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State residency--complicated situation
- Thread starter Pandaeac
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If the only consideration is the improvement in odds of acceptance your best bet of those three is TN.
TN accepts 31.7% of 774 IS applicants, MA accepts 20.7% of 1152, and CA a measly 15.8 of 5326.
TN accepts 31.7% of 774 IS applicants, MA accepts 20.7% of 1152, and CA a measly 15.8 of 5326.
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Thanks for the reply! Do you know what would be necessary to establish TN residency?
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To be honest, I don't particularly want to go to UMass. I'm just wondering if they're the only state that will consider me a resident.
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Call the U of T and ask them: 901 448 5561.
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You don't meet the criteria for MA residency: http://www.umassmed.edu/som/admissions/residency.aspx
Either high school in MA or 5 years of continuous residency for UMass. You might have been able to argue for it if you had a driver's license and were registered to vote in MA, but at this point you certainly don't qualify.
As for CA, if you are Asian and your stats aren't insanely high, you're in deep deep trouble. If you aren't Asian then you only need super high and not insanely high stats.
I'm in the process of moving to NY to establish residency there b/c with a 3.6/3.55/likely 30 MCAT I'm sol in CA.
I'm not sure how you picked TN... but if you are looking to establish residency in a new state, I'd strongly recommend states with lots of med schools (FL, NY, OH, TX immediately come to mind).
Almost my entire family is in CA, but getting into med school is more important than being near family (and I don't think I'm super competitive in CA). Decide what your priority is.
Either high school in MA or 5 years of continuous residency for UMass. You might have been able to argue for it if you had a driver's license and were registered to vote in MA, but at this point you certainly don't qualify.
As for CA, if you are Asian and your stats aren't insanely high, you're in deep deep trouble. If you aren't Asian then you only need super high and not insanely high stats.
I'm in the process of moving to NY to establish residency there b/c with a 3.6/3.55/likely 30 MCAT I'm sol in CA.
I'm not sure how you picked TN... but if you are looking to establish residency in a new state, I'd strongly recommend states with lots of med schools (FL, NY, OH, TX immediately come to mind).
Almost my entire family is in CA, but getting into med school is more important than being near family (and I don't think I'm super competitive in CA). Decide what your priority is.
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Thank you for the response. I would be moving to TN for personal reasons, not just to re-establish residency, so moving to another state right now isn't really an option, but thank you!
In many states, once you have that state's driver's license and pay state taxes for one year in that state, you qualify for in-state tuition. Tennesssee doesn't have state taxes so I'm not sure on that one though. To be honest, you've probably been breaking the law by holding a CA license. Almost everywhere requires that state's license within 30-45 days of living there. If you've been paying bills at somewhere you pay rent with your name on it, I'm almost certain that isn't allowed for anyone outside of military servicemen and maybe a few other special employments but that's another issue.
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This. You should be a MA resident (maybe not for tuition purposes, but for all else...), because you should've switched your voter registration and driver's license to MA after you graduated from college. I still hold CO residency while living in VA, but only because I'm attending school full-time and not working in VA. Soon as I move for residency, I have to change everything to whatever state I end up in (or keep it as CO, if I'm fortunate enough to end up back there).
That said, each state school has its own requirements for residency. In Virginia, you had to have lived in the state for a year or two without going to school in order to qualify. For MA, you apparently need 5 years. In SC, you can become a resident after a year, regardless of whether or not you were there to attend school. In CO, you had to have lived there, paid taxes, and had a driver's license from there for at least a year prior to admission (NOT matriculation).
But schools are going to take your word for it from the AMCAS application, usually, and ask you to prove your residency later (either during secondaries or after acceptance). So, decide what your permanent address is going to be, and consider that your state of residency.
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For clarification and for anyone reading this thread in the future this is not correct.
You are required to switch your license by law ONLY if you have moved and decided to make your new residence your place of residence (ie. intent to become a state resident).
It is definitely kosher to work in one state and call your permanent place of residence somewhere else. You may have to file part-time state taxes in your non-permanent home (check tax laws of your state) or file taxes in both states. I remember having to file MD and MA taxes when I was a permanent resident of one, but worked in the other.
