Studying at Community College on K1 Visa

[SalishSea 17,850]

4 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Proving residence and proving legal residence are not the same thing …

Right.  But even if a school admits students without regard to immigration status, they are going to need to determine whether that person qualifies for in-state tuition.

 

Maybe not so much for community college, but when my son went to UC Berkeley, anyone who had not attended high school in California was paying the out of state supplemental tuition.

[Daisy.Chain 317]

In my state my husband enrolled in community college classes on the k1 after submitting his foreign HS degree. However, they wouldn't allow in-state tuition until he received the green card. The registration people were very confused over the difference between "international student" and "applicant with k1 visa", and it took significant explaining - but he was allowed to enroll.

 

We ended up waiting until after he got his green card for other reasons, so he didn't actually take classes until that time.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Daisy.Chain

[Tivat 3]

In my case, I enrolled in community college whilst my I-485 is on process. The school required the following: Transcript of records detailed evaluation of coursework, FAFSA and my husband's union membership. The drawback is, I can't start taking classes till I accomplish FAFSA, and that requires SSN, which I already applied since last week of April and still pending for verification from Homeland. 

[Sarah&Facundo 595]

My husband came on the K1 visa. We married in April and he started the summer semester at our community college in mid-June. They allowed him to go for in-state tuition because he was married to me and I had, of course, been a resident for more than one year in our county. He did not have his SSN yet, so they filled it in with 00-000-0000 and they told him to come back when he had his number so they could update it, which we did. He was NOT allowed to receive any money from a FAFSA, however, so he was not eligible for any scholarship money until he received his green card. So we paid out-of-pocket, but fortunately community college isn't too expensive. It was about $5k a year in our county.  Since he never took the SAT, he had to take placement tests to see if he needed Remedial classes. Since he never took the TOEFL exam, he also had to take an English exam to see if he needed ESL classes before starting his courses. He just finished his Associates Degree without any issues.  

[MarryMe987654 244]

I enrolled in University of West Florida after receiving my greencard. It was a requirement for admission. Here's my checklist:

 

I qualified for Financial Aid but because I only lived in the U.S. for less than a year, I qualify as temporary resident because of my marriage to a resident. After a year of living in Florida, I checked in with the university to see if I can be a reclassified as resident and here's their response:

 

 

Hope this helps!

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

12 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Right.  But even if a school admits students without regard to immigration status, they are going to need to determine whether that person qualifies for in-state tuition.

 

Maybe not so much for community college, but when my son went to UC Berkeley, anyone who had not attended high school in California was paying the out of state supplemental tuition.

Thanks for giving an example to back up my point.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

2 hours ago, Tivat said:

In my case, I enrolled in community college whilst my I-485 is on process. The school required the following: Transcript of records detailed evaluation of coursework, FAFSA and my husband's union membership. The drawback is, I can't start taking classes till I accomplish FAFSA, and that requires SSN, which I already applied since last week of April and still pending for verification from Homeland. 

I am pretty sure you need to have a green card to qualify for FAFSA, not just a SSN… you may want to check that 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

58 minutes ago, MarryMe987654 said:

 

I qualified for Financial Aid but because I only lived in the U.S. for less than a year, I qualify as temporary resident because of my marriage to a resident. After a year of living in Florida, I checked in with the university to see if I can be a reclassified as resident and here's their response:

 

 

Hope this helps!

That’s crazy, FL considers someone on a green card as a temporary resident?!  At least it doesn’t affect the assessment of instate vs OOS tuition.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[MarryMe987654 244]

Just now, SusieQQQ said:

That’s crazy, FL considers someone on a green card as a temporary resident?!  At least it doesn’t affect the assessment of instate vs OOS tuition.

I know

I had that same assumption that's why I asked for reclassification. Not that it affects my tuition or my financial aid. I am happy that I haven't had to pay anything for my school.

[HRQX 4,145]

15 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I am pretty sure you need to have a green card to qualify for FAFSA, not just a SSN… you may want to check that 

Correct, they would not be eligible for federal student aid. But they should still submit the form after receiving SSN: https://studentaid.gov/2021/help/citizen

If you’re neither a citizen nor an eligible noncitizen, you aren’t eligible for federal student aid. If you have a Social Security number but aren’t a citizen or an eligible noncitizen, including if you’ve been granted DACA, you should still complete the FAFSA form because you may be eligible for state or college aid. You should check with your school’s financial aid office to see what kind of financial aid you may be eligible to receive.

 

FAQ page: https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/financial-aid-and-undocumented-students.pdf

Edited July 8, 2021 by HRQX

[Tivat 3]

4 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Correct, they would not be eligible for federal student aid. But they should still submit the form after receiving SSN: https://studentaid.gov/2021/help/citizen

If you’re neither a citizen nor an eligible noncitizen, you aren’t eligible for federal student aid. If you have a Social Security number but aren’t a citizen or an eligible noncitizen, including if you’ve been granted DACA, you should still complete the FAFSA form because you may be eligible for state or college aid. You should check with your school’s financial aid office to see what kind of financial aid you may be eligible to receive.

Right. It's mandatory to complete FAFSA, should I not be eligible for the federal student aid, then my husband's union will cover my tuition fee, as I previously stated as to the requirements I needed to provide my school.