Moving to Maryland to go to college
October 4, 2014 7:29 AM Subscribe
I was born in Maryland and moved to Virginia for high school. I did two years worth of math/computer science courses at NVCC. I've been working 9 to 5 in DC as a programmer for the past several years, and I make $65k a year, of which I save about $15k. As far as I can tell, the only viable path to finishing a computer science degree in the area would be to use what savings I have (let's say $60k) to be a full time student at the University of Maryland for two years. This is only practical if I pay in-state tuition. The university explicitly bars those who "reside in Maryland primarily for a purpose other than that of attending an educational
institution in Maryland". If I move to Maryland, do I have any chance of being considered an in-state student after a few years? I want to be both pragmatically and ethically in the clear here.
I plan to be in the DC area for a long time, and which side of the DC/Maryland/Virginia line I live on is pretty irrelevant to me, this one weighty ramification aside.
I plan to be in the DC area for a long time, and which side of the DC/Maryland/Virginia line I live on is pretty irrelevant to me, this one weighty ramification aside.
I know this isn't the question you asked, but at least in California, a few years of experience means a lot more than a degree. If you worked a few more years in MD just to get in-state tuition, you'd have 5 or more years career experience, and going back for the degree would just take you out of the game for a couple years, potentially *harming* your career
posted by colin_l at 7:40 AM on October 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by colin_l at 7:40 AM on October 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
I think maybe you're reading the rules wrong. If you move to Maryland as a permanent resident (change driver's license, register to vote, don't maintain former address, aren't being supported by your parents who live in another state) and work for a year, you'll be considered in-state for tuition.
These rules are basically to prevent students who move to Maryland to attend school from claiming in-state tuition starting in their second year, because hey, they've been living in Maryland for a year now, so they must qualify. If they're still being supported by the parents back home, go home for Christmas and long weekends and haven't brought their cat, they're not living in Maryland, they're just studying there.
Here are the rules:
To qualify for in-state tuition, a student must demonstrate that, for at least twelve (12)
consecutive months immediately prior to and including the last date available to register for
courses in the semester/term for which the student seeks in-state tuition status, the student had
the continuous intent to:
1. Make Maryland his or her permanent home; and
2. Abandon his or her former home state; and
3. Reside in Maryland indefinitely; and
4. Reside in Maryland primarily for a purpose other than that of attending an educational
institution in Maryland.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:00 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
These rules are basically to prevent students who move to Maryland to attend school from claiming in-state tuition starting in their second year, because hey, they've been living in Maryland for a year now, so they must qualify. If they're still being supported by the parents back home, go home for Christmas and long weekends and haven't brought their cat, they're not living in Maryland, they're just studying there.
Here are the rules:
To qualify for in-state tuition, a student must demonstrate that, for at least twelve (12)
consecutive months immediately prior to and including the last date available to register for
courses in the semester/term for which the student seeks in-state tuition status, the student had
the continuous intent to:
1. Make Maryland his or her permanent home; and
2. Abandon his or her former home state; and
3. Reside in Maryland indefinitely; and
4. Reside in Maryland primarily for a purpose other than that of attending an educational
institution in Maryland.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:00 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Sort of along with some of the other comments, given your two years of college and work experience are there any north Virginia schools that offer professional computer science master's degree programs that you could directly go to? They're usually evenings/weekends/online so you could continue to work.
posted by sevenless at 8:03 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by sevenless at 8:03 AM on October 4, 2014
I know this isn't the question you asked, but at least in California, a few years of experience means a lot more than a degree. If you worked a few more years in MD just to get in-state tuition
A lot of the DC area government contractors, which are huge employers of engineers and programmers, consider degrees to be fairly important when it comes to determining your salary and career path.
What Maryland means when it says people don't qualify for in-state tuition if they're there primarily for school is that if you move to Maryland for school (eg, you lived in NY, got accepted to grad school at Maryland, and moved to Maryland to start school), then there is no way to reclassify you while you're a student.
The rules at this link say that the rules are:
That said, while UMCP has an excellent CS and engineering program that I highly recommend, you could probably just finish your B.S. at George Mason and be done with it.
posted by deanc at 8:07 AM on October 4, 2014
A lot of the DC area government contractors, which are huge employers of engineers and programmers, consider degrees to be fairly important when it comes to determining your salary and career path.