The OP has made it clear to MA that he has no intent on being a MA resident and hence won't qualify as in-state in MA. He has retained CA residency and CA is considered his permanent home.
You are required to switch your license by law ONLY if you have moved and decided to make your new residence your place of residence (ie. intent to become a state resident).
It is definitely kosher to work in one state and call your permanent place of residence somewhere else. You may have to file part-time state taxes in your non-permanent home (check tax laws of your state) or file taxes in both states. I remember having to file MD and MA taxes when I was a permanent resident of one, but worked in the other.
The OP has made it clear to MA that he has no intent on being a MA resident and hence won't qualify as in-state in MA. He has retained CA residency and CA is considered his permanent home.
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Working in another state has nothing to do it. If you live somewhere 50.1% of the time and are not in school or the military, you have to claim that as your state of residency and get a driver's license there. Many pilots don't live in their work's home base but they are residents where they live. You're from Cali it seems so you should know best because I think Cali has some of the strictest residency rules. I think they only give you 15 days from what I remember in the 90's. Again, this is state residency which may not always translate to in-state tuition depending on the BOR's rules in that state. Actually, if we're making a list (I saw some rules from other states listed before), Indiana University will give you in-state tuition if you've paid Indiana taxes for one year without attending school at any point in the last 10 years even if you are currently a resident of another state so they go the opposite way and actually make in-state tuition easier.
P.S. The OP said that he's been working in MA for years without going to school. I am 99% sure that you aren't supposed to do this and hold a CA license. I'm not sure what you mean by "intend to live somewhere". You don't get to just randomly select which state you are a resident of (unless military and previously lived there and held residency). If you have multiple homes that is another discussion because it'd be hard for the gov't to prove which one you spend more time at but if you have multiple homes, the difference in OOS an IS tuition shouldn't matter as much. Also, it doesn't matter where your parents live if you pay your own taxes and aren't claimed as a dependent of theirs.
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Two different issues are here:
1) When are you breaking the law? OP could work indefinitely in MA for many years and still claim CA to be his place of permanent residence (he would have to file taxes in both states claiming that he is a resident of CA and working full time in MA). As long as the OP tends to not claim residency in MA, he/she is not breaking the law. You don't "have to" claim anywhere as your state of residence (you may have to file taxes there, but that's separate). The IRS definition is for tax purposes only and the definition you provided. Also, there are loopholes for taxes. You could run a business out of California, but incorporate it out to Seattle and claim that to be "headquarters" so you pay lower taxes (looking at you Amazon), but that's beyond the scope of this. You could buy a house in Florida, receive your mail there, hold a license for there and live almost all year in CA and not be a CA resident... it saves you on taxes (looking at you Suzy Orman).
2) When would you be considered in-state by a school. This varies a lot by state. But chances are even if you have lived in a state for years if you have never demonstrated an intent to make that state your "permanent home" then you're likely to be considered out of state.
And, most people have multiple addresses. The OP has his MA address and his parents CA address. He can always say that this role in MA was temporary and that he always intended to return to his permanent home in CA. As long as you have an address in the state, are registered to vote (if eligible) and file taxes as required you can make that your permanent home (took me many years after I moved to CA to get a license b/c I never "intended to stay."
Pilots can claim any home base (lot of them claim Nevada, Texas, Florida) as long as they have an address there. I know a lot United pilots that buy small studios in places with no/low taxes and claim residence there and then live in California (it's impossible to prove which is their permanent residence). I don't know anything about the military so I can't comment.
I do like the idea of a list of state requirements so I'll add since I'm about to switch my residence to NY (where I ultimately want to go to school and am moving to later this year). They require one year of continuous NY residence proved by holding a license, registering to vote (if eligible) and one year of paid taxes demonstrating NY to be your place of permanent residence.
1) When are you breaking the law? OP could work indefinitely in MA for many years and still claim CA to be his place of permanent residence (he would have to file taxes in both states claiming that he is a resident of CA and working full time in MA). As long as the OP tends to not claim residency in MA, he/she is not breaking the law. You don't "have to" claim anywhere as your state of residence (you may have to file taxes there, but that's separate). The IRS definition is for tax purposes only and the definition you provided. Also, there are loopholes for taxes. You could run a business out of California, but incorporate it out to Seattle and claim that to be "headquarters" so you pay lower taxes (looking at you Amazon), but that's beyond the scope of this. You could buy a house in Florida, receive your mail there, hold a license for there and live almost all year in CA and not be a CA resident... it saves you on taxes (looking at you Suzy Orman).
