Cincy is notorious this. I did a year at Cincinnati, and had moved, gotten an apartment, job, etc... and established residence in Ohio and they wouldn't change me from out-of-state to in-state. My friends that went to Cincinnati have said that its great to prepare you for being employed, but doesn't get into theory nor are you encouraged to take risks.

That led to a string of events where I'm now a year away from a MArch at Tulane (thank goodness for scholarships).

I did my undergraduate degree at Cincinnati.  I actually moved a year early to establish residency and I didn't have any problems.  It is a little more difficult if you are not working but certainly possible.  You would be better off contacting the school about this. 

While I am certainly not a cheerleader of Cincinnati's program ( I decided to go to a different grad school), I definitely believe that you are not just paying for education in professional practice.  While its ability to create competent employees exceeds its ability to create competent designers, it is nonetheless a strong design school.  There is a very talented student body, especially since they stopped grandfathering in undergraduate students into the grad program.  It has excellent facilities, a decent faculty and a campus architecture that is unrivaled in its selection of contemporary architecture.

If you are particularly interested in parametric design or digital fabrication then it is probably not your best pick.  While risk taking is not highly encouraged it is certainly not discouraged and you will find little resistance if you want to really explore novel ideas/geometries in your designs.  Unfortunately though, you will also find fewer resources than other design intensive schools.

Students that have had the most design success in grad school at DAAP have used the coop experience to work for architecture firms that suite there interests (unfortunately this often requires low paying or non paid internships).   In the internships many students find the resources to learn the skills that they can translate into there student projects.

You can definitely make Cincinnati work and have a very positive experience in your 3 years there.   Good luck!

Establishing residency in Ohio isn't as easy as Ellen Guerretaz would have you think, but it can be done. Part of that is showing complete independence from your parents (they'll ask for checking account debits and credits) and registering your car, voting, driver's license. Most people I know were able to establish residency 18 months or so in. A few crafty folks got in-state after one year.

I went for one quarter to DAAP, and it was not for me. Super practical, and no huge ideas going on there at that time. There are a few standout professors (Tom Bible, Terry Boling in my opinion) and I've heard from another student whose opinion I respect greatly, that the new Arch Dept Chair, Billy D Williams, is shaking things up (bringing in much better critics, asking students to think more critically about narrative, etc.)

The decision for me to leave was super personal and doesn't reflect negatively on the program. I needed a bit more diversity in faculty interests and the push to think on big ideas. No doubt, students graduate from DAAP with skills needed to succeed, but it's not as exciting as the work you see in other programs.