(코리아타운뉴스) “I’ve Lived Here For Over A Year!”
Tuition for California residents
ise based on parents’ tax report
Residence of parents affects eligibility
“I obviously thought I’d be eligible for in-state tuition as I lived in L.A. for four years with my mother,” Shin said. “I’m now only set to receive half of my tuition.”
# Hoon-sub Ji, who lived away from his father in California, is in the same situation. Even though he lived in California with his mother for five years, his family’s main source of income was from his father, who remained in Korea for work. As the head of the household is in Korea, Ji also categorized as a student on out of state tuition.
“I only applied to public state schools as private colleges are too expensive,” Ji said. “I feel like I’ve been wronged as I’ve lived in California all along.”
An increasing number of budding college students are becoming ineligible for in-state tuition despite living in California for well over a year.
The main reason for it is because many of those students live in California, but are receiving funds from their parents who either work out of state or abroad.
California State Universities as well as Universities of California are make the decision based on the permanent address of their parents, not where the students reside unless they are categorized as “financially independent.”
Students are considered independent if they are ▶ 23 or older ▶ attending graduate schools ▶ married or have families to support ▶ serving in the military. Those students have to prove that they receive no financial support. Those who are not considered independent are reviewed by the schools on whether or not their parents have resided in California.
“The standard varies a bit depending on the schools,” said an anonymous source who is employed in the admissions department at a UC school. “Some students are now being required to pay way more tuition because of their eligibility on residence. Even if the student have graduated high school in California, there must be a proof that the purpose of residing in California was not for education.”
“More colleges are now counting some students ineligible for in-state tuition as they’ve been clamping down on reviewing their paperwork,” said college loan consultants.
Critics say that the recent trend was triggered by states across the country looking to rake in higher tuition as their budgets on education have been reduced significantly over the years.
In fact, the nine UC schools have been admitting lower number of students eligible for in-state tuition recently. Only 62.6 percent of the incoming students at those schools will be paying in-state tuition, 1.7 percent lower than the previous year.
“Many parents believe that simply sending their children to schools in a state where they’ve lived will make them eligible for in-state tuition,” said AGM College Planning president Richard Myung. “However, they must prove that their children lived in California to simply live there, and not for educational purposes.”
In-state tuition is a benefit offered to students who have resided locally for at least one to two years.
By Yeol Jang
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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