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 immediately prior to classification. Thus, there is a distinction
between legal residence and residence for tuition purposes. Furthermore, twelve
months’ 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 re-registration.
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.
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(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.”
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| (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