I've done a lot of research on this, and have taken part in numerous discussions with agents and publishers about it. The accepted wisdom seems to be that a YA protagonist is between 13 and 18 years old, although 18 is the very upper age limit. I was told by an editor that Assignment 9 wasn't YA because my protag is 18. But, she's in college. If she was still in high school it would be YA.
I'm not experimenting with having her be 17 and at college. We'll see where that gets me!
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