I live in NY and custody reverts to me before my student turns 18 but she’ll graduate from high school in the state where her mother lives. Everything I’ve read indicates she has to be here 12 months before starting college to qualify for residency for in-state tuition under me which sounds like deferring admission will be necessary but will using that as the reason to defer cause a red flag given moving to attend college invalidates residency. She is moving because it’s my turn. *Searched a few terms with no avail so if threads about this already exist please share.
Can you explain the NY residency rules @sybbie719 ?
What year in high school is your daughter? What state does she live in now? What SUNYs are you/she considering? Some of the SUNYs have deep discounts for out of state students.
I don’t understand the terms of your custody agreement. Has your daughter been alternating which parent she lives with each year? Has she been attending a different high school each year? It’s confusing.
As you present your situation, it’s really no different than it would be if a family just happened to move into NY State after their child graduated from high school. If we ignore the custody issues, she is simply moving to NY and becoming a permanent resident of the state with your home as her permanent address. So, she would have to establish NY residency for 12 months before she would qualify for in state tuition.
Why not contact SUNY/CUNY financial aid at the school of interest - and explain the scenario. They won’t track you. Heck, they don’t even have to know your name. Nothing better than going to the source.
There may be something deeper - like if you’re paying over half the support, etc., you qualify now. I don’t know - hence I’d ask related to your specific situation - but yes SUNY does have great costs regardless - although special programs like TAP for residents.
Good luck
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How detailed does the deferment reason have to be - many students take gap years, and that is what this effectively will be. She will be doing something other than college during those 12 months, right? “ Time spent in NY solely for the purpose of attending college does not count towards the 12-month residency requirement.” - they also talk about establishing domicile that you can show, for example, by getting a NYS driver license, voter registration etc. it seems to me that as long as she does these things and does something else in NY she’ll be fine. I assume she’ll get a job?
But - following on from some discussion above you may not need to defer.
Students of Divorced/Separated Parents: If a student’s custodial parent is a NY resident or if the student lives with a non-custodial NY resident parent, they may be eligible for in-state tuition
From one of the SUNY pages:
Individuals who are financially dependent and whose custodial parent(s) lives in a state other than New York are generally not eligible for the resident tuition rate. However, students of divorced or legally separated parents may acquire a New York State domicile if the custodial parent is a New York State resident or if the student resides with a non-custodial parent who is a New York State resident, and the student intends to continue to reside with that parent throughout their attendance at SUNY.
Application for New York State Residency Status | SUNY Geneseo.
Actually in this case she would be living with the custodial parent as the OP said “custody reverts to me.”
That extract makes clear it works for either custodial or non custodial parent as long as they are NYS residents, with a “residing with” condition in the latter. In other words they don’t even have to wait till custody reverts.
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Excellent!