Hello,
I am currently a US permanent resident residing in Pennsylvania and will be attending the University of Central Florida next fall. I will be living in the Northview Apartments for 11.5 months that year and most likely for the remainder of my years at UCF. If you aren’t familiar with Northview it is an apartment complex technically off campus but owned by the university and the contract is through UCF housing. While I’m there I intend on transfering my PA driver’s license to a Florida one, purchasing and registering a vehicle there, as well as filing for US citizenship there. I also intend on working and providing more than half of my living expenses and therefore wpuld be classified as independent. My questions are as follows: would i able to use my address at Northview for a declaration of domicile? And is that enough to be able to establish a FL residency after a year? I guess my chief concern is the apartment not counting as a permanent home since the apartment would change from year to year.
You will be an independent for some purposes - taxes, voting, getting that drivers license. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way for financial aid or instate residency. They are going to want to know where your parents are until you are age 24. You can certainly try, and some Florida schools will grant instate residency rates to students on scholarship, but it is up to the school (and still doesn’t change the FAFSA definition of dependent.
Many people (especially students) move every year. One of the items used to determine Florida residency is the lease, mortgage or rental contract. Another is utility bills, which you won’t have. Keep track of every cent you earn and every cent you spend. You will have to prove you are paying more than 50% of your costs.
http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/pdf/residency.pdf
Take notice that several of the ways to be declared an independent student or Florida resident for tuition purposes require you to be a citizen. Florida is pickier than other states on citizenship and some scholarships require citizenship.
Not going to work. To be independent for financial aid purposes…you would have to be 100% self supporting…including your OOS college tuition costs and room and board and other expenses. Even with THAT you have clearly moved to FL for educational purposes and right there, you have an obstacle for gaining instate status.
You are a permanent resident. But what about your parents? Do they reside in Florida? If not, you are NOT going to gain instate status unless your parents move there and you defer your enrollment until fall 2019. It takes 12 months for your family to establish THEIR domicile in Florida. Your lodging while you are attending college…does. not. matter.
So…are your parents also residents of PA? If so, that is where you have instate status.
And you knew that when you applied to Florida, right?
I assume you didn’t get one of the generous scholarships that UCF provides?
Otherwise you wouldn’t be asking about becoming a FL resident for tuition purposes.
How much does UCF cost a year if you are OOS?
Did you apply to any affordable PA schools?
Are you low income? Would you qualify for a PA state grant?
UCF cost for OOS is about $39,000 a year.
Well Pitt is “only” $30,000 per year. So you would save almost $10,000 a year by staying instate.
What is your FAFSA EFC? Would you qualify for a PHEAA grant? That could be worth another ~$4,000 if attending a PA school.
What is your GPA/SAT score?
You posted in another thread that you were accepted to honors and got the Knights Achievement scholarship at UCF.
How much does that save you per year? About $10,000?
Did you get extra merit from honors?
I hope you filed your FAFSA. It is required and recommended to be submitted by April 15.
Also, do you know that you will lose the Knights Award if you become an instate resident?
Yes I am aware of all of those things and both Pitt and Penn State are extremely expensive in comparison after the scholarship. I only ask because my parents will not be helping me pay for any part of my education with the exception of cosigning private student loans. We don’t qualify for any need based aid.
I intend on going to UCF whether or not I am able to become a resident of Florida as it will still be cheaper than the schools I applied to here but just figured I’d ask
You did not answer pertinent questions.
@thumper1 said UCF costs $39,000 OOS. If you got a $11,000 award, that leaves $28,000.
Is that your cost at UCF?
You can only borrow $5,500 on your own.
Pitt is about $19,000 tuition and fees and $11,000 room and board, so about $30,000
There are other private and public schools in PA that might be lower cost with merit, did you apply to any?
Or you can maybe commute to a PSU branch for two years and then finish at main.
If your parents can’t help pay, your options are severely limited.
What are your stats?
What happens if your parents don’t want to/ can’t cosign $20,000 a year in loans anymore?
My stats are as follows:
1520 SAT, 3.95 UW GPA.
PA has very expensive schools and Pitt would be way more expensive than UCF since Pitt isn’t allowing me to enter as a sophomore like UCF is with my AP credits. And if my parents don’t want to cosign on my loans then I will I figure it out once that happens but I’m not limiting my options for a maybe. Especially that drastically. And furthermore the total cost at PSU is $36000 and commuting is out of the question because I don’t own a car nor do I have a license.
I also did receive an additional $2000 for the first year from the honors college at UCF
Either way none of that answers my question. It doesn’t matter what it’s going to cost me because that is not what I asked and that is irrelevant. I am simply asking if I can change residency which I know now you can’t through my own research
If you do not have a driver’s license (post #10), then how will you transfer your driver’s license from Pennsylvania to Florida (original post in this thread) ?
This confuses readers.
Congratulations on your scholarship to UCF ! Outstanding SAT score !
I did not mean to sound condescending.
I am trying to help.
You have excellent stats, I think you could get full tuition and room at UAH for example, even now.
If you don’t have a car or a license, you could get a FL ID card, register to vote, get a library card, etc. Most students don’t do that immediately because they get a school ID card, don’t go to the public library. Whatever you do do, keep the documentation.
As someone said above, work with the FA office to know what scholarships you’d keep as an OOS student and what you’d get as an instate. Because you will never be eligible for Bright Futures, and that’s what most Florida residents use to get the tuition down, make sure there is an option for you if you become instate. Will the Knight scholarship stay with you? Would you be eligible for Pegasus?
Many of the adults in your life might be under the impression you can just move to a state and become a resident because you could when they (we, I) were in school. I have several friends who moved to a state, worked for a year, and then went to college as an instate student. Really hard to do that now. Also can’t be independent for FA easily any more either.
Knights Achievement/Pegasus FAQ:
https://finaid.ucf.edu/types-of-aid/ka-program/ka-faq/
The student would have to work and be self supporting for at least a year in Florida, before applying to college.
The award you got at UCF would not be guaranteed if you re-apply.
Your parents wouldn’t be able to help you financially, because then your residency would stay with them.
So, what’s your net cost at UCF? How much would be in loans ? Will your parents receive the AOTC and will they give it to you for college (that’s what the return’s for, help pay for a child’s college).
Net cost at UCF for freshman year will be about 15k. So 5k in federal unsubsidized loans and 10k in private. My parents are most likely not gonna give me the AOTC once they get it.
I am sorry I feel I’ve overreacted @mommdc. At this point it’s too late anyway as I’ve already committed to UCF and truly it would be miserable to stay in Pennsylvania. My parents are currently very controlling of my life and although I know they probably mean well, I can’t have that keep on for the next four years which is one of the reasons I’m going out state. At this point I know my potential costs I’m just looking for every possible way to reduce it. If become a Florida resident isn’t going to happen that’s fine I was just looking into it as a possibility and is by no means a deal breaker.