I Have Started.
On Sunday, April 17, 2008 I registered online at the St. Petersburg College website. It cost $35 to register and it was very convenient to put that on my credit card and finish registering. I had to prove that I was a Florida resident in order to receive the in-state tuition rate. Acceptable proof was a valid Florida Driver License or State ID, valid Florida Vehicle Registration or a valid Voter ID. I have all three but I still ran into problems. It was a bit difficult to do because both my license and vehicle had to be renewed in February of this year, so I could not use them as proof that I had been living in Florida for over one year.
It strikes me as strange that they would include vehicle registration as a requirement, because to be considered a resident, one must have lived in Florida at least one year. In Florida, vehicles must be registered every year. The government has imposed severe penalties for those that fail to pay this tax. Since everyone must renew every vehicle every year, no one could possibly have a legal vehicle registration that is over one year old. I do not understand this.
Since I renewed my license through the mail, I still had my old one. I just used the issue date on the old license. It is factually correct. That license was issued on that day and it is over one year old. That plus my Voter ID, gave me the two required pieces of identification I needed to finish registering for admission. Not the best solution, but it did work. Did I start my college career by cheating? I have lived here in Florida since 1969 and I can prove it. I have a four drawer filing cabinet full of receipts and utility bills.
I am 47 years old and my partying days are over. I take my college career very seriously. I do realize that most of my classmates will be of normal college age. That does not bother me and I hope it doesn’t bother them.
Nevertheless, that process is over. I have a student number and my very own page at my.spcollege.edu.