Considering Moving For In-State Tuition

[J89Mike]

Has anybody heard of, tried to do this, or have any insight on this possibility?

 

I'm a pre-PA student hoping to start in 2019 (submitting my application in 2018 via CASPA) and the schools I like the most are all out of state. For example, I really like the University of Utah due to their longevity of success and mission so I'm hopeful I can be accepted into their program.

 

I am currently living in Arizona and the most well-known school we have is Midwestern University which is a private university so tuition for the entire program crosses over the 6 figure mark. Not saying all schools in Arizona has high tuition costs, but I'm not really considering applying to any school in my hometown (we have 3). Maybe I'm just trying to look at something unrealistic, however, my current housing lease is up in January, I don't have any classes left to take for PA school (via prereqs), I'm single with no major outstanding debt (minus controlled undergrad student loan) and I'm a registered nurse who realistically won't have a hard time finding any places of employment due to the nature of my job. If I don't get accepted there and I have to fork out a little extra money to go to school wherever I may get accepted, that's something I would of had to do anyway even if I stayed in Arizona. I hope that makes sense.

 

I feel my application will be competitive and even if I decided to take a few other science courses to attempt to boost my GPA or add credit hours, I could still afford to do that at any local community college that may offer the specific course.

 

I figure if I take that leap to move and I do in fact get accepted to the school I'm applying to, it can knock off a good amount of tuition for being considered an "in-state student." Thanks for the insight!

[UGoLong]

Most states have rules on this. Some states require you to live in-state for a certain period of time before you are considered a resident for tuition purposes. I would suspect you to be able to get that information from the school or the state (via Internet).


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[MT2PA]

Usually you have to be living in the state for at least 1 calendar year.  There are additional stipulations like not maintaining residence status in other places, etc.  Also often have to prove residency with bills, statements, and a reason for moving other than for school (i.e for a job and not just to establish residency for lower tuition).  Each state may be different.

You can certainly do it, but unless you are able to be there for at least 1 year before the start of the program (or perhaps even before the start of enrollment - I'm not sure) it does you no good.

I'll just caution that it's a big gamble with a lot of moving parts.  Do your homework.

[MyNameWasUsed]

Sounds very impractical. Unless you have some dream school in mind and you are willing to apply until you get accepted to said dream school, I wouldn't bother. Most non state funded PA programs are around 35-50k while state funded ones are probably half the cost. So you'll save a potential 17-25k x 2 = 34-50k total. If you put off PA school for one year to obtain residency, you'll lose 100k of potential salary. 

 

[UGoLong]

I know of one exception in my experience: moving to another state to get medical experience. One of my classmates moved from Florida to Ohio and worked at a local hospital here for a year before starting PA school. Ours is a private school so it wasn't for residency purposes -- it was to be near his now wife -- though such an approach likely would work for residency.