can you change residency for MOC nominations when you go to college?

VMINROTChopeful

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if you go off to college and live in a dorm for 9-10 months a year, can you change your residence for the purpose of getting MOC nominations? are there some rules governing this? could you just register to vote in the district of your college? would that do the trick?
 
if you go off to college and live in a dorm for 9-10 months a year, can you change your residence for the purpose of getting MOC nominations? are there some rules governing this? could you just register to vote in the district of your college? would that do the trick?

Nope. If you are in a competitive district, make yourself more competitive. There is not a trick to getting a nomination beyond putting your best self forward and applying for any/all nominating sources for which you qualify.
 
Your residency for nom purposes is based on your district of legal residence. It's where you pay income tax, where your driver's license is, where you own/rent property, where you register your car, where you vote, where you are called for jury duty, etc. The mere fact that you live somewhere does not make that place your legal residence.

The problem w/college is that most people continue to claim their original home as a place of residence.

I had a candidate who had been in college for two years in my state (having moved from the midwest) and lived with her father in my state. She was considered a resident of my state. That actually hurt her for nom purposes, BTW.

I think you could change your state of residence, but it would take more than 9-10 months. However, if you have questions, you should contact the noms section of CGO for details.
 
Your residency for nom purposes is based on your district of legal residence. It's where you pay income tax, where your driver's license is, where you own/rent property, where you register your car, where you vote, where you are called for jury duty, etc. The mere fact that you live somewhere does not make that place your legal residence.

I live in Congressman Van Hollen's district. I just looked at his nomination form: http://vanhollen.house.gov/NR/rdonl...DB99B1514F2D/0/20089AcademyApplicationweb.doc
and the last page of it is pretty clear:

An individual is a resident of Maryland if the individual is domiciled in Maryland on the last day of the taxable year or the individual maintains a place of abode in Maryland for more than six months of the taxable year and is physically present in the State for more than 183 days during the taxable year.
....
2. In evidence thereof, I depose and say that:
I am registered as a voter in ____________________________________________________________
(City, County, and State)
or

I file income tax returns and pay state income taxes to the State of _______________________________

or

I have the following document evidencing my legal residence: ___________________________________

So this strongly suggest that if I am over 18, live at my school more than 183 days per year (which I would if I am going to college) and am registered to vote (or pay taxes) in the new location, I count as living there for the purpose of nominations.

Is this correct? Or is Congressman Van Hollen's nomination form wrong?
 
If you file taxes in the same location you go to school, yes, it would seem that way. You will not, however, file taxes at a different location than you're voting in, which is in a different location from the school.
 
If you file taxes in the same location you go to school, yes, it would seem that way. You will not, however, file taxes at a different location than you're voting in, which is in a different location from the school.

Well, if I am on a NROTC scholarship, I get a stipend while I'm at the school. To report money from the stipend, I could definitely be filing my new taxes at my new location. And I could definitely register to vote in my new location too. So that seems like I could qualify for being domiciled in the new location for the purposes of nominations. Right?
 
No just for purposes of nomination. If you're going to pay state income tax on your federal stipend, and you are registering to vote, you will be a legal resident of that state.

I went to school in Connecticut. I paid Tennessee taxes (no state income tax, so I kept my residence in TN), I was registered to vote in TN, and I had a Tennessee drivers license.

If I wanted to change my location to CT, I would need to pay CT income tax on my federal paycheck, if I elected to, I could register to vote in CT, I would need CT plates for my car, and a CT drivers license.
 
Until you receive a Bachelors your legal residency is that of your parents. Unless you work full time for at least one year and not go to school, enlist in the military or get married. As long as your parents claim you as a dependent on the 1040 you are bound to their residency.

When my daughter applied to law school in AZ she was considered an out-of-state student, because we are FL. Even though she lived in AZ for 4yrs as an undergrad, she is paying Out of State tutition to AZ again for law school.

Going to SA is the same as enlisting, you are no longer a dependent on your parents tax form.
 
