Qualifying Scholarships for LAC Students to Obtain Florida Residency
Information on behalf of the Office of the Registrar
- General Guidelines
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Per Florida Residency Exception guideline 1009.21(10)(e), LAC students who are paid a scholarship or grant administered by USF (i.e. federal, state, institutional) for a term, will be reclassified automatically as instate for the purpose of charging tuition if they are enrolled full time for that term.
The actual process of residency re-classification will be handled by the Office of the Registrar each term.
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The Office of the Registrar determines if a student is from an LAC country, based on information provided at time of application (e.g. student visa, permanent resident card, etc.).
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Questions about enrollment status and residency re-classification should be directed to AsktheRegistrar.
The Financial Aid Scholarship Resource Office (SRO) will track qualifying funds in OASIS to assist the Registrar.
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Accountable Officers who wish to award a qualifying scholarship should complete the New/Update Fund Code form and return it to the SRO for processing.
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Qualifying scholarships will require annual re-certification by the accountable officer.
- Definition of a Qualifying Scholarship
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A “qualifying scholarship” must be administered by USF and the recipient must be selected with no outside influence.
The scholarship application/selection process should be fair and equitable for all students who meet the stated criteria.
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Scholarship application/selection criteria must be attached to the New/Update Fund Code form and is subject to annual audit review.
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Full time enrollment should be required for each term.
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Merit criteria (e.g. College, Department, Major, GPA, application deadlines, etc.) are ideal because this population includes international students.
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- Renewability
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There are situations where a student becomes ineligible for a qualifying scholarship due to inadequate academic performance or term limits. As a result, their residency for tuition is changed to out of state.
While not required, it is advisable to establish renewal criteria and term limits for scholarships you are funding because losing a scholarship causes significant financial difficulty for the student.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Q: Can a scholarship be created specifically for students from an LAC country?
A: No. If an existing scholarship program meets the definition of a “qualifying” scholarship it may be tagged as LAC by the accountable officer. A student from an LAC country that receives an LAC tagged scholarship for a term and enrolls full time for the same term will be re-classified as in-state for tuition purposes by the Registrar.
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Q: Can the scholarship criteria require the student recipient to be from an LAC country?
A: No. Any scholarship program whose funding source, application/selection process and eligibility requirements meet the “qualifying” criteria may be tagged as LAC by the accountable officer.
A student from an LAC country that receives an LAC tagged scholarship for a term and enrolls full time for the same term will be re-classified as in-state for tuition purposes by the Registrar. If a student is not from an LAC country, no action will be taken by the Registrar.
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Q: If a LAC student does not receive a scholarship, can they receive temporary in-state residency for tuition purposes for another reason?
A: Yes! This process does not prevent students from receiving temporary in-state residency status for tuition purposes due to other reasons unrelated to receiving a scholarship. The Registrar provides students with information regarding options for tuition residency reclassification which may be specific to a student’s individual circumstances per Florida Statutes via the Residency Reclassification web site.
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Q: How do I know if any student(s) already receiving one of my existing scholarships needs to have the LAC tag added using the New/Update Fund Code Form?
A: The USFAS Administrative Support web site provides a report which may be used for this purpose.
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The Fund Reconciliation report will list term based student level information (e.g. level, classification, enrollment, tuition residency, etc.) for a given Financial Aid fund code. Th e fund code designated on the Payment Request form is the same one to be used in the report.
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If there are students from an LAC country receiving a scholarship that meets the “qualifying” criteria, the New/Update Fund Code Form should be completed as soon as possible.
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Q: Will accountable officers be required to change the LAC tag if there are no students who are from an LAC country?
A: No. There will be an annual review in order for awarding units to update the accountable officer and their designee(s) using the New/Update Fund Code Form. No other action needs to be taken by the accountable officer unless the application/selection process, eligibility criteria, funding source or administrative requirements change for a scholarship.
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