I currently am a high school senior in Colorado. I plan to move out to California to live with my sister, and be closer to my boyfriend. I want to be a nurse and therefore need to go to school. I do not want to have huge out-of-state bills... so I know I have to take a year off of school and proove residency.
My plan is to move to California by October 2011. I will do all the steps to be a resident of the state - drivers license, bank account, insurance, voter registration, and get a job. That way the entire year of 2012 will be my year of establising residency, and I plan on enrolling to attend Cal State San Bernardino full time the Spring semester 2013 as an in-state resident. In addition, I know that I need to make sure my parents do not claim me on their taxes for that year (2012 taxes). I believe they will still claim me on their 2011 though, is that going to be an issue? Other possible pertaintent info - I will be 18 in March of 2011, 19 in March of 2012.
I want to not stop going to school while I wait. I have read that I cannot attend full time (more than 6 credits?) as a non-resident during the year of establishing residency, is this true? I was thinking to take just one or two classes a semester at Victor Valley College (a community college) as a non-resident. Which means when I apply for Cal State that will be my first time enrolling full time. Would I need to fill out the "Reclassification" form? If I have those small community college credits and was never enrolled full time, when I do enroll al Cal State - what am I - a first time freshman, a transfer student??
If it is okay to attend a couple classes at the community college, can I apply and be accepted before moving, or should I move first so that I can apply with new address etc? (but would be applying as non-resident)
Thanks in advance for any input - if you have any links to where you found your innformation that would be appreciated for reference. I have read through the California Education Code - but that thing is confusing and hard to follow.
Update:nina - not so sure that website was what you were talking about... it has no answers to my questionns...
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Nina's post was spam.
If you want to be absolutely sure that you can take Community College courses, call an admissions counselor at CSSB. As long as you are only in school part time, you should be able to take a few general ed courses at community college and have them transfer. You'd only want to take a few courses at community college, anyway, since colleges can be picky about having transfer credits count towards graduation requirements.
As far as your parents - since you'll be over 18, legally they can't claim you on their 2012 taxes if you don't live with them and they're not financially contributing to your education as a full time college student. However, since you're presumably living with them now, as a minor, and it's currently 2011, it's appropriate for them to claim you on their taxes for this year. You'll also need to claim your own taxes for this year if you have a job, especially for the time that you live in California.