Until you receive a Bachelors your legal residency is that of your parents. Unless you work full time for at least one year and not go to school, enlist in the military or get married. As long as your parents claim you as a dependent on the 1040 you are bound to their residency.

When my daughter applied to law school in AZ she was considered an out-of-state student, because we are FL. Even though she lived in AZ for 4yrs as an undergrad, she is paying Out of State tutition to AZ again for law school.

Going to SA is the same as enlisting, you are no longer a dependent on your parents tax form.

OK. I just spoke to the nice lady in the Nominations Office of the USNA. Here's the story.

As she said, "Title 10" requires that service academy nominations come the MOCs for where you are domiciled. However, Title 10 DOES NOT define "domicile". USNA follows Title 10, which means they do not apply a rigid test for domicile.

So the USNA uses some loose rules for giving candidates advice about domicile. They don't even have these rules written down since they are informal. However, ultimately, it is up to the individual MOC to define domicile. As the woman said, some MOC insist that your domicile is where you or your parent/guardian pay taxes and therefore they will require an affadavit that you are paying taxes in their district. Others use a much looser definition of domicile.

I specifically asked about Congressman Van Hollen's definition of domicile (including 183 days, etc.) and she said that the USNA does not review individual MOC's definitions of domicile- if that's what he requires, then that is what you have to fit in order to get his nomination. The nomination office does try to stay on top of what the different MOC require though. She gave me the example of the 2 former senators from Maryland - she said that they used to make things a little tougher by requiring taxation affidavits, but the current senators don't require that.

The main USNA rule is that you can only apply for nominations from one district/state, you have to meet the specific MOC's rules for domicile or they don't view you as a constituent and won't want to nominate you. If you fit fit the MOC's rules, then you meet the requirement of Title 10.

She suggested the following things as stuff the MOC typically consider in deciding if you are domiciled in their district and therefore a constituent:
1. is your mailing address the same as your physical address? yes- good, no- bad.
2. are you physically living in that district/state?
3. are you or your parents paying taxes in that district/state?
4. are you (or if under 18, your parents) registered to vote in that district/state?
5. if you have a car, is it registered in that district/state?
6. do you have a driver's license in that state? what does your driver's license say your address is.
7. if you have more than one parent or guardian, do they both physically live in the same address?

one thing she specifically said that shouldn't matter is your domicile is different that where your high school is located if you happen to be going off to college. Being domiciled in a different district than your high school is a problem if you are applying to USNA from highschool however.

The USNA deals with borderline cases where candidates have problems with domicile for different reasons, and in these cases, the USNA nominations office tries to give advice to a candidate. Mostly the advice includes things like "get a drivers license" and "register to vote". She said some of the trickiest situations occur when candidates or their parents are paying state taxes in a different district/state then they physically live, and if the local MOC uses a taxation test for domicile. In those cases, she recommends using the taxation location as a domicile, if possible, and switch over other things (such as driver's licenses) to the taxation location.

apparently, issues with domicile more often come up with prior service applicants who can domicile themselves almost anywhere, but applicants from high school and college are usually, not always, domiciled with their parents.

Bottom line though is, if you want a nomination from an MOC, and you have any questions about whether they might consider you domiciled in their district, contact the MOC and get their rules concerning domicile.

So my interpretation based on this is that when you look at different MOC's nominating applications and one just says you have to be a "legal resident" and asks for your address, and another (like Congressman Van Hollen) makes you get a notarized an affidavit, this is not because some of these different MOC's have the wrong understanding of what it means to be domiciled in a district. it's because each MOC has his own definition and the USNA is OK with it, as long as a candidate doesn't use these different rules to apply for nominations in more than one district.

i hope this will help anyone else wondering about domicile- contact the MOC and get their rules!
 
You are playing with fire. USNA is not the expert. The MOC is not the expert. Domicile is a legal term to describe the abandoning of an old residence and establishing a new PERMANENT residence in another location. I doubt seriously if this describes but a very very few college students.
The actions mentioned by the Admissions Office were merely requirements once you have established a new domicile.

