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I am an international student who has been admitted to the School A for Fall 2012. When I was admitted, based on my admissions status checker, I was classified and listed as in-state . While I already had an offer from School B in a different state with a scholarship, I chose to attend School A because I have been living in that state for the past four years and have family here. Also, having worked in the legal field in that state for the last one year, I intended to continue to study here and work here thereafter. After I paid my seat deposit and let my seat and scholarship go at the other school, I was informed that I do not qualify for in state tuition and the confusion was due to misinformation and the admissions office should not have listed me an in-state student as they are not the ones to determine residency. The difference between paying in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition at School A is almost $15,000 a year. This news, as you can understand, has put my ability to afford law school under immense pressure.

Had the status checker showed that I would be out of state, I would have made my decisions accordingly, but I was mislead to think otherwise, and now I have been left hanging, option less. I feel like I have been tricked. I tried several times to explain this situation to the Law School admissions peeps as well as the Dean, but all they say is that it was just a case of misinformation and now there is nothing they can do about it. This answer of course is of no help to me. As per student visa regulations I have to start school this year, otherwise I lose my visa and must return to my country, therefore, waiting another year to reapply for admissions is not a feasible option for me.

The other law school (School B) where I was offered admission and scholarship allows international students on F1 visa to qualify for in state tuition after the completion of the first year and summer of study. However, since School A was my preferred school and I was under the impression that I was getting in-state tuition, I made the decision to forgo those opportunities and study here (as I have been living in the state for 5 years). However, now I have been put in a very difficult situation with no help or alternatives provided by the school.

I asked them to provide an alternative to get through this situation since the school's status checker misled me into thinking that I was in-state. I wrote an email to the Dean of the Law School but she echoed the same answer that there was nothing that can be done and they are not responsible for determining residency.

I am not aware how to proceed, and I do not know who else I can contact. Can anyone give me some guidance, alternatives or advice.

Thanks

You are not a resident of State A. You need to get in touch with School B and see if you can still get in.

They are correct. it isn't up to admissions to determine residency. You need to be on top of whether you qualify as a resident or not. If you think that you should get residency under the laws of State A, then you need to find out who to appeal it to.
You will not get anywhere with the Dean of admissions, so you are stuck. They made a mistake but it may have been based on on information you gave them. At any rate, give up getting to School A for in-state unless there is somewhere else to appeal that decision.

Your choices:
1. Go to your preferred school and pay more than you thought.
2, Hope school B still has a spot and a scholarship and if so go there if price is your main concern.
3. Hope School B still has a spot even without a scholarship, if so go there if it will ultimately be a better financial choice.
4. Try to get a job and get a visa to work under the one year after graduation rule, might be too late for that.
5. Go home and reapply from there. I don't know your numbers so you might want to retake.

Suny is right, it's not up to the law school to determine residency. It's likely the state's Dept of Ed that makes the determination. There should be a pretty clear set of rules for determining residency published online somewhere; it's more complex than just being in the state for a while. If you're having trouble, contact your state legislator and they should be able to help.

T14HopefulAK wrote:I am an international student who has been admitted to the School A for Fall 2012. When I was admitted, based on my admissions status checker, I was classified and listed as in-state . While I already had an offer from School B in a different state with a scholarship, I chose to attend School A because I have been living in that state for the past four years and have family here. Also, having worked in the legal field in that state for the last one year, I intended to continue to study here and work here thereafter. After I paid my seat deposit and let my seat and scholarship go at the other school, I was informed that I do not qualify for in state tuition and the confusion was due to misinformation and the admissions office should not have listed me an in-state student as they are not the ones to determine residency. The difference between paying in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition at School A is almost $15,000 a year. This news, as you can understand, has put my ability to afford law school under immense pressure.

Had the status checker showed that I would be out of state, I would have made my decisions accordingly, but I was mislead to think otherwise, and now I have been left hanging, option less. I feel like I have been tricked. I tried several times to explain this situation to the Law School admissions peeps as well as the Dean, but all they say is that it was just a case of misinformation and now there is nothing they can do about it. This answer of course is of no help to me. As per student visa regulations I have to start school this year, otherwise I lose my visa and must return to my country, therefore, waiting another year to reapply for admissions is not a feasible option for me.

The other law school (School B) where I was offered admission and scholarship allows international students on F1 visa to qualify for in state tuition after the completion of the first year and summer of study. However, since School A was my preferred school and I was under the impression that I was getting in-state tuition, I made the decision to forgo those opportunities and study here (as I have been living in the state for 5 years). However, now I have been put in a very difficult situation with no help or alternatives provided by the school.

I asked them to provide an alternative to get through this situation since the school's status checker misled me into thinking that I was in-state. I wrote an email to the Dean of the Law School but she echoed the same answer that there was nothing that can be done and they are not responsible for determining residency.

I am not aware how to proceed, and I do not know who else I can contact. Can anyone give me some guidance, alternatives or advice.

Thanks

Call them immediately. Calling>emailing because it makes things more personal and shows initiative. If you talk to the admissions heads they can be very understanding.

Best of luck! I hope everything turned out ok.

Samara wrote:Suny is right, it's not up to the law school to determine residency. It's likely the state's Dept of Ed that makes the determination. There should be a pretty clear set of rules for determining residency published online somewhere; it's more complex than just being in the state for a while. If you're having trouble, contact your state legislator and they should be able to help.

Samara is right, I was applying to a state school and thought I would qualify for in-state tuition, but regardless of the length of time I'd spent there, I didn't qualify anymore because I hadn't lived in the state in the past 12 months. :/

At my school, the "undergrad" has an office that deals with residency and reciprocity, and residency decisions are appealable. Find the residency office's web page.