Leaving children behind
 

We are moving Stateside in the summer, bringing two children aged 12 and 14 and leaving one aged 21 in the UK. We also have an 18 year old who is doing A levels this summer and considering coming with us. I think he'll benefit enormously from coming with us, experiencing a new country (never mind the fact that his dear old mum, ie me, is going to be missing her eldest terribly as it is), but does anyone know their way around the university system? Has he already missed applying for this year? Are the US universities as good as UK ones? And should he take his driving test before we go or wait and learn over there?
So many questions...

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Taking his UK driving test won't help him in the US (he'd have to take a new one for the state he moves to), but it will help him if he might ever want to move back to the UK.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Regarding the university question - you may want to contact a couple and see if they require anything in the way of having his qualifications translated to US equivalents (a transcript that you give to the university showing what his qualifications equal in US terms). Be prepared for the fees here - they are horrific especially as he won't qualify for 'in-state' funding anywhere, in fact I would guess he would be an international student.

An example of fees is here:

http://admissions.msu.edu/finances/tuition.asp

Driving - depending on what state you are moving to he will probably need to take that state's written and driving test (I'm pretty sure that all states require you to take their own tests). So probably better for him just to learn here I would have thought.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

You (and your 18 year old) need to think very carefully about this.

As has already been mentioned a University education in the US will be expensive. For budgetary purposes, assume that it is going to cost $50,000 per year for 3 years. Depending on what status the 18 year old has he may not be allowed to work in order to help support himself during this period (or, if he has an F1 visa he may only be able to work on campus) and there is no assurance that he will be able to stay in the US once he completes his studies.

Also, this is a big move to make at 18. Did he already have plans to go to university in the UK - this is about the point at which he would have been leaving home anyway - I understand that having the family several thousand miles away on another continent is a lot different from them being only a few hundred mlles away at most, but if he has never spent any time in the US it would be a big adjustment for him.

(I just looked at your other posts, but I still am not sure whether I understand your status correctly - you are a US citizen, but left the US when you were 3 years old, right? How about the children, what citizenship(s) do they have?)

Re: Leaving children behind
 

More likely four years - US university programs are generally longer than UK ones.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

I completly agree plus he'd have to pay international fees if he hasn't lived in the US for at least a year in state area where the University is.
Many are taking even longer than that due to cutbacks, clases aren't available, it's taking a lot of students 5 years to get that 4 year degree. In Uk it would be 3 years even with the rise in tuition over there it'd be cheaper to go to UK uni.

We are doing this in reverse :banghead: Oldest did uni here and the 17 year old wants to go back to UK at 18, he wants to be a policeman, he'll have to work and go to tech college and we'll have to pay international fees.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

I don't agree that taking his UK driving test won't help him. The laws vary from state to state, so it might not help him, but it probably will. I never learned to drive in the UK and hence never took the test. If I'd arrived with a British license I'd have been allowed to drive here on condition I took and passed the local test in a set time frame (3 months I think, some states are more, some are less). However, not having a British license, the State won't even issue me a learner's permit until I have a confirmed residency or visa valid for at least 6 months. How soon this happens depends on what immigration route you're taking. In my case (K1) they won't let me learn to drive until my green card is issued.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

I also think the standard of teaching is far more strident in the UK so if he can pass a UK test I would feel a lot more confident about his road safety than if he only passed here.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Yes - an idiot could pass the driving test here!!

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Now now, I failed the first time when I was 16. :sneaky::p

Re: Leaving children behind
 

OK I have to agree with that. It was super simple here compared to the UK.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Wow, what a splendid forum! So many helpful replies; you've certainly given us food for thought. Thanks to all.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Not quite true...if he has a UK DL he may or may not have to take a practical driving test...it depend what state he is moving to. If he was moving to NJ he would only take a multi question test.

$50K...maybe for a private uni but nothing like that for an in-state uni.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

I think what the poster means is that unless you have resided in the state for a certain time frame, you will have to pay out of state tuition fee's which would be more like $50K a year. I looked into it for the UK aswell and if you move to the UK, you have to be living here for 3 years or you have to pay the international rate for Uni until you have resided here for 3 years. Im not sure what the time frame would be in the US or even in different states but be prepared to wait until he is eligible for in-state fee's or be prepared to pay through the nose!!

Re: Leaving children behind
 

The out-of-state rates for a University of California tuition fee are around $33,000, so $50,000 would be about right with the living costs.

I think you may have to have LPR status to get the in-state rates, it came up on another thread.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

In Texas you can get in state rates, even if you're not an LPR but I think you have to have lived in the State for at least 12 months.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Yes I'm not sure about that one, that was my understanding for California too but it seems not true of all states.