2) When would you be considered in-state by a school. This varies a lot by state. But chances are even if you have lived in a state for years if you have never demonstrated an intent to make that state your "permanent home" then you're likely to be considered out of state.
And, most people have multiple addresses. The OP has his MA address and his parents CA address. He can always say that this role in MA was temporary and that he always intended to return to his permanent home in CA. As long as you have an address in the state, are registered to vote (if eligible) and file taxes as required you can make that your permanent home (took me many years after I moved to CA to get a license b/c I never "intended to stay."
Pilots can claim any home base (lot of them claim Nevada, Texas, Florida) as long as they have an address there. I know a lot United pilots that buy small studios in places with no/low taxes and claim residence there and then live in California (it's impossible to prove which is their permanent residence). I don't know anything about the military so I can't comment.
I do like the idea of a list of state requirements so I'll add since I'm about to switch my residence to NY (where I ultimately want to go to school and am moving to later this year). They require one year of continuous NY residence proved by holding a license, registering to vote (if eligible) and one year of paid taxes demonstrating NY to be your place of permanent residence.
I'm talking about his situation. Of course there are loopholes for companies and I already mentioned that pilots live wherever they want but that isn't even close to his situation. He has lived in MA as a non-student and paid taxes there for 3 years. You are not allowed to hold a CA license in this case. You can try to loophole it all you want but like I said, you don't pick and choose your residence unless you have the means (houses, companies, etc) to do so which he appears to not have. It is fraudulent to live in MA full-time and pay taxes there as an independent person and then claim your parents' residence for some other benefit. The license is another issue and has very little to do with residence. If you go somewhere and plan to be there more than 50% of the time, you have to get their license to drive on their roads. Obviously it's difficult to prove where you've been for some people but for most it isn't and that is just the rule.
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I think that what they are saying, though, is that regardless of whether you can claim MA as your state of residency for tuition purposes, you definitely can't claim residency in CA legally.
So, it looks like TN may be your best bet (given that they only require for you to be a resident a year before matriculation). Many states (for example MA and TX) have much more strict requirements for qualifying as a resident for application/tuition purposes, though, so you should definitely look into it.
Yes. Below are the rules:
http://www.mass.gov/dor/individuals...-to-personal-income-tax/residency-status.html
http://sudbury.ma.us/services/individual_faq.asp?id=128
Just because you don't qualify for Massachusetts in-state tuition doesn't mean you aren't a Massachusetts resident. That's the school/state's AHJ call. As I said, Indiana goes the opposite way and makes in-state tuition easier (marriage or previous state taxes within 10 years) even if you apply while living in another state. My point was that you are fraudulently attempting to hold CA residency when you are truly a MA resident who unfortunately can't get in-state tuition. I personally don't care but those are the rules. This is the internet and this is just information. If you get away with it, good for you I guess. It's not like it's a major crime (I don't think). People that were honest and pay OOS tuition might think otherwise though. The driver's license was a completely different issue and is only partially tied to residency. If you don't drive then it obviously doesn't matter. My point was that you should get the local license within 30 days if you know you will live there for an extended amount of time.
I'm not sure what your stats are but if you do well on the MCAT, interview well, and apply broadly, you'll likely get in regardless of where you live. It's fairly balanced across the country with a few hard states and a few slightly easier states. I'm lucky enough to live in one of those states where it is slightly easier than the norm but in the end, I also got accepted at 2 other places over 1000 miles away at schools that, if you believe rankings, are ranked higher (I don't believe in rankings but there are 100's of threads about that). It's a shame that MA is the way it is. Even the private schools are rough. I applied to Tufts and BU and chose not to do the secondary because I thought the cost of the interview trip along with my chances of getting accepted weren't worth it once I started getting secondaries at numerous other schools where I thought I had better chances.
