Penn State student's parents are dead, her home is gone, but no tuition break
Updated on August 17, 2017 at 7:45 AMPosted on August 17, 2017 at 6:15 AM
Rachel Higgins sits on her late father's shoulders while accompanied by her older sister and a cousin. (submitted)
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By
David Wenner
dwenner@pennlive.com
Rachel Higgins' childhood home was in New Jersey but she can't go home again. Her dad died in 2013. Her mom died in 2016, just as Higgins was finishing her freshman year at Penn State.
Penn State has been her home ever since. But now she faces the loss of that home too -- Penn State denied her appeal to be allowed to pay the in-state tuition rate. If she has to pay the out-of-state tuition rate of about $48,000, she can't afford to return to school, she says.
"I gave them the death certificate and everything," she said, describing her efforts to convince Penn State that Pennsylvania is her home state. "I was hoping they would understand that."
Rachel Higgins and her mother, who died in 2016, at Higgins' high school graduation in 2015. (submitted)
Higgins, 20, has lived in Pennsylvania since she began attending Penn State during the summer of 2015.
The problem is she fails to meet this part of Penn State's residency policy: In order to qualify for the in-state tuition rate, someone must have been a Pennsylvania resident for at least a year before enrolling at Penn State. An Aug. 4 letter informing Higgins of her appeal outcome said in part: "Note that it is possible to be a resident of the Commonwealth, yet not meet with requirements of residency for purposes of tuition."
Following her mother's death, Higgins took the address of a cousin who lives near Scranton. She now has a Pennsylvania address for things including her driver's license and car registration.
Since her mother's death, she has usually stayed on campus or with a friend during school breaks and holidays. Higgins, who would be a junior, studies animal science and hopes to work on a horse farm.
Both of her parents, who were split up, had battled cancer for years. She lived with her father prior to his death from cancer in 2013. She then moved into a rented home with her mother, who also succumbed to cancer.
She says she went to the Penn State registrar's office last spring and showed documents including her driver's license and other forms of identification, and her mom's death certificate. She says she was told "not to worry" about being still being considered an out-of-state resident. But she eventually received paperwork indicating she would be charged the higher tuition rate.
Her appeal resulted in the Aug. 4 letter from the University Appeals Committee on Residency Classification. The letter noted, "If you would have a period of 12 months residing full-time in the Commonwealth while not attending Penn State or another educational institution, you would be able to establish residency for purposes of tuition."
A university spokesman said the policy is intended to prevent someone who is essentially an out of state-of-state resident from getting a local address for the purpose of paying the in-state tuition rate. The spokesman noted that Penn State's annual allocation from the state legislature is intended to help cover the costs of Pennsylvania residents, not people from other states.
Higgins says she can't afford to take a year off. For one thing, she would have to begin repaying loans after six months. She has applied for loans to cover the out-of-state rate, but says she needs a co-signer and, without parents, it's hard to find a family member who doesn't have children with college expenses of their own.
She also put down a security deposit on an off-campus apartment and stands to lose that if she can't return to school.
Higgins recently established a GoFundMe account, but as of Thursday it was far short of what she needs.
"If I don't get a loan or find a way to pay I have to withdraw from school and get a job," she says.
A statement to PennLive from Penn State said it's office of student aid "is committed to helping students find need- and merit-based support and is interested in exploring options with her."
