State Residency Question

[whittyo678]

Hello all! I tried to find the answer throughout the forum, but had no luck... I currently work/live in Atlanta, Georgia. I am also currently attending school here. My car tags/registration/license are all still registered in Arkansas. I was permitted by the state to keep my tags/registration/license as is because I am a full time student. My question is, for the purpose of applications, am I a Georgia resident or Arkansas resident?

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[Snakes]

Different states have different judgments of what constitutes a resident for in-state tuition purposes. Usually a full-time student who keeps their driver's license, registration, tags is deemed a resident of the state where they have these forms of state ID. I would assume that makes you a resident of Arkansas but this is a question with a lot of grey in it and I would suggest that you look at the rules for in-state tuition in both Georgia and Arkansas to see what forms of proof they require. Here in Florida they want proof of address for at least a year and usually backup state identification like rent stubs/mortgage stubs, electric bills, phone bills, bank bills, tags/license/registration. Driver's license and voters registration are big ones. But a combo of any of these is usually ok. Since you're in that weird full-time student category I would double-check. Florida has its own category for out-of-state full time students.

 

[Snakes]

Here's a sample in-state affidavit for a Georgia school. It looks like you have to establish intent to be domiciled in Georgia outside of attendance in a postsecondary school. So I think that leaves you with Arkansas.

http://www.reg.uga.edu/files/forms/...ssification_In-State_for_Tuition_Purposes.pdf

 

[whittyo678]

Here's a sample in-state affidavit for a Georgia school. It looks like you have to establish intent to be domiciled in Georgia outside of attendance in a postsecondary school. So I think that leaves you with Arkansas.

http://www.reg.uga.edu/files/forms/...ssification_In-State_for_Tuition_Purposes.pdf

Hummmm... Im not sure I understand that form correctly. What I take from it is that anyone that is NOT in the category of moving to Georgia for school and has lived here for more than 12 months is considered an in state resident. I think I would still fit the bill because I am of course an independent student, work full time, pay taxes, etc. I have also had a lease in my name here since 2007.... I guess I should just go ahead an switch my tags and license. That is really the only thing that is tying me to Arkansas.
Can you tell I reallllllllly don't want to go back to Arkansas?

 

[whittyo678]

Oh, according to this I should be fine https://medicine.mercer.edu/mu-medi...ad/Georgia-Residency-Form-2014-MD-Program.pdf

 

[QofQuimica]

If you know you don't want to go back to Arkansas, why would you keep your Arkansas tags/title/registration? Heck yeah, embrace being a Georgian, especially if you plan to stay there.

 

[Snakes]

LOL I can see that. I think that is generally correct--if you are an independent student and did not move to Georgia specifically to attend school, and have lived there more than 12 months, you are generally judged an in-state resident. Here in Florida you actually have to show that your driver's license was issued over a year prior to your planned attendance at the school. Once again, fuzzy grey area--I would definitely change over your tags and license since Georgia is definitely where you want to be classified as in-state.