What state of residence would I be considered?
I'm going to college in Rhode Island and my parents are going to move to Massachusetts very soon. Mass's law says that you have to be living in MA for 5 years to be considered a resident and I'm not sure about RI's law. What do you think? I want to be a RI resident still to be considered for a program in my college..
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"What state of residence would I be considered? I'm going to college in Rhode Island and my parents are going to move to Massachusetts very soon. Mass's law says that you have to be living in MA for 5 years to be considered a resident and I'm not sure about RI's law. What do you think? I want to be a RI resident still to be considered for a program in my college.."
There is no quick answer to your question.
There are two concepts at work here. First there is "residence" and second there is "domicile." Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, the basic idea is as follows:
Your domicile is your permanent residence-- the place you plan to return to when your finished doing whatever you're doing wherever else you are for the time. This permanent address is usually the place college students call home-- and is often still their parents' address because that's where they lived before they went off to school (and is where they live over breaks). To be an actual domiciliary, you usually must still maintain a presence-- that is, you receive mail there, you have an automobile registered there, it's the address on your driver's license, you have belongings there or a room there-- and most importantly, that's where you plan to go when you finish your temporary thing (like college).
Your residence is the place you live. States often define "residency" as you having lived in a place for a certain amount of time. You "prove" it to the state by having paid utility bills at the address or by your having some identification that was obtained previously within the period of time required.
If you wish to obtain state benefits-- such as an in-state resident tuition from a public school-- the state generally requires that you be considered a resident and domiciliary-- and that you've done so for a specific period of time.
Since you now appear to be a R.I. resident, it's unlikely that anyone would challenge that in the future. But if you plan on changing your mailing address to your parents' MA address, that's where you might have some problems. So, have you thought about moving out on your own? Maybe sharing an apartment with someone in R.I.? And will the school continue to consider you a resident despite the circumstances you've explained here? They might. And it's probably worth looking into.
Most states consider you a resident once you have fulfilled all of the following requirements for said state:
-Driver's license or state ID
-Registered to vote
-Pay state income tax
If you do these three in RI, then you would be considered a resident of RI.
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