RESIDENCE STATUS FOR TUITION PURPOSES
The basis for determining the appropriate tuition charge rests upon whether a
student is a resident or a nonresident. Each student must make a statement as to
the length of his or her residence in North Carolina with assessment by the
institution of that statement to be conditioned by the following:
Residence.
To
qualify as a resident for tuition purposes, a person must become a legal
resident and remain a legal resident for at least twelve months (exactly 365
days) immediately prior to classification. Thus, there is a distinction between
legal residence and residence for tuition purposes. Furthermore, twelve months’
(exactly 365 days) legal residence means more than simple abode in North
Carolina. In particular, it means maintaining a domicile (permanent home of
indefinite duration) as opposed to “maintaining a mere temporary residence or
abode incident to enrollment in an institution of higher education.” The burden
of establishing facts which justify classification of a student as a resident
entitled to in-state tuition rates is on the applicant for such classification,
who must show his or her entitlement by the preponderance (the greater part) of
the residentiary information.
Initiative.
Being
classified a resident for tuition purposes is contingent on the student’s
seeking such status and providing all information that the institution may
require in making the determination.
Parents’ Domicile.
If an
individual, irrespective of age, has living parent(s) or court-appointed
guardian of the person, the domicile of such parent(s) or guardian is, prima
facie, the domicile of the individual; but this prima facie evidence of the
individual’s domicile may or may not be sustained by other information.
Further, nondomiciliary status of parents is not deemed prima facie evidence of
the applicant child’s status if the applicant has lived (though not necessarily
legally resided) in North Carolina for the five years preceding enrollment or
reregistration.
Effect
of marriage.
Marriage alone does not
prevent a person from becoming or continuing to be a resident for tuition
purposes, nor does marriage in any circumstance insure that a person will become
or continue to be a resident for tuition purposes. Marriage and the legal
residence of one’s spouse are, however, relevant information in determining
residentiary intent. Furthermore, if both a husband and his wife are legal
residents of North Carolina and if one of them has been a legal resident longer
than the other, then the longer duration may be claimed by either spouse in
meeting the twelve-month requirement for in-state tuition status.
Military Personnel.
A North
Carolinian who serves outside the State in the armed forces does not lose
North Carolina domicile simply by reason of such service. And students from the
military may prove retention or establishment of residence by reference, as in
other cases, to residentiary acts accompanied by residentiary intent.
In addition, a separate North
Carolina statute affords tuition rate benefits to certain military personnel and
their dependents even though not qualifying for the in-state tuition rate by
reason of twelve months’ legal residence in North Carolina. Members of the armed
services, while stationed in and concurrently living in North Carolina, may be
charged a tuition rate lower than the out-of-state tuition rate to the extent
that the total of entitlements for applicable tuition costs available from the
federal government, plus certain amounts based under a statutory formula upon
the in-state tuition rate, is a sum less than the out-of-state tuition rate for
the pertinent enrollment. A dependent relative of a service member
stationed in North Carolina is eligible to be charged the in-state tuition rate
while the dependent relative is living in North Carolina with the service member
and if the dependent relative has met any requirement of the Selective Service
System applicable to the dependent relative. These tuition benefits may be
enjoyed only if the applicable requirements for admission have been met; these
benefits alone do not provide the basis for receiving those derivative benefits
under the provisions of the residence classification statute reviewed elsewhere
in this summary.
Grace
Period.
If a person (1) has been a
bona fide legal resident, (2) has consequently been classified a resident
for tuition purposes, and (3) has subsequently lost North Carolina legal
residence while enrolled at a public institution of higher education, that
person may continue to enjoy the in-state tuition rate for a grace period of
twelve months measured from the date on which North Carolina legal residence was
lost. If the twelve months end during an academic term for which the person is
enrolled at a State institution of higher education, the grace period extends,
in addition, to the end of that term. The fact of marriage to one who continues
domiciled outside North Carolina does not by itself cause loss of legal
residence marking the beginning of the grace period.
Minors.
Minors
(persons under 18 years of age) usually have the domicile of their parents, but
certain special cases are recognized by the residence classification statute in
determining residence for tuition purposes.
(a) If a minor’s parents live apart, the minor’s domicile is deemed to be North Carolina for the time period(s) that either
parent, as a North Carolina legal resident, may claim and does claim the minor as a tax dependent, even if other law or
judicial act assigns the minor’s domicile outside North Carolina. A minor thus deemed to be a legal resident will not, upon
achieving majority before enrolling at an institution of higher education, lose North Carolina legal residence if that person
(1) upon becoming an adult “acts, to the extent that the person’s degree of actual emancipation permits, in a manner
consistent with bona fide legal residence in North Carolina” and (2) “begins enrollment at an institution of higher education
not later than the Fall academic term following completion of education prerequisite to admission at such institution.”
(b) If a minor has lived for five or more consecutive years with relatives (other than parents) who are domiciled in North
Carolina and if the relatives have functioned during this time as if they were personal guardians, the minor will be deemed
a resident for tuition purposes for an enrolled term commencing immediately after at least five years in which these
circumstances have existed. If under this consideration a minor is deemed to be a resident for tuition purposes
immediately prior to his or her eighteenth birthday, that person on achieving majority will be deemed a legal resident of
North Carolina of at least twelve months’ duration. This provision acts to confer in-state tuition status even in the face of
other provisions of law to the contrary; however, a person deemed a resident of twelve months duration pursuant to this
provision continues to be a legal resident of the State only so long as he or she does not abandon North Carolina domicile.
Lost but
Regained Domicile.
If a student ceases enrollment
at or graduates from an institution of higher education while classified a
resident for tuition purposes, and then both abandons and reacquires North
Carolina domicile within a 12-month period, that person, if he or she continues
to maintain the reacquired domicile into re-enrollment at an institution of
higher education, may re-enroll at the in-state tuition rate without having to
meet the usual twelve-month durational requirement. However, any one person may
receive the benefit of the provision only once.
Change of Status.
A
student admitted to initial enrollment in an institution (or permitted to
re-enroll following an absence from the institutional program which involved a
formal withdrawal from enrollment) must be classified by the admitting
institution either as a resident or as a nonresident for tuition purposes prior
to actual enrollment. A residence status classification once assigned (and
finalized pursuant to any appeal properly taken) may be changed thereafter (with
corresponding change in billing rates) only at intervals corresponding with the
established primary divisions of the academic year.
Transfer Students.
When a
student transfers from one North Carolina public institution of higher education
to another, he/she is treated as a new student by the institution to which
he/she is transferring and must be assigned an initial residence status
classification for tuition purposes.
Admission Policy and Procedures