Something which might be difficult for a student coming from the UK is that the first two years of the US degree are going to be general ed.

Re: Leaving children behind
 

From a previous post the OP may be a USC...

Re: Leaving children behind
 

So did I and I passed the UK driving test (the first time) with only 3 minors. :D

Re: Leaving children behind
 

You got little kids to help you? No wonder you passed, have you seen them on those video game machines?

Re: Leaving children behind
 

I get in-state tuition as an employee of the hospital I study in (I'm a graduate student receiving a stipend). My EAD nearly didn't arrive in time for the start of term and there was loads of hassle over my tuition - they said I wasn't entitled to in-state because of my visa type (J2).

Re: Leaving children behind
 

I just looked up my university out of curiosity to see what the out-of-state tuition looked like. Boy, it's worth it to get that residency! For basic tuition it's a difference of about $14K/year. For out-of-state my school is estimated at about $45K/year (out the door, so including room, board, health insurance, books, etc.)

There's a helpful break-down of where this goes linked below, and hey, we were just ranked #2 in the country for undergraduate teaching by US News and World Report ... so you could do worse. ;)

http://www.miami.muohio.edu/admissio...and-costs.html

Re: Leaving children behind
 

When my son came over in March 2004 he was on a K4, applied to an IL state college April 2004 and was admitted Fall 2004. We paid in state fees based on me and my husband having lived here for over a year and my son having lived in state for 5 months. Talk to the international registrar, that is who dealt with my son's application and ongoing paperwork until he became an LPR in 2005 and then it was the admissions dept.

On a different note, I have a daughter that was 21 when I came here to live in 2003. It was our hope that the immigration process would be quicker than expected but it never is. We waited over 6 years for a visa number to be available to her and by then she was almost 28 and had met a lovely man and decided that her life was with him in the UK. I miss her every day but this was the choice I made and I have to live with it. Like many people I found it hard to believe at first that the immigration system takes so long, but it does.

I understand how hard it will be to leave a child behind.

Maggie

Re: Leaving children behind
 

Dear Coldhand,
I have been through this situation. We currently have our son with us, studying in the USA. It has worked out well for him, but this is my experience.
I have not found any sources of funding so we are paying for it ourselves (ouch!). We applied for him to get an "in state tuition" grant, typically $3500. We had lived in state for two years, and were turned down.It`s a catch 22. He had to get an F1 visa in order to study in the US, which made him ineligible for state help as he is an international student.Your son, being younger, and on your visa, may be eligible. He lives at home with us as a "commuter student" as its cheaper than him living on campus. He can work but only on campus, 10 hours p.w. in term time and 20 hours in the vacation.He is at a small private Catholic university, but it seems good and offers a full range of courses. The other beauty of it is that it charges the same fees for home and overseas students. The moral there is to shop around for a uni as I understand fees vary a lot.
Your son may well get credits for A level work due to students starting uni at a younger age here. UK qualifications have to be converted to US by an accredited agency.
US degrees are very different from UK ones. First there is the length, 4 yrs versus 3 yrs.(My son will have done 3 here by the time he`s finished). He has also had to study a broad range of subjects,(each for a short time) before declaring a major.(Not a bad thing in my view, it gives a young person time to investigate a whole range of possibilities and get to know their strengths a bit better). Each course will run for a semester, about 12 weeks then you will have an exam. For each course you will get credits. When you collect enough credits you get your degree.
The cultural experience has proved very valuable. He is the only British student at his uni, apart from some who come over for just a term, but has made a wide variety of friends from all nations. Student life is very different as well. Because of the higher drinking age here it tends not to revolve around the pub.(I have no views on whether thats a good or bad thing, it`s just different!)
This is my experience, I will post if I think of anything else.It has worked out well for us so I definitely recommend it if you can sort out the logistics!

Re: Leaving children behind
 

And, keep in mind that the requirements for in state tuition rates may no just be based on the fact that you have lived in the state for 12 months.
If that were the case all out of state students would be eligible after the first year of school.

It is often based on living in the state for 12 months and satisfying the school that you are a resident of the state other than just for going to school.

I had to prove my residency when I moved from one state to another to live then decided to go to school. Because I had not yet resided in the state for 12 months I paid out of state tuition for 2 semesters. When my second year of school came around the school refused me in state status because they did not feel I met the residency requirements despite my owning a house, paying state taxes and having a state drivers license. I refused to pay for classes and complained to the university system as their rules seemed clear I qualified as a resident. I won in the end but not before the dean threatened to kick me out of school.

Obviously different states and different schools will be different.
I just wanted to point out that in state tuition is not always based on living in the state for an amount of time.