Two of my kids went to OOS publics, to be independent they would have to prove they could support themselves financially and pay tuition/rent, have their own health insurance, and moved to the state for a reason other than college. They couldn’t have co-signed public loans. My kids did pay for their food and rent, but we’re still on our health insurance, and had some loans co-signed by us.
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Additionally the applicant must have filed a state tax return. Med schools don’t typically require pay stubs to show proof of employment— unless it’s a state that doesn’t have a state income tax.
Every med school will have its own requirements for what documentation they’ll ask for to determine state residency status. Some will require a signed lease; others don’t.
The amount of time to establish residency is usually one year. But there are a few states that require a longer period. Massachusetts, for example, requires 3 years of legal and physical presence to qualify as an in-state resident.
Congratulations! Your daughter’s high achievement on the PSAT can get her a full free college education at a good college in the US, no matter what your finances. She can get into a decent medical school (even the highest-ranked med schools) from most 4 yr colleges in the US, assuming that she does well.
You should hear that she made semifinalist by next early September. Stay in touch with your school counselor about this process. She next has to apply for finalist status (95% get this). You’ve already been given the list of schools that offer free rides for NMF. In my opinion, U Alabama would be a great choice, because they not only give tuition, room, and board, but also a cash stipend for books and incidentals. https://afford.ua.edu/scholarships/national-merit/
Also, your daughter could potentially get into any of the top schools, most of which would offer her a very generous financial aid package IF her parents are low income with low assets. These would also be a possibility.
If she wants to go to med school in the US, she should go to college in the US. There are a few tuition-free med school options in the US, but most students wind up paying on their own. There are federal gov loans that they can take out for med school. Some med schools do offer substantial financial aid for students from low income families, so if that is the case, she could wind up paying very little for med school.
The other possibility might be for her to apply in your country to go to college/med school. In many countries, this is free for citizens of that country. It is then possible for her to apply for residency in the US. It’s tougher to get into residency in the US, coming from a foreign country, but as a US citizen, it would be easier (but not as easy as if she had gone to med school in the US). So in her case, I’d recommend applying to the full ride for NMF schools in the US, some highly selective colleges in the US that would probably give her a full ride IF YOU MEET THE LOW INCOME/ASSETS CRITERIA, and college/med school in your country.
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To know whether you’d qualify for enough financial aid, run the NPC on these (each college calculates differently so you have to run the NPC for each). Are some/all affordable? Are some cheaper and can you see what criteria/Question impacted the result?
Can you list the 3 colleges with 3 lowest costs (and that number)?
https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/admission/affordability.html
https://afa.colby.edu/cost-and-aid/calculate-your-costs/myintuition-calculator/
https://www.brandeis.edu/student-financial-services/affordability.html
https://www.kenyon.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid-scholarships/estimate-financial-aid/
https://admissions.yale.edu/estimate-your-cost
https://wp.stolaf.edu/financialaid/net-price-calculator/
(I tried to pick colleges with different vibes and that, AFAIK, have different criteria wrt assets, equity, etc. They may not necessarily be especially good for premeds but all will offer solid academics and some ARE topnotch for premeds.)
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