A general question: has it been stated how Syd was living between withdrawing from school and when she disappeared?
She was couchsurfing with an uncle in Pleasanton and occasionally staying in hotel rooms in San Francisco? Pleasanton is 40 miles east of SF. Is there an easy way to travel between those two locations?
Did she have a car? I'm skeptical she did since she took an Uber to the GGB.
Also, jeez, that third criteria for UC in-state tuition seems absolutely insurmountable for most young adults. I have a friend who was living in KY when she graduated high school. She attended a CSU but had in-state tuition after one year, which she qualified for - seems it was because her father was living in California.
I'm not aware the uncle lives in Pleasanton. I thought he lived in Pacifica which is on the coast. The mother said on Facebook Sydney was living with family friends in Livermore. The PI said she was couch surfing in Pleasanton, but I'm not sure if this is correct. I'm not aware of anyone who has stepped forward and confirmed this. Also, if she was actually couch surfing in Pleasanton, I would have thought the Pleasanton police department would be the lead investigator agency in the missing persons case. Or if she was living in Livermore, I would thought the Livermore police department would be the lead agency. Since I have not heard that the Pleasanton or Livermore police have been involved, perhaps she did not stay in Livermore or Pleasanton at all. If she had been in Livermore or Pleasanton and had taken BART from Pleasanton to SF the day before she disappeared, you would think that they would have released a photo from BART to the media like they did when Allison Bayliss was missing.
I don't think she had a car. And yes, there are many hurdles to become classified as in-state tuition. The bill for out-of-state for one semester would have been due the Friday before instruction began with a tuition, room and board and fees bill due of about $35,000 for out-of-state
Cost | UC Berkeley | University of California, Berkeley and
Registration | Office of the Registrar Furthermore, if at least 20% of the semester bill was not paid in an installment payment by August 21, 2020 for Fall 2020, according to the Berkeley website, the student is automatically dropped from courses. 20% would have been about $7,000.
The out of state fee is called the Nonresident Supplemental Tuition.
Also if there are Registration Holds, that is a problem. Those are discussed here
Registration & Enrollment - Cal Student Central If there were any holds, they would need to be cleared before a student could take the courses. According to the link above, holds include those issued for not making payments, for not giving required documents to Berkeley such as to Admissions---failure to provide requested documentation to offices such as Admissions---as well as not declaring a major.
Early on, UC Berkeley issued a press release a few months after the pandemic began that stated they would not reduce tuition or fees if instruction would go from in person to remote for the 20-21 school year.
UC Berkeley Won’t Discount Fall Tuition Even If Classes Remain Virtual
As far as I know, the parents have never disclosed if they did or did not pay the Fall 2020 tuition and fees in accordance with the UC Berkeley deadlines. We do know Sydney was selling some of her clothes to raise money on internet sites where she referred to doing this to raise money for college. Here is one
Syd's Closet where she says "It's for the college fund." Also in reddit she said one of her parents did not want to pay OOS tuition which I assume is an abbreviation for "out of state."
The parents have said on Find Sydney West that Sydney had a debit card, but there is no mention of a credit card. I doubt Sydney would have been able to put any tuition and fees on a credit card because it appears she did not have one.