Florida residency requirements for community colleges

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 5, 2010

Moved to the Florida nursing programs discussion forum

labrador4122, RN · Mar 5, 2010

No you don't need to be a resident to apply.

You will just have to pay out-of-state fees. Which are tripple the cost of what the class normally costs to a resident student.

They make you wait a year until you are considered a resident and they go by your license.

I graduated from HS here in miami, and they had made a mistake when they entered me into the computer sytem, and they had me paying tripple. I went in to the office and got it fixed with my drivers license. they go by the date when it was issued to you. for 12 months.

FLmomof5 · Mar 5, 2010

The exceptions are....

If you are military or your spouse is military (or your parents). This includes the National Guard! If you go into the NG, not only are you immediately a resident for tuition purposes, they pay your tuition!

itsmejuli · Mar 5, 2010

The community colleges also give priority to district residency, so the longer you've lived here the better off you are when applying.

The community colleges don't all have the same nursing pre-reqs nor do they have all have "waiting lists", some make acceptance decisions based on pre-req grades, TEAS scores, or number of pre-reqs completed.

rosebud123 · Mar 5, 2010

Thank you all for your help!

I am not a military spouse... or anyone's spouse, lol... so unfortunately, I think I'm going to have pay the triple tuition costs!

Here in California, community colleges give preference to those in the district areas. So out-of-state residents.. it aint' gonna happen! =) Everything is EXTREMELY impacted AND super expensive here in California!

Has anyone applied/ graduated/ going to apply to a community college around the Tampa area? Which ones do you recommend? I am currently looking in that area because it works for both me and boyfriend. How hard is it to get in? I hear there are no waiting lists, which is a good thing because that's what I'm trying to avoid here in California. Hopefully, I don't have to pay the FULL out-of-state tuition for the entire time if I start my residency right away. Anything helps!

Another thing, I was looking at FCCJ...but they have a PSB-NAT test they require which no one has ever heard of here in Cali. Is that a Florida thing? I think I may have to travel there just to take that test.

Thank you all so much for your help!!!

FLmomof5 · Mar 6, 2010

The PSB NAT is not just a FL thing, but if you can't find it in CA, I guess you will have to take it here. I found it fairly simple (scored in the 98th %ile).

itsmejuli · Mar 6, 2010

If you want to avoid waiting lists and residency requirements you can always go to a private nursing school for your ADN such as Galen.

rosebud123 · Mar 6, 2010

itsmejuli: I WIIIISH I could go to a private school for nursing. I just don't have the money! =/

flmomof5: You scored 98th profile?? That's awesome!!! What kind of questions did they ask? Is it just basically like the TEAS test?

scrapworking · Mar 10, 2010

No waiting lists for most schools, but it is highly competitive (think 600-700 applicants for 90 seats) based on GPA (3.6 - 3.8) and/or test scores (TEAS, etc) with county residence factored in. And each school's prerequisites are different. I'm at St Petersburg College and Pasco Hernando Community College...finishing up each schools pre-reqs. Hernando Community College and University of South Florida...all different variations.

Hope you can find a program that fits! It's tough out there.

FLmomof5 · Mar 11, 2010

itsmejuli: I WIIIISH I could go to a private school for nursing. I just don't have the money! =/
flmomof5: You scored 98th profile?? That's awesome!!! What kind of questions did they ask? Is it just basically like the TEAS test?

I don't know about the TEAS, I never took it. I think the books that everyone uses to prep for the Entrance Exams (Kaplan) is more difficult than the test was!