Information gathering: Tucson

[tulip]

Looks like there might be a car sharing program for UA affiliates. That would make not having a car much more reasonable. I'm not there, so I don't know if this article is up-to-date.

http://uanews.org/node/27039

[badgercat]

You're right, Tulip. I forgot all about that. It's run by Connect by Hertz.

[Tri Girl]

OK- so I realize I'm joining this conversation late and that I have nothing to add to it, but I just read the whole thing and got severe sadness pangs in my stomach realizing how much I miss Tucson. I went to UA in the early 90's and loved that city oh so much. When I lost my full-ride scholarship my junior year, I had to leave and attend a cheaper college in OK. I miss Tucson more than you can imagine.
I hope you get accepted and that you get to move there. I have told my DH that when I retire I'm moving back to Tucson- he's welcome to join me.

Best of luck, Owlie!!!

[Owlie]

I believe grad students that hold TA's or RA's get their out of state tuition waived, if that is what you are asking. The grad coordinator in your department should be able to help.

From the information they gave us, regardless of what state we're from, they cover our tuition and stipend. (They only take as many as they can support on RA positions...after that, the advisor's grants are supposed to cover us.)

My question was more along the lines of "If you're a graduate student, should you make Arizona your permanent residence?" The grad students from California switched for tax purposes (because the taxes in CA are pretty high). According to some information buried in the guide for newcomers they gave us, AZ requires you to switch your vehicle registration and get an AZ driver's license immediately. Granted, this was aimed at a more general audience. I imagine that if you're going to graduate school and don't plan on making it your permanent residence, you don't have to. Does anyone know if that's the case?

[badgercat]

From the information they gave us, regardless of what state we're from, they cover our tuition and stipend. (They only take as many as they can support on RA positions...after that, the advisor's grants are supposed to cover us.)

My question was more along the lines of "If you're a graduate student, should you make Arizona your permanent residence?" The grad students from California switched for tax purposes (because the taxes in CA are pretty high). According to some information buried in the guide for newcomers they gave us, AZ requires you to switch your vehicle registration and get an AZ driver's license immediately. Granted, this was aimed at a more general audience. I imagine that if you're going to graduate school and don't plan on making it your permanent residence, you don't have to. Does anyone know if that's the case?

I don't think you're required to get an AZ DL, etc, if you have no designs on moving to Arizona permanently or trying to get in-state tuition, as long as you maintain a "permanent address" elsewhere (e.g. your parents' house). For students for whom residency status is relevant (like, those of us in departments who take more students than available TA/RAships ), all the hoop-jumping I mentioned in my post at the very bottom of the previous page becomes very important.

[tulip]

Why wouldn't you want to make it your official residence? I mean, you're going to be living there. With all kinds of budget cuts, I would not rely on promises of tuition remission year after year. Better to establish residency since you will be living there. Who knows if you'll end up staying; it doesn't matter. You need to have a permanent residence somewhere and where you live makes the most sense.

[badgercat]

Why wouldn't you want to make it your official residence? I mean, you're going to be living there. With all kinds of budget cuts, I would not rely on promises of tuition remission year after year. Better to establish residency since you will be living there. Who knows if you'll end up staying; it doesn't matter. You need to have a permanent residence somewhere and where you live makes the most sense.

The catch-22 is that with those same budget cuts, the university is enforcing residency status with an iron fist to avoid losing that out-of-state tuition income. It's not a simple matter here to appeal your residency status and get switched over to 'in-state' in the eyes of the University, especially if you've had any financial support from your parents in the past two years. I've had friends here who did DL and vehicle registration, voter registration, etc, within a couple weeks of moving here, and intended to appeal after a year and were basically told not to bother putting together an application. I was told that if my parents hadn't moved here (because they had supported me financially when I was an undergrad and I went straight to grad school three months later, I still fell under that umbrella, despite no longer receiving significant funds from them), I would have been out of luck as well. So, I agree that it's worth it to have residency if you CAN, but it may be a lost cause depending on your personal situation. It'd probably be worth speaking to folks in the residency office to find out what your options are.

[Crankin]

It was hell for me to prove my AZ residency, even back in the 70's. My parents moved there as soon as I graduated HS. They supported me, and I was clearly a dependent, but when i wanted to transfer to ASU in my senior year (I stayed in FL where I graduated HS), my dad had a screaming fight with the residency people. I told them I didn't have a DL (not possible in the Internet age), when I had a FL one, but even with their tax returns, it was a battle. The issue is that besides the revenue stream from out of state students, if they gave everyone residency who wanted to move to AZ for the weather, there would be way too many students! Just getting a DL, registering to vote, etc. is not really a statement of residency for a student. What people were told to do is come out, work for a year, so the intent of your move does not look like you are doing it to just get in state tuition. Since, back then, you could take 6 credits a semester with no out of state tuition (as well as summer school), people would move, work, take a couple of classes and then go to school once their residency status became clear.

[Dogmama]

Another alternative - albeit difficult - is try to get hired on as a classified staff member at 20 hours/week with benefits. Then, all of your classes for one semester is $25. But, then there is that work thing that you'd have to do...

[itself]

Having moved from Maine to Cavecreek 5 years ago, it's been a great change. The weather allows year round hiking, biking and outdoor activity in general.

But it's different. The people are not like East coast folks, and the food, well up this way, is just plain terrible. No flavor at all!

I miss the culture, theatre and arts...it just does not exist here.

[badgercat]

Having moved from Maine to Cavecreek 5 years ago, it's been a great change. The weather allows year round hiking, biking and outdoor activity in general.

But it's different. The people are not like East coast folks, and the food, well up this way, is just plain terrible. No flavor at all!

I miss the culture, theatre and arts...it just does not exist here.

Sorry to hear that you haven't been satisfied with the offerings of Cave Creek. I grew up near Chicago, and naturally there just isn't as much going on in much-much-smaller Tucson... but I'm never lacking things to do or fantastic places to eat, and I think the people down here are great (almost as friendly as Midwesterners... I spent some time living in Wisconsin too ). Sounds like maybe you should have settled 150 miles to the south.

[itself]

Sorry to hear that you haven't been satisfied with the offerings of Cave Creek. I grew up near Chicago, and naturally there just isn't as much going on in much-much-smaller Tucson... but I'm never lacking things to do or fantastic places to eat, and I think the people down here are great (almost as friendly as Midwesterners... I spent some time living in Wisconsin too ). Sounds like maybe you should have settled 150 miles to the south.

We looked at Tucson and loved it! But with our jobs, and needing to be close to a major airport, we had to choose closer to Phoenix.

Tempe is a really cool area, as it has the University, and this creates some culture. El Charro on Court St is to die for as far as food!

[azfiddle]

I don't really know Cave Creek at all, though I suspect it's got a lot of new developments, and not so much character... but for what it's worth, we found a good pizza place by accident in Anthem when we went to the Pearl Izumi outlet store. The outlet stores are west of the freeway. The restaurant is called Rosati's, and it's on the east side of I-17, north side of the street, less than a mile from the freeway- maybe much closer.

[Owlie]

...

I reapplied this year. They want to interview me again. The interview is on Friday.

Cue freak-out time.

[tulip]

...

I reapplied this year. They want to interview me again. The interview is on Friday.

Cue freak-out time.

Good luck! It took me two tries to get into the grad school of my choice, so it definitely is doable.