going to be there >75% of the time, then they will need to be a Maryland resident. Maryland appears to require a new DL within 60 days of establishing your domicile.

 

[LucidSplash]

Thank you for your response. In terms of what the school considers me, it does not matter to us. It is a private institution and they've already awarded me a need-based scholarship. The reason why I made this post is to make sure my SO will not "get in trouble" for not changing their residency status since they wont be affiliated with any educational institution. Normally, if you move states you have to register your car in the new state, get a new driver's license etc. As a student, I'm under the impression that I won't have to change any of that for the next years. However, I'm unsure if my SO will have to.

You are going to be moving to Maryland for at least 4 years. To avoid having to return to Michigan to renew your car registration yearly etc, it’s going to make your life easier to change your license and your registration to Maryland so you can do it locally. If your spouse will be working in Maryland, their residency will be Maryland legally for taxes or if, for example, they decided to apply to their own professional or graduate school after living there a year. So in the end it might work in your favor.

While not changing those things might make sense for college, now you are a real adult, married, living on your own. It’s going to make your life easier to establish yourself wherever you live. The same goes for if you move again for residency and fellowship.

 

[notanorthobro]

Thanks for the replies @LucidSplash and @Dee2daK

Once we move we will change our residencies to Maryland then.