Did you get the email from student services with the contact of Pam, the student legal services person? I had a phone appointment with her where she explained the whole process to me. Basically with the new requirements you can't apply until you've lived in the state for a full year, so in order to get it processed by fall of our 2nd year, she says we should be living in the state by July 15 at the latest. Everything else is pretty basic - lease, voter registration, drivers license...she recommends that if you don't work during the school year to definitely work the summer after so we also have paid taxes to the state, which helps the application. Another important aspect of it for me was you can't accept money from out of state sources. My family is planning on helping me pay tuition but I can't do that my first year so I'll have to take out the full amount of loans and then my family will contribute to paying them back.
I would just get in touch with her - she was super helpful!