State Residency

[fizzgig]

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Ok so I gather that if you're in undergrad, since you are (usually?) classified as a dependent of your parents (taxwise), you can keep your home state residency. Once you're independent, has anyone who has been a constant student found they get left by the side of the road with no state residency??

As an older independent, I have now not lived in my home state for 12months so I am not instate there no matter what credentials (voter/tax/license/car) I have, and again, indep so parents living there doesn't help. I've been in my new state for over 4 years now, but since I'm in school I'm automatically not considered a resident here either! Wtf? For a few prereq classes that is unfortunate, but whatever I'll be paying OOS tuition at a community college.

For all of med school though I am going to have no state school to apply to at all? 😱

Has anyone else run into this because of being in school as an independent before applying? Is it just the land of SOL or what did you do? Makesa me nervous....

 

[sassilysweet]

I thought as long as your driver's license was in that state it was considered your "home".

A number of school's give IS tuition to certain applicants who meet some sort of criteria (very general, I know). For example U of MN gives IS to about 25 students per year, I think you just apply for it. So maybe try to find these schools? Does not help you much for applications, I know....

maybe try calling the schools in the state you live in and your original state and ask them about their policies. They may have different requirements than the guidelines you are going by.

 

[Valvool]

Did you change over everything?--your license, voter's registration, etc?

I was able to claim state residency in GA despite living out of state in Alaska for more than a year because I had not switched over my license. Now I am in LA and I continue to maintain my GA residency via driver's license and absentee voting, etc.

 

[fizzgig]

Well I'm discovering as I get older that who views you as a resident of what state depends a lot on what they want from you. If you are domiciled in a state, you better have a reason to not pay that state taxes, because they want ur monies. If you are going to school outside of a home state and switch residencies, some states require you to formally (like by a letter) terminate your residency or they'll wonder where your taxes are. Dunno how often it actually happens that they send for you but the letter of the laws may state that.

So you may be able to maintain a home state residency on one level (vote there, taxes there, car registered there, all that) but a medical school in that state can add requirements to what they will deem acceptable for you to pay in state tuition... Which I totally understand but I guess I am kind of annoyed that because of the extra requirements in each state, it creates a situation where I would get in state tuition nowhere, even though clearly I could be a resident in all other ways possible of one or the other state.

So for this situation, I can maintain my home state residency if I want with regard to license, voter registration, paying taxes there, all that jazz, but the school of medicine policies get to state what they require of you - and living in the state for 12months right before going to that school is a requirement they can throw in there if they want I guess.... so that means home state residency in terms of in state tuition in particular is out unless I have some sort of exception (things like being in the military may provide an exception, being an undergrad means you may still be a legal dependent for tax purposes and if your parent lives in the home state, then that may provide an exception, etc). So then there's my current state. I will check the schools here again but as I remember when I looked before, most schools have a specific code (part of a state code of some sort) that they refer to, which says that you are a resident of the state in which you are domiciled. Yay! Except! Oh crap! Except if you are in an institution of higher learning, you are NOT assumed to be a resident of this state just by virtue of the fact that you live here, so no instate tuition here either unless I graduate and then live for another year here with a job.

I'm sure it's different for every state, but that appears to be the boat I'm in and I was just curious if it happened for other older nontrads who were in school consistently like this (ones who got jobs for periods of time may not run into this...).

I mean I can apply for instate and try to convince one or the other state to love me, but it won't be guaranteed... and if it wasn't a sure thing it'd be something I'd be figuring out after acceptance and commitment I bet.

 

[Parts Unknown]

Has anyone else run into this because of being in school as an independent before applying? Is it just the land of SOL or what did you do? Makesa me nervous....

I spent my first 21 years in my home state, and then left to get a PhD in another state. I was gone for 6 years. During that time my "new" state never considered me a true resident because I was in school (you know the story).

Half way through my PhD I decided to apply to medical school. My home state has two public medical schools and I applied to both of them. School #1 sent me a letter saying they understood my predicament, and would consider me as in-state (despite my lengthy absence) if I agreed to pay back-state income tax for the years I was gone.

As I did not have several thousand dollars lying around, this did not happen.

School #2 did not give me any flak. I got in and paid in-state tuition.

The bottom line is that state residency is a total mess, but you are not necessarily screwed if you try to go back to your home state.

 

[edmadison]

The bottom line is that state residency is a total mess, but you are not necessarily screwed if you try to go back to your home state.

Actually, it's straight forward. This is a paraphrase of my recent post in the military medicine forum.

There is only one legal definition of "resident" -- it's actually called domicile. Any time you are physically present in a state with the intent to remain there indefinitely, you change your domicile to that state. There's no paper work to file, it happens automatically. Many non-lawyers have trouble with "indefinite", but it basically means not-short term. There are two situations where the law assumes that you are transient: Active duty military and undergraduates. Many states deny in-state tuition to new residents for a period of time in order to prevent carpet-bagging. Despite Article IV of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has said that this is legal. Typically this period is one year, but in Massachusetts, its five. In terms of in-state tuition, the determination as to whether your qualify for instate tuition is made by some university bureaucrat in the financial aid office. So when in doubt, give them a call. Often, they will permit some wiggle room -- I've discussed this in depth in other threads. The unfortunate effect of these rules is that people can end up in a position where they do not qualify for in-state tuition anywhere. However, if you think that's bad, some poor slubs can end up paying income tax on the same money in two different states. This has also been OKed by the US Supreme Court.

Valvool: It's a common misconception that you hold onto your state residence by keeping your drivers license and voting status. This can actually get you into some legal trouble. When I worked in my local DA's office we occasionally prosecuted people for driving without a license for not timely changing their license when they moved to our state.

Ed

 

[Parts Unknown]

Actually, it's straight forward.

In terms of in-state tuition, the determination as to whether your qualify for instate tuition is made by some university bureaucrat in the financial aid office.

Given the context of this thread, residency for admission and tuition purposes is a situation that varies from state to state and school to school. In other words, a mess.

 

[fizzgig]

Actually, it's straight forward. This is a paraphrase of my recent post in the military medicine forum.

There is only one legal definition of "resident" -- it's actually called domicile.
Ed

touche. ok to be fair we should have clarified that in state TUITION is a mess. i mean, clearly Parts and I are/were 'residents' (domiciled, living there for multiple years, bills, banks, all that jazz) of our new states where we are in school, but to prevent 'fake?' residents schools will still make ya pay out of state tuition there because you're not a real resident, you're a student. since we're no longer ugrad and dependent, we can't turn back then and say well we're residents where our parents live.

Thanks for the info, Parts. I may be left in a technical lurch but it's good to know that at least I can ask and I might get by once I explain the situation, given my obvious connections to that state and having grown up there and all that. I'll be keeping that in mind 🙂

 

[NontradICUdoc]

This issue really depends on the school. West Virginia will never grant you IS tuition because you are only in the state to attend medical school. Other states may make it easy and others very hard.

Nj is one of the easiest. You will be OOS for 1 year. During the summer, change your DL to NJl, get NJ Insurance and show your lease that proves that you were in state for 1 year and you get IS tuition for the remaining 3 years. This is for all 3 medical schools.

Some schools will consider an OOS student with a signed contract that you will serve within the state for 5 years after residency. Failure to hold up your contract will result is ginormous fines.

Some states make it almost impossible for OOS students to apply, CA and TX are pretty notorious for this. Others will be glad to take your money but you will pay OOS tuition. And some school will flat out tell you do not bother applying. I believe South Carolina has written in the MSAR that they have never admitted an OOS student yet some apply.

Get the MSAR and look to see what the schools feel about OOS students. Private school do not care because they are private.