<p>So it’s an interesting story. My mother was no longer able to support me so at 16 I moved in with my father and he gained custody of me. My mother lives in Ohio, where I had spent all my life previously and then I moved to Georgia where my father was. When I was 17, he kicked me out of the house and I was homeless until I graduated high school. Upon graduation, I came back to Ohio where I stayed with family until I left for college which is where I am now. I currently do not have any ties or relations to either of my parents and I am now 18 and I attend Rice U in Texas. I know that for educational purposes, you are considered a resident of whatever state your parents are from but seeing as I’m no longer connected with them, I’m not sure. Ideally I’d like to become a Texas resident because I intend to go to medical school but I hear that obtaining a Texan residency is hard.
Does anyone have any input?</p>
<p>were you a ward of the state when you graduated high school?
Which state?</p>
<p>I’m not sure, I never did anything financial. I did begin to receive free lunches from school. And I graduated from HS in GA.</p>
<p>Where does your support come from? Have you voted or filed a state tax return? What state does Rice consider to be your home, your permanent address? If you work, are Texas taxes withheld? How do you pay for school?</p>
<p>As an adult, your residency is the state where you intend to make your permanent home - if you WANT it to be Texas, it IS Texas for most legal purposes (such as registering to vote).</p>
<p>However, for purposes of determining the amount of tuition that you pay, it really depends on the policy of the university --so you should check the University of Texas web site for requirements (assuming you want to attend UT for med school). </p>
<p>Here’s a start:
[University</a> of Texas at Austin - Texas Residency](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/]University”>http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/)
[University</a> of Texas at Austin - Texas Residency FAQ](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/resfaq.html]University”>http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/resfaq.html)</p>
<p>Here’s a couple of tidbits I have picked up:</p>
<p>It is important to establish residency that you are NOT claimed as a dependent on your parents’ tax returns (given your statement as to your history, that shouldn’t be the case).</p>
<p>You should stay in Texas during the summers when school is out – and you should get employment in Texas other than work-study – this would be particularly important in the year before you apply to med school. </p>
<p>You should also register to vote in Texas.</p>
<p>Vossron, Texas does not have a state income tax – so no taxes to be paid or withheld.</p>
<p>Currently I am self supporting. I have enough scholarship money to cover the cost of tuition so becoming a resident for that purpose is a non-issue. I’m not sure which state Rice considers to be my home. When I applied, I was in GA and over the summer, I changed my address to a place where I could receive mail.</p>
<p>Can you look at TX med school residency forms; if you are truly independent and not on your parent’s tax return, you may be able to become a resident there, but you need to read the TMDSAS and TX school forms in detail.</p>
<p>Another consideration is to just take a year between UG & med school, apply that year whilst you are wkring and living and self-supporting in TX.</p>
<p>TX is a great state for med school options!</p>
<p>Unless you were a ward of the court before you turned 18, how are you applying for FA each year? Who is picking up the tab for cost over tuition? Did Rice require you to file a FAFSA? If yes, unless you were deemed independent, whose information did you use?</p>
<p>Because I was a ED applicant, I completed all the FA information before I had issues with my father</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any more input?</p>
<p>There’s a good chance that you meet the residency requirements for both Ohio and Georgia and you’ll need to look at individual universities in those states.</p>
<p>To get you started this is for law school but most likely applies to any residency issues.
[Law</a> School Residency Issues by State](<a href=“http://www.top-law-schools.com/law-school-residency.html]Law”>Law School Residency Issues by State)
“GEORGIA: An important thing to bear in mind with Georgia residency is that there is not a set of ultimate guidelines, because Georgia state law puts the ultimate authority in residency decisions with the Board of Regents. A person must be a “bona fide” GA resident for 12 months before applying for residency, and they can help their case with proof of residency in the form of vehicle/voter registration, state income tax returns, etc. Also noteworthy is that the wording excludes from consideration those who are full-time students during that 12-month period, but not those who are part-time students.”</p>
<p>"
OHIO: A student may apply for residency after 12 months of continuous living in the state of Ohio, however their website does state that the board of regents consciously seeks to exclude those who are in the state primarily for purposes of getting an education. Nevertheless, the option is technically available to students who are willing to present evidence that they are inclined to stay in Ohio after graduation, but again they do not post success rates in this regard."</p>
<p>Don’t worry about medical school now. You may have a much more immediate problem: Who is going to fill out your FAFSA forms for next year? </p>
<p>Since you’re under 24 and your father is still legally your custodial parent (regardless of whether or not you actually get any support from him), he’s probably the one who has to do that. But given your unique situation, there may be some legal options for you to get around him. I recommend that you go the Financial Aid office as soon as possible to talk to them about this-- long before it’s time to apply for next year’s aid. Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, if someone who was a Texas resident claimed me as a dependent but was not parent, would that make me a Texas resident?</p>
<p>BUt keep in mind, for your AMCAS app oyu can only choose one state!</p>
<p>pyles…you cannot just have someone declare you as a dependent for tax purposes. That person MUST be providing better than 50% of your support.</p>
<p>I would venture that you are either a resident of Ohio or GA…but NOT Texas.</p>
<p>However, you are talking about medical school…which will be AFTER undergrad. You need to check to see whether the Texas public universities require med school students to provide information from their parents. Some schools do and some schools don’t.</p>
<p>At that point you will be independent for financial aid purposes. The instate tuition issue is a curious one. Do you have any court orders that say that your parents are no longer your guardians? If not, then they are. </p>
<p>As others have noted…if you stay in Texas for a year after graduation from undergrad school…and work there…and really establish residency (outside of for attending college), then a year later you will be a TX resident with no issue.</p>
<p>In case it could possibly help, have a look at:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.kidscounsel.org/dependency%20override.pdf[/url]”>http://www.kidscounsel.org/dependency%20override.pdf</a>
[FinAid</a> | Professional Judgment | Dependency Overrides](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/educators/pj/dependencyoverrides.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/educators/pj/dependencyoverrides.phtml)</p>
<p>“Kicking children and/or a spouse out of the house” can qualify as abuse, which might help your situation.</p>
<p>well if my current support is zero, then it really isnt hard to provide more than 50% of my support. I’m not even sure if it’s that possible or that simple it was just something that I thought up while searching for more information.</p>
<p>You are going to have to find out who fills out next year’s FAFSA pretty soon. Head over to the financial aid office and ask them to help you sort things out.</p>