Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member jp_48504's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    19,168

    Think you have Florida residency? Maybe not ...

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com

    Think you have Florida residency? Maybe not ...

    By Jack Stripling
    The Gainesville Sun
    Posted June 19 2006

    GAINESVILLE · Ellysa Varner was born in Gainesville and has lived her entire life here, so it came as a surprise when Santa Fe Community College officials told her she wasn't a Florida resident.

    Varner, 19, is among several peculiar residency cases Santa Fe and the University of Florida see each year. Under state regulations, lifelong Florida residents can lose residency status for tuition purposes if their parents move out of state, even in cases where the student is working and paying taxes in Florida.



    LocalLinks
    "I understand the situation and it's a tough one, but I have not seen any leeway on this," said Lynn Sullivan, college registrar at Santa Fe.

    Varner's father, who worked as an educator in Gainesville for 25 years, moved to Maryland in early 2005 to take a job at Goddard Space Flight Center. He said he was unaware that moving to Maryland and listing Varner as a dependent on his tax return could lead to a 271 percent spike in her tuition. To take the 12 credit hours she needs next year to graduate, Varner's tuition will be $2,817, up from $760.

    "It just seemed odd that somebody who spent their whole life in Florida is no longer a Floridian," said Rick Varner, the student's father.

    Varner might have reasonable grounds to appeal for in-state tuition before Santa Fe's residency committee, Sullivan said, but the state's statutory language doesn't bode well for her case. Even if she weren't listed as a dependent on her father's tax return, Varner still would be in a bind. In order to be classified as an independent, which would grant Varner in-state tuition, she would have to prove that she could afford to pay for 50 percent of the cost of attending college, according to Santa Fe's application of state regulations.

    In short, Varner could qualify for lower tuition if only she had a higher income. But her two minimum-wage jobs at Rip's Cleaners and Maui Teriyaki don't bring in enough money to get a break on tuition.

    "We hear about [these cases] a few times a year," said Rick Regan, the University of Florida's assistant registrar. "It's unfortunate. It's sad that that happens."

    It's not likely going to get any easier to establish residency in Florida, even for Floridians. At the request of legislators, colleges and universities have become increasingly guarded in the granting of residency status.

    The state's comparatively low in-state tuition rates and scholarship opportunities for Floridians constitute a significant taxpayer burden that lawmakers hope to keep at bay, said Sara Hamon, an expert on residency issues with the state Department of Education.

    "[Residency] has received constant attention over the years, and the pressure we're getting is to be more stringent," said Hamon, director of articulation and educational services for the department.

    In 2005, legislators approved several notable changes to statutes related to residency, including a requirement that students furnish tax returns to indicate whether they are financially independent. Prior to the change, some colleges and universities weren't verifying student income through tax returns in residency cases, according to a state-sponsored report on the issue.

    The report, produced by the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, suggested the state could greatly increase revenues if it cracked down on residency.

    An additional $28.2 million in new tuition money could be brought in every year if no students were reclassified from non-resident to resident status, the report stated.

    The report, titled "Non-residents Qualify Too Easily for Much Lower Resident Tuition Rates," described the application of residency statutes as sporadic among colleges and universities. It noted that different colleges and universities apply different standards for granting residency, indicating confusion about which students merit residency status and an overall lack of standardization in the system.

    Even after changes were made by the Legislature in response to the report, institutions still appear to differ in their interpretation of the residency statute. Santa Fe uses a different mathematical criteria than the University of Florida, for instance, when calculating whether a student is financially independent.

    David Armstrong, Florida's chancellor of Community Colleges & Workforce Education, said the residency system could be improved but isn't broken -- even if some Florida natives wind up paying out-of-state rates.

    "It's never perfect, and there's always some students who get into difficult situations," he said.

    That's cold comfort for Varner, who says she'll swallow hard and pay out-of-state tuition even though she was born in a Gainesville hospital. "I want to finish college altogether," said Varner, who is interested in a career in photojournalism. "I don't want to not go to college just because my parents moved."
    I stay current on Americans for Legal Immigration PAC's fight to Secure Our Border and Send Illegals Home via E-mail Alerts (CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP)

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    1,569
    But our government would like to give in-state tuition to an illegal who is the citizen of another country? Just another perk for the illegals and slap in the face of the citizens.

  3. #3
    traveler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Posts
    125

    Tuition

    This is just more b.s. to free up additional resources for illegal aliens as you never see them having to jump through hoops or go through the same gyrations as do LEGAL citizens. Why is it they can produce fraudulent documentation with no questions asked while legal tax paying citizens are denied the same benefit? Again this occurs as a result of another open borders advocate and screw the American citizen politician which in this case resides in the governor's mansion (oh another Bush).

  4. #4
    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Joliet, Il
    Posts
    10,175
    It's never perfect, and there's always some students who get into difficult situations," he said.
    None of our citizens should be denied ANYTHING they are willing to give to ILLEGALS!!!!!!
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •