Information gathering: Tucson

[Owlie]

Azfiddle and Badgercat, it was wonderful to meet you in real life! (We should do it again some time, if I get in!)

I think I fell ever-so-slightly in love with Tucson and the program. I'm not sure how well one would manage without a car, especially in the summer, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm going to have to ask about residency laws as well. The graduate students I talked to about it were from California, and switched for tax purposes.

[badgercat]

Azfiddle and Badgercat, it was wonderful to meet you in real life! (We should do it again some time, if I get in!)

I think I fell ever-so-slightly in love with Tucson and the program. I'm not sure how well one would manage without a car, especially in the summer, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm going to have to ask about residency laws as well. The graduate students I talked to about it were from California, and switched for tax purposes.

Likewise I'm so glad you liked it here and that you were able to carve out a little time from your busy schedule for us locals. As far as the heat goes, I've never been a "morning person," but I've gotten used to doing things early in the day during the summers to beat the heat. I will admit, I do sometimes fall back to the car (as you saw) when the weather and/or my schedule is especially unfavorable, but most of the time, DBF and I make it work on two wheels, work and school, groceries and errands, and entertainment included. Tucson's infrastructure makes it pretty easy to do so.

Bottom line: I don't like the hot-hot-heat, but at least you don't have to shovel it.

Best of luck--keep us posted! Do you have any other interviews coming up?

[Owlie]

Still waiting to hear back from a few places. The last one had its deadline a week ago, so it's still processing.

I like the idea of doing most things by bike, and having a car to fall back on for unfavorable schedule/weather days, or for really big shopping trips. When DBF graduates (he's still got at least another year--silly boy, doing two engineering degrees!), it'll be easier, because he has a car in the state. I'm not sure mine will manage that cross-country trip.

[azfiddle]

It was great to meet you too, and if you settle here, I hope we'll have some opportunities to ride together. I know it's going to be a busy time for you. You wouldn't want to be riding far in the middle of the day in the summer, but everything else is manageable without a car if you live close to your work and shopping.... You just have to be an early morning person in the summer, or be willing to go out in the early evening.

Good luck with both opportunities and decisions!

[Dogmama]

Azfiddle and Badgercat, it was wonderful to meet you in real life! (We should do it again some time, if I get in!)

I think I fell ever-so-slightly in love with Tucson and the program. I'm not sure how well one would manage without a car, especially in the summer, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm going to have to ask about residency laws as well. The graduate students I talked to about it were from California, and switched for tax purposes.

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.

[badgercat]

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.

I believe that's true--free health insurance, partial tuition remission, plus a stipend for out-of-state RAs and TAs. If you can become an Arizona resident on the books, though, your deal is often sweeter--when I started here, I had a fellowship that waived the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition and gave me a stipend that basically covered the balance of the tuition. A year later, I was able to claim Arizona residency, and it turned into a full tuition waiver plus the stipend (which I now get to use for living expenses etc).

But, it's not so easy to just change over to Arizona residency in the eyes of the University... you have to file lots of supporting documentation, and go through an interview, to try to convince them that you're not here just for school but that you intend to *stay* in Arizona after you finish your education (basically they--understandably--don't want people to take their savings and run).

I was able to pass muster with the fact that I immediately changed everything over to Arizona when I got here (driver's license, voter registration, local bank, etc) AND my parents decided to retire out here (the residency office even requested such proof as the realtor contract for their house in Illinois and the receipt for the moving van), which effectively cut my remaining ties to my home state. I have a classmate from New York who was also able to change over based on the fact that her husband (who grew up in Arizona) was active-duty military. I know other students who were denied, though, because I think without extenuating circumstances, it's pretty tough to get yourself switched to "in-state."

Now, if they're *only* talking about taxes... I don't know as much about that, since I basically immediately got the ball rolling here on switching myself fully over to Arizona residency.

[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.