Hello,
I am currently looking at Post bac programs in other states. I reside in North Carolina and with the exception of Wake forest, the post bacs are all in other states. It looks like if I attend the program in Florida I will be there for two yeas. I am pretty sure the others will require at least a year in the other state and then a glide year. How does this affect my NC residency? Can I still claim NC residency if I just go to School for a few years in Florida. (I may work part time in Fl) Should I keep a NC mailing address for the two years? Has anyone else had to deal with this issue?
Thanks!
Marcia
There are some basic ways of keeping your foot in the NC Door: keep property you own in NC, file a State income tax return using a NC address you maintain (do you have family who will remain in NC? Keep their address as your permanent address). However, if you are concerned about how NC Med schools handle a situation such as yours, I recommend contacting their admissions offices. Plenty of undergrad NC students attend out of state schools without losing NC residency but I believe (based on my limited Univ experience) maintaining NC residency means paying out of state tuition at the out of state school the student attends. If the student applies for residency in the school’s state (even if ‘only’ for tuition purposes) the student is considered ‘Out of State’ when s/he returns to NC. Sometimes even just being in another state for over a year causes a loss of residency status for students; this happened with my son – he lived in NC with me, went to middle school and high school here but then went to Florida for a couple of years (he worked part-time and got a FL driver’s license). He returned home at age 19 and decided to go to college. When he went through the application process, the schools all classified him as out of state. He had to wait a year before getting in-state tuition. Best advice: Check with the schools to be sure how residency is handled.
I’m not sure whether you’ve considered or are interested, but it isn’t necessary to do a formal post-bacc program. You can take all the same courses, get letters of rec., etc. at any university, and it may allow you to stay in NC if that’s what you would like to do. I was a little apprehensive to do this at first, but now am INCREDIBLY happy I chose the school I did. It allowed me to concentrate on my pre-med education in a setting where I really felt I was going to be successful. Just a thought. Of course this could all be moot because a formal post-bacc program could be exactly what you’re looking for! Good luck with your decisions!!
Larry