What Maryland means when it says people don't qualify for in-state tuition if they're there primarily for school is that if you move to Maryland for school (eg, you lived in NY, got accepted to grad school at Maryland, and moved to Maryland to start school), then there is no way to reclassify you while you're a student.
The rules at this link say that the rules are:
To qualify for in-state tuition, a student must demonstrate that, for at least twelve (12)You seem worried about #4. If you move to Maryland, get a Maryland driver's license, and keep working at your same job for a year, you will qualify for in-state tuition with no questions asked.
consecutive months immediately prior to and including the last date available to register for
courses in the semester/term for which the student seeks in-state tuition status, the student had
the continuous intent to:
1. Make Maryland his or her permanent home; and
2. Abandon his or her former home state; and
3. Reside in Maryland indefinitely; and
4. Reside in Maryland primarily for a purpose other than that of attending an educational
institution in Maryland
That said, while UMCP has an excellent CS and engineering program that I highly recommend, you could probably just finish your B.S. at George Mason and be done with it.
posted by deanc at 8:07 AM on October 4, 2014
Another option is Old Dominion's online computer science BS.
posted by meta87 at 8:19 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by meta87 at 8:19 AM on October 4, 2014
Would UMUC, University of Maryland's Adult / Evening arm work for you? I earned a second bachelors there about 15 years ago, and I was quite pleased with it as I was working full time and going to school part time. If you already have most of your core courses under your belt you could take the major courses, while still working, at a pace that works for you. Even out of state tuition is very reasonable, and they have a computer science program.
posted by chocolate_butch at 8:32 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by chocolate_butch at 8:32 AM on October 4, 2014
Illinois has the exact same rules as Maryland, and I'd lived there for maaaybe 13 months before I started grad school, paying in-state tuition. (I worked, got a new drivers license, rented a place etc. during that time.) Also they never asked for any documentation - I just ticked a box. If you live in Maryland and work for a year, I seriously doubt anyone will ask questions.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 8:50 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by goodbyewaffles at 8:50 AM on October 4, 2014
jacquilynne has it, in my experience with this, in New York State.
I moved to New York (with plans to enroll in school there eventually), lived there for a year, and then applied to a public college. When I matriculated, I did so as an in-state resident. Because I was a resident. It didn't matter that, when I moved there a year before, among my many reasons for doing so was that I'd eventually qualify for in-state tuition.
They can't see into your mind on the day you unpack the moving truck. They just don't want people who moved to the dorms of University of Maryland to try to claim residency status sophomore year.
I did have to provide documentation to get in-state tuition rates, though, so you may want to make a habit of keeping hard copies of bills, tax returns, and other paperwork. It would also be a good idea to get your license changed over, register to vote in Maryland, etc.
posted by Sara C. at 10:13 AM on October 4, 2014
I moved to New York (with plans to enroll in school there eventually), lived there for a year, and then applied to a public college. When I matriculated, I did so as an in-state resident. Because I was a resident. It didn't matter that, when I moved there a year before, among my many reasons for doing so was that I'd eventually qualify for in-state tuition.
They can't see into your mind on the day you unpack the moving truck. They just don't want people who moved to the dorms of University of Maryland to try to claim residency status sophomore year.
I did have to provide documentation to get in-state tuition rates, though, so you may want to make a habit of keeping hard copies of bills, tax returns, and other paperwork. It would also be a good idea to get your license changed over, register to vote in Maryland, etc.
posted by Sara C. at 10:13 AM on October 4, 2014
I believe that DC residents can get reciprocity with Maryland and Virginia schools.
posted by florencetnoa at 10:35 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by florencetnoa at 10:35 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
The thing to do is to find and make an appointment with the residency person in their admissions department. There are a lot of different things that can go into proving residency, including registering your vehicle in the state, buying property, registering to vote, changing your drivers license over, etc. My husband wanted to establish residency for the next academic year after we moved but it turned out he got his drivers license three days too late for that year, so little details like that can be important. At least email the residency advisor in the admissions department - they won't hold it against you that you're planning ahead, and the inside info will probably be well worth the effort.
posted by dialetheia at 11:37 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by dialetheia at 11:37 AM on October 4, 2014
To claim DC tuition assistance you must be under age 24, among other things. The eligibility is here.
posted by OmieWise at 2:29 PM on October 4, 2014
posted by OmieWise at 2:29 PM on October 4, 2014
Direct question: Yes, you can move (as described above--pack up all of your things and actually move) to Maryland, and after a year you are considered a resident.