First off, how will the MOC's nomination board see an interloper?

Secondly, how will the local candidate react when, as first alternate, you are selected as the primary nomination? A lawsuit could easily result leaving you as the candidate without a district.
 
Domicile is a legal term to describe the abandoning of an old residence and establishing a new PERMANENT residence in another location. I doubt seriously if this describes but a very very few college students.

i did more research and i see you are completely right. the law says that upon reaching the age of majority, a person has the right to change his domicile from a domicile of origin/dependency to a domicile of choice. however, intent is the most important legal factor in determining a change of domicile. those things the lady in the nomination office listed (above) can be used to document intent, but the intent has to come first to change domiciles.

this actually brings up a very interesting thing. the person who runs away from his parents house because he hates them (after 18yo) actually may have "intent" to change domiciles, but might or might not have trouble documenting that intent. the person who goes off to college may have plenty of documentation of a different residence, but would lack the intent to change domicile. the law seems to say that only the first of these people count as legally changing domicile, but the second person might not if he always intends to return to his parents home and views his absence to college as only temporary.

so it seems that the answer is you can only change domicile if upon the age of majority, you have an honest intent to change, and then with that intent, you would have to document that intent as that lady described above.

this whole age of majority thing makes me think of something. i think age of majority was more important long ago when kids would grow up, hit 18, move out and start their own life. today, i think this doesn't really describe too many people, so that's why you probably need to be in your mid-20s before people will even believe you are on your own! :rolleyes:
 
Why are you so eager to abandon Congressman Van Hollen's 8th district and the state of Maryland for Congressman Goodlatte's 6th district of Virginia?

Do you think it is going to be an "easier" location to secure an appointment?
 
Why are you so eager to abandon Congressman Van Hollen's 8th district and the state of Maryland for Congressman Goodlatte's 6th district of Virginia?

Do you think it is going to be an "easier" location to secure an appointment?

i'm moving actually moving ahead to apply for a nomination with congressman van hollen. his academy day is in a few days. i plan to be there.

i object entirely to the idea that i will continue to by my parent's "chattel" after i turn 18. that may be good enough a lot of 18yo olds to run around underfoot their parents even when they are 30, but not me. when i turn 18, i'm going to be an adult.

this is probably too revolutionary an idea for society today. especially for that part of society that has parents preparing their kid's service academy applications and essays.
 
VMINROTChopeful, you will meet a lot of nice people at your Senator's academy day...have fun! And let us know how it went. :thumb:
 
You might not want to be your parents' "chattel" but I would be surprised if they don't want you to remain theirs! Are you planning to get your own car and health insurance without benefit of their long-standing relationship? Have you seen what it costs for an 18-year old to get insurance? My son pays darn little to drive his car...because I have a 30-year relationship with State Farm. If he were to strike out on his own, it would be a huge sum. On top of that, we parents like to claim you kiddies on our taxes for as long as we can! After this tax season, we are done claiming DS, as he belongs to the Army!
 
VMINROTChopeful, you said:
i object entirely to the idea that i will continue to by my parent's "chattel" after i turn 18. that may be good enough a lot of 18yo olds to run around underfoot their parents even when they are 30, but not me. when i turn 18, i'm going to be an adult.

this is probably too revolutionary an idea for society today. especially for that part of society that has parents preparing their kid's service academy applications and essays.

You are to be commended for your desire for independence. You are already acting with independence - and the result is several offers to colleges AND an NROTC scholarship! Excellent!

With an NROTC scholarship and a place at VMI, or The Citadel, or wherever you decide to go, perhaps you will get a taste of the independence you seek. Just leave a door open in your life for those who offer their support...the day may come when you will be glad you did.

Good luck with your 2013 nomination quest and with determining your state of residence...keep yourself competetive and it will not matter which state you reside in.

Are we supposed to say "Go Navy!" now to to celebrate your NROTC scholarship?? (Just do not ask me to say B--- A---!) :biggrin:
 
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