Determining Florida Residency for Tuition Purposes

There is nothing more important to a student than how much the education costs. And, for those who expect to qualify as Florida residents for tuition purposes, this residency determination is often a moment of difficulty and confusion. Please remember that the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has no vested interest in preventing a student from receiving the benefits associated with being a Florida resident for tuition purposes, but it must follow the statutes to make this determination properly. Often, the biggest problem in making the right decision stems from incomplete information on the application for admission. We recommend students take extra time to answer all the questions on the application carefully and accurately to help avoid any common misunderstandings or misperceptions later in the process.

Florida Residents @ UWF

To qualify to be a Florida resident for tuition purposes, students must provide the appropriate documentation to arrive at that conclusion. The materials they need to demonstrate include the following:

• US Citizenship
• Independent or Dependent status on recent tax filings
• Permanent Resident (green card) or legal alien granted indefinite stay by the US Department of Homeland Security
• Established physical and legal residence in Florida (not a residence hall) for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the first day of classes of your desired semester of entry. There are many documents that are routinely used to establish residency for tuition purposes.

The requirements to qualify for Florida residency for tuition purposes are pretty strict. However, there are a handful of known exceptions where Florida residency for tuition purposes is granted outside these rules.

What Makes In State Tuition so Cheap?

Florida residents are often thought to pay far less tuition than non-resident students pay. In truth, they only pay a small portion of the total tuition cost.  It’s just that Florida residents for tuition purposes get assistance from the state, which means they have less “out-of-pocket” expense than their non-resident counterparts.  We wanted to explain that the cost of the education is the same no matter the residency classification of the student.  The real difference is the subsidy that Florida residents get and not a difference in the billing.