This is a worksheet for suggestions for revising the Parent Guardian Information/Dependency Status question in CCCApply.
Purpose of this Question: To identify if the applicant is a minor for the purposes of determining residency for tuition purposes or not. If so, their residency for tuition purposes will be based on their parent or guardian’s residency status. The concern is that the current layout and language is confusing to students - and colleges have to spend a lot of time following up on incorrect responses.
Objective: Discuss a revision to the layout, the language, or both - to provide better clarity for the student and to ensure the college gets correct information with minimal follow-up outreach.
Legal Requirements:
Self-Supporting Student
Two-Year Care & Control:
Residency for Minor
Discussion Notes:
Many proposals from colleges, students, parents and other stakeholders regarding the Parent/Guardian Information section in CCCApply. The complaints/concerns include:
Ambiguous language - students aren’t sure how to answer, they believe they are adults and don’t understand the “under 19” requirement and tend to answer “Yes” to one of the “special circumstances”
Foster Youth - there was no option in Relationship for FY to choose (we had to add a bullet option in 2019)
Students
Review proposal for layout and language changes
Review Immigrants Rising's original concerns and feedback:
Students are worried to put in their parents’ information without knowing that it is protected under federal and state law. Information about residency could cause confusion about eligibility for AB540 and SB68.
Revise the language in the Parent/Guardian Info question text (see below)
Legal Information:
From the SAAM:
Parent
The father or mother with whom the minor resides; or, if both parents are deceased, the minor’s legal guardian.
Reference: EC 68014
From “Determining Residency” in the SAAM Draft 2019
f. The residence of the parent with whom an unmarried minor child maintains his or her place of abode is the residence of the unmarried minor child. When the minor lives with neither parent, his or her residence is that of the parent with whom he or she maintained his or her last place of abode. The minor may establish his or her residence when both parents are deceased if a legal guardian has not been appointed.
Note: The conditions in (f) apply unless the Immigration and Nationality Act precludes the minor from establishing domicile (residence) in the United States.
g. The residence of an unmarried minor who has a living parent cannot be changed by his or her own act, by the appointment of a legal guardian, or by relinquishment of a parent’s right of control, unless the student qualifies under the Self-Support exception (EC 68071) or the Two-Year Care and Control exception (EC 68073 and T5 54047).
h. An noncitizen, including an unmarried minor noncitizen, may establish his or her residence unless precluded by the Immigration and Nationality Act from establishing residence in the United States. See Note in (f) above.
Reference: EC 68060, 68061, 68062, 68071, 68073; T5 54022, 54045, 54047
Dependent of Parent/Guardian
(from the CCCApply Standard Application Data Dictionary v.2019.3)
Data Element: | dependent_status |
Description: | Whether applicant is a minor subject to care and control of guardian per residency law—and if not, whether applicant is a non-minor or an independent minor. |
Format, Length: | bpchar, 1 |
Values: | 1 = Applicant is dependent. Selected “None of the statements above is true about me.” 2 = Applicant is under 19 and independent. Selected “At least one of these statements is true about me”. 3 = Applicant is 19 or older and therefore independent. The applicant will not have been presented with the parent/guardian questions. |
Allows Null: | No |
Default: | 3 |
Usage: | If this field = 1, parent/guardian questions are asked and many residency-related questions are reworded to refer to parent/guardian rather than “you”. |
Notes: | General law identifies a ‘Minor’ as under age 18; however, the “Evidence of Intent” rules in the Student Attendance Accounting Manual (Chapter 2), based on Title 5 section 54024, specify ‘under 19 years’ as the differentiating criterion, superseding general law. |
Hover help | Whether applicant is a minor subject to care and control of guardian per residency law—and if not, whether applicant is a non-minor or an independent minor. |
Question Text: | Select the statement that applies to you: At least one of the following statements is true about me:
|
Conditions: | Appears only if the applicant will be under 19 at RDD. |
Additional Text: By California law, qualification for resident tuition is based on the residency of your parent(s) or guardian(s) until you are 19 years of age, except in certain special circumstances. The following questions will be used to determine whether or not you need to provide parent or guardian information for the purposes of determining residency. Your response will not affect your admission to college. | |
Response Options: | Must select one of the two radio buttons. |
Pop-Up Help: | If any of the hyperlinks in the Question Text is clicked, a pop-up is displayed with the following text: Parent: For the purposes of this college application, your parent is a natural or adoptive mother or father with whom you live and/or who provides your support, care, and control. If you have two parents, you can enter the name of either one. Guardian: For the purposes of this college application, your guardian is a person other than a parent who has been legally appointed to provide your support, care, and control. If you have two guardians, you can enter the name of either one. Emancipated: Being emancipated means that you have been legally released from the care and control of parent(s) and/or guardian(s), and are now responsible for your own care and control. To be considered legally emancipated for the purposes of this college application, you must have received a declaration of emancipation from a California court, or have been legally emancipated in another U.S. state. Self-Supporting: You are considered to be self-supporting if you do not receive any financial support from a parent or legal guardian in the year leading up to the start of the term for which you are applying. Financial support you may receive from colleges, institutions, or individuals who are not your parent or legal guardian does not affect whether you are considered self-supporting.
Foster Care includes, but is not limited to, placement in out-of-home care under the supervision of the Juvenile Probation Department. As long as you were placed within the foster care system by order of a court, you were in foster care. Having a legal guardian does not necessarily mean that you have been in foster care. If you need assistance with determining whether you were in foster care, you can contact the California Foster Care Ombudsman's office at (877) 846-1602 or fosteryouthhelp@dss.ca.gov |
Field Error Check: | None |
Page Error Check: | Required selection; else error message, “You must select one of the options related to your parent or guardian status.” |
Notes: | This question determines whether someone who will be under 19 on RDD is subject to care and control of guardian for purposes of determining residency. For residency purposes (unlike in general law), a minor is defined as someone under 19 years of age. |
Data Element: | dependent_status |
Additional fields:
Parent/Guardian First Name
Parent/Guardian Last Name
Parent/Guardian Relationship
These fields, along with the Dependency question above, only appear if:
Only displayed if previous response indicates the person is under 19 and not independent. |