# Becoming a Florida resident

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-florida-resident/540128>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 20, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-florida-resident/540128 "2010-05-20T14:52:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![first\_time\_caller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@first\_time\_caller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/first_time_caller)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-florida-resident/540128/1 "2010-05-20T14:52:50Z")

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As an out-stater starting graduate school in the fall, my tuition is $30,000 more than my in-state counterparts. Since I’ll be spending at least four years in Florida, decreasing my student loans and other debts will be awesome. My google-fu is weak so I turning to the Dope to find relevant information.

Don’t know if it’s relevant, but I am hoping to find a place by Late July/Early August.

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**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-florida-resident/540128/2 "2010-05-20T15:07:25Z")

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> [@first\_time\_caller](#):
>
> As an out-stater starting graduate school in the fall, my tuition is $30,000 more than my in-state counterparts. Since I’ll be spending at least four years in Florida, decreasing my student loans and other debts will be awesome. My google-fu is weak so I turning to the Dope to find relevant information.
> 
> Don’t know if it’s relevant, but I am hoping to find a place by Late July/Early August.

FL Resident and student.

1. Must establish permanent residency (change DL, voter registration, car tags, etc.)

2. Wait 12 months.

Then you are eligible for in-state FL tuition.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-florida-resident/540128/3 "2010-05-20T18:14:20Z")

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[Florida residency requirements to be eligible for in-state tuition](http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch1009/SEC21.HTM&Title=-%3E2002-%3ECh1009-%3ESection%2021).

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/becoming-a-florida-resident/540128/4 "2010-05-20T18:27:37Z")

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To note in passing, this is not the requirements for “legal residence in Florida,” which is simply to move there with the intent to remain there quasi-permanently, which can be accomplished by renting a dwelling place (house, apartment, room, etc.) and making any necessary changes to personal paperwork (forwarding mail, changing driver’s license if any, etc.). What’s addressed by **jtgain** and **Duckster** above is establishing residence _for the purpose of paying in-state tuition_ – and the state, for good reason, makes it more onerous to qualify for the resident tuition break than to simply establish legal residence.

You can vote, get a resident hunting or fishing license, etc., much more easily than you can qualify for tuition reduction afforded bona fide residents. And the reason is obvious: people will move to a city siting a good college for the time they attend college, get their education subsidized by the state taxpayers, then move away again. Requiring a year’s formal residency to qualify for the in-state tuition break is entirely within the Legislature’s powers to require.