step-daughter and college

[david_dawei]

Seems Florida (and probably other states) have their residency requirements written in such a way that the step-father can NOT provide the residency requirement for the student... although federal law has it that they (immigration process) has seen to it that they can take one to court, that person is not afforded any true 'legal' status for residency.

[dnoblett]

6 month break from college?

 

I know in NY a person is not considered a resident for resident rate tuition until they have been resident 6 months or longer, the college goes by issue date on driver's license, or state ID, and I don't believe they consider a step parent's residency for this either, I use to work in the accounts office of a NY State Community College, goes to who to bill for that portion of the tuition, (Which county) and the county wont issue a residency cert, and pay the bill unless a person has been a resident in their jurisdiction more than 1/2 year.

 

So first thing would be to visit DMV and apply for a permit or state ID ASAP.

Edited December 13, 2011 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[david_dawei]

Florida is 12 months like many states.

 

Now that we have mail from the college to her name and to this address to support the start of her residency, we'll take that (and the newly arrived SSN mailing to her name as well). My thought is with now two mailings to her it should be easier to get a state ID.

 

Although it seems a little silly, we could probably have her repeat 12th grade since she has not technically finished it. But based on her experience at the college admission visit we made, she could not understand a single word the lady said...

Edited December 13, 2011 by david_dawei (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

You may have an idea there do senior year, at least to get up to speed on english.

 

Yep twelve months is the standard residency, now that I remember.

[warpedbored]

The 12th grade again may not be a bad idea David. Many high schools offer college credit courses for students who test high enough. She could get some college credits and have more time to get used to speaking English before diving into a full college schedule.

[david_dawei]

Yes, the only thing I worry is that there is only 6 months left in the HS final year and it will take about that much time for her to really get english under her belt; but the quality of her grades would be way below her potential since she cannot really understand anyone (ie: teacher). So I do wonder what that looks like to show HS transcript grades which are not any good relative to her real potential.

[david_dawei]

I just looked up how to get the State ID for Florida and she would need a SSN... so good thing that just came in the mail. She needs proof of two kinds of mailing to show her residency or she can use me as (proof)... again, another inconsistency about what defines 'residency'. If she were going to HS, they would consider her a FL resident but the minute she wants to go to college they change the requirement.

[griz326]

I worried about the language issue with my step-daughter, but she was so damned determined that nothing was going to hold her back. She did some amazing things with her grades and English TOFL scores. If your step-daughter is even half as determined as mine, try not to hold her back unnecessarily.

 

The only thing I did to hold my kid back was to make her go to school in Montana. She lost face when I stopped her from going to one of the two big, top-ranked universities that accepted her.

 

If your girl is struggling with English repeating the 12th grade isn't a bad plan, but how will she deal with what might be considered a loss of face?

[david_dawei]

I don't think there will be any 'face' issues involved. Her mom nips that kind of thinking very fast. It is mostly a matter of what she comprehends at any direction we go. We can't do more than 2-3 classes at college right now since she can't even understand most anything someone says. But seeing how they want to jerk us around concerning 'residency' makes looking at finishing HS an unexpected option.

 

But again, there is only 6 months left of HS and she can't possibly do as well as her potential in 6 months when all the other students are already half-way through the classes. It's not a matter of her determination; it is simply the limited time to reflect what she is capable of [given time]. Right now when she does a practice English test, she is guessing at every single question; that despite the fact that she has studied english for several years and does quite good in her scores in china. But 6 months of HS seems a good trade-off even if her grades are not reflective.

 

If we decided to 'wait' on the college and let her go to HS for half a year we would not really have to tell the college she went (ie: they would not have any reason to ask for HS papers) since she is already enrolled at this point. We would just tell them we are waiting to go full-time.

[dnoblett]

Another option is pay the non resident rate for the ESL class at the college, an just take the ESL classes for the spring semester. More than likely the school will want to see grades from ESL and math before placeing in college classes.

[david_dawei]

Another option is pay the non resident rate for the ESL class at the college, an just take the ESL classes for the spring semester. More than likely the school will want to see grades from ESL and math before placeing in college classes.

yes, thanks... we just thought of this also this morning. Then have to decide how much to really take in Fall since she would still be at the higher rate. They use a placement exam and require it for students of foreign origin (for both english and math). They have 8 levels of english one can get placed in (and continue as desired). That is their form of ESL.

[david_dawei]

The one topic I have not mentioned is if I adopted her (FL has no age limit) then we would get the lower tuition. While I could probably do that in under a years time to qualify for residency I am not sure about the comments I read that say the biological father has to agree to give up his ties(?)

[yemmie]

Here in Virginia, they did not consider my step son a resident of Virginia until he got his two year conditional resident card. The five months thaty he was here before that did not count. Therefore, he attended school here, taking ESL classes for one year at out of state tuition rates and inelligible for any financial aid.

[dnoblett]

Here in Virginia, they did not consider my step son a resident of Virginia until he got his two year conditional resident card. The five months thaty he was here before that did not count. Therefore, he attended school here, taking ESL classes for one year at out of state tuition rates and inelligible for any financial aid.

Not an issue for David, he did the CR-1, CR-2 visa route, instant green-card the moment they cleared the POE, so the step daughter is a Lawful Permanent Resident.

 

The issue has more to do state college rules as to who is a state resident, many states consider a person a resident after the person has been in the state the majority of a year (6 months), and many schools don't offer resident rate until a person has been resident for a year.

[david_dawei]

The issue has more to do state college rules as to who is a state resident, many states consider a person a resident after the person has been in the state the majority of a year (6 months), and many schools don't offer resident rate until a person has been resident for a year.

The issue is ripe for a lawsuit though... consider the following cases:

1. Get a State ID. No period of time required, just show address proof and required documents

2. Taxes. The federal and state level will gladly take your money without too much questioning of the time

3. HS. A state will immediately accept you as a resident and you go to High school.

4. Colleges. Make residency rules which are not consistent with any of the above so you can get as much money out of people as possible.

 

I read of a girl born in the US and went to school in the US who was denied college residency status because her mom could not prove citizenship or LPR status... yes, it was meet with a lawsuit. It's this kind of game which will come back to haunt colleges who refuse to apply common sense to situations.