After High School
August 26, 2010 7:59 PM   Subscribe

How best to advise a 12th grade student on their college plans.

I have a student in one of my high school classes, and the subject of college and the logistics of everything came to light in a recent conversation.

She lives in TN with her aunt and uncle, moving from CA after the death of her mother and father several years ago. They still have property in So Cal that is currently rented.

She'd like to return to California when she graduates and attend UCLA, etc...

Would she be considered an in-state student, since she, through inheritance, owns property in CA? The prohibiting factor is financial and being classified as in-state would save her a tremendous amount of money.

Her high school transcript and ACT/SAT scores will be from Tennessee.

How would she complete the FAFSA to accomplish her goal of in-state classification?

Thanks, and I'll take my answer off the air.
posted by bach to Education (5 answers total)
 
This might help.
posted by WhiteWhale at 8:09 PM on August 26, 2010


Residency is usually determined by a student living in the state for a set period of time before they begin schooling, thereby proving that they moved to the state with an intent to live there, not just learn there. Glancing at WhiteWhale's link, it looks like UCLA has a 1 year minimum.

There may be an exception for the residency rule because your student grew up there and has property there - an admissions counselor should be able to answer those questions.

FAFSA will not be used to determine her residency status, the school usually does that independently.
posted by Think_Long at 9:02 PM on August 26, 2010


I don't know about UCLA specifically, but my understanding is that residency determination is somewhat discretionary, in general. Rather along the lines of the visa officer's "I need you to show me that you don't intend to immigrate"...
posted by bardophile at 9:06 PM on August 26, 2010


Every state has different rules, but in Wisconsin I think we have an exception similar to her situation (e.g. "Where did your parents pay taxes in the year before they passed away?" or something).

Please check with them directly, as they're the only ones who can tell you for sure.
posted by Madamina at 9:24 PM on August 26, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks for the responses.
posted by bach at 11:57 AM on August 28, 2010


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