However, it's not clear from the details of your question: If you only or mostly took math and science courses at NVCC, you may well have more than two years of course work ahead of you to finish a Bachelor's degree. At many (most?) universities, you would need at least a year of "gen. ed." plus about two more years of advanced course work in your program area (classes which simply aren't available at NVCC).
Re: fastest/easiest/cheapest way to get a Bachelor's: Did you finish an Associate's at NVCC? Probably the best (fastest, easiest, and cheapest) way to finish a Bachelor's is to get your Associate's through community college and then transfer to somewhere with a good articulation agreement. Details of the articulation agreement matter and vary widely, get advice from someone at the specific institutions which you are interested in.
I went from NVCC to George Mason and it went something like this:
1) You keep your GPA above a certain level and get C-or-better in all of the relevant classes.
2) You make sure you take specific classes required by Mason (a small amount of English and Math, basically).
3) You finish an Associate's degree with at least 30 hours (two semesters) of transferable work.
In return:
a) You are guaranteed acceptance into the university (not necessarily your chosen degree program, but at Mason specifically this is not usually a problem).
b) You are considered to have finished "Mason Core" requirements (this is where the specific articulation agreement becomes important).
Given points 2), 3), and b) from the Mason specific articulation agreement, you can finish 30 hours of the required and interesting course work and use credit-by-examination (CLEP) for large parts of the gen. ed. curriculum, which is a huge bargain in terms of both time and money, since the exams are relatively cheap (compared to tuition), the exam itself only takes a couple of hours to complete, and you can study as necessary on your own time with books from the public library (and how much studying you need depends on how much of these subjects you already know/remember).
That would leave you with about two (full) years of upper level course work to finish at Mason. (And you don't have to go full time. Definitely evening classes are a thing. Many of my friends were working similarly to you and completing two or three classes a semester, and one or two in the summer. Takes longer, but leaves you less broke.)
posted by anaelith at 6:49 AM on October 5, 2014
However, it's not clear from the details of your question: If you only or mostly took math and science courses at NVCC, you may well have more than two years of course work ahead of you to finish a Bachelor's degree. At many (most?) universities, you would need at least a year of "gen. ed." plus about two more years of advanced course work in your program area (classes which simply aren't available at NVCC).
Re: fastest/easiest/cheapest way to get a Bachelor's: Did you finish an Associate's at NVCC? Probably the best (fastest, easiest, and cheapest) way to finish a Bachelor's is to get your Associate's through community college and then transfer to somewhere with a good articulation agreement. Details of the articulation agreement matter and vary widely, get advice from someone at the specific institutions which you are interested in.
I went from NVCC to George Mason and it went something like this:
1) You keep your GPA above a certain level and get C-or-better in all of the relevant classes.
2) You make sure you take specific classes required by Mason (a small amount of English and Math, basically).
3) You finish an Associate's degree with at least 30 hours (two semesters) of transferable work.
In return:
a) You are guaranteed acceptance into the university (not necessarily your chosen degree program, but at Mason specifically this is not usually a problem).
b) You are considered to have finished "Mason Core" requirements (this is where the specific articulation agreement becomes important).
Given points 2), 3), and b) from the Mason specific articulation agreement, you can finish 30 hours of the required and interesting course work and use credit-by-examination (CLEP) for large parts of the gen. ed. curriculum, which is a huge bargain in terms of both time and money, since the exams are relatively cheap (compared to tuition), the exam itself only takes a couple of hours to complete, and you can study as necessary on your own time with books from the public library (and how much studying you need depends on how much of these subjects you already know/remember).
That would leave you with about two (full) years of upper level course work to finish at Mason. (And you don't have to go full time. Definitely evening classes are a thing. Many of my friends were working similarly to you and completing two or three classes a semester, and one or two in the summer. Takes longer, but leaves you less broke.)
posted by anaelith at 6:49 AM on October 5, 2014
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There are a lot of good northern VA universities that have guaranteed admission agreements with NVCC. George Mason is a close-in school with a good computer science department and guaranteed admission from NVCC, for example.
posted by rue72 at 7:39 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]