[JazzmanLI]

Hi Everyone, I am currently a out of state resident living in Fort Myers, Florida. I moved down here to attend school. As of now I have an on campus apartment. I'm pretty sure there is no way to become a resident in Florida living on campus. If there is, i would love to know about it. Sure everyone would be if it was simple.
Anyway, I do not plan on leaving Florida. I will find a job down here and hopefully in the summer time find an off campus apartment. I'm hoping by that time I would be eligible to become a Florida resident.
How do I go about residency in the state? And once a resident, would I be eligible for in state tuition at a Florida state university?

Thank you for your help

[annerk]

On campus housing isn't considered "permanent" so no, you aren't a resident.

Rent a private apartment and the situation changes immediately. I believe you need to maintain residency for at least a year (that means changing car registration, billing addresses, and voter registration) before you are eligible for in-state tuition.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by annerk

On campus housing isn't considered "permanent" so no, you aren't a resident.

Rent a private apartment and the situation changes immediately. I believe you need to maintain residency for at least a year (that means changing car registration, billing addresses, and voter registration) before you are eligible for in-state tuition.

Having a job that can sustain you in a private apartment also helps tremendously. It shows you are not planning on leaving the state after the semester is over, or put another way, that you are not living in Florida for tuition purposes.

[Rabflmom]

But if you are talking residency to get in state tuition for school, it is different. You cannot get residency by attending school in Florida.

[beachmouse]

Contact your student services/financial aid office for the process, but it's pretty much impossible at this point to reclassify yourself as a resident for tuition purposes because you obviously came down here in order to be a student.

You'd pretty much have to drop out for a year, work and earn enough to be considered to be self-supporting in that year (think somewhere around $20K on your income tax), apply to go back to school, and they'd still probably claim you were non-resident for tuition purposes.

Too many people have exploited loopholes over the years that the state and the universities are extremely tough about this- remember from their view, you're a bona fide revenue source right now because of how much they can get you to pay, and an in-state residents costs them far more to educate than they can charge. And given the current higher ed funding situation in Tallahassee, that's not going to change by your expected graduation date.

[cfbs2691]

My niece went through this.
You'll need to NOT attend school for at least one year while financially supporting yourself and not be a deduction on anyone's taxes.

[JazzmanLI]

So I see it will become very difficult for me to claim instate tuition. Even know the University believes I'm in Florida to be a student I'm not. This is where I'll be living the better part of my life. In the interim, can I still register my car in Florida, driver license, vote in Florida, and become a Florida resident? Even know it won't help with my tuition? I will be working in Florida year round so I can't see why I couldn't.

[doggiebus]

Yes you can do all this, but I probably wouldn't recommend this while in college. People in college move around a lot, so unless you plan to stay in one place for awhile or plan to change your address each time you move places, its not a smart thing to do. Plus registering your car in Florida I think costs on average $500 someone told me, I could be wrong on the exact cost. If you decide to change your address to Florida, check and see how much your car insurance rate will change. You may save money or you may pay more money by switching your car insurance to Florida. So just check.

[annerk]

Initial car registration is about $500 when all is said and done in Florida.

[RMD3819]

I moved to Florida to attend shool and never left. This was 1981.

The first thing I did was go to the County Clerk's office and file a Declaration of Domicile. This is a legal document that starts the clock ticking if you don't have other documentation.

I did the DL, car and voter registration but the Declaration of Domicile was the key item I used to get in state tuition the next year.