4.6 Establishing Residency

1. Overview of Residency Requirements
2. NC General Statute 116-143.1
3. Residence
4. Initiative
5. Parents' Domicile
6. Marriage
7. Military Personnel
8. Grace Period
9. Minors
10. Change of Status
11. Transfer Students
12. How to Apply for In-state Residency
13. Additional Residentiary Acts
14. Submission of Residency Application
15. Effect on Residency Status of Leaving North Carolina for 12 Months or Less

A. Overview of Residency Requirements

Because North Carolina residents are entitled to substantially lower tuition rates than out-of-state residents, all students claiming to be North Carolina residents must complete the on-line residency form upon application to NC State (distinct from the Residence-and-Tuition Status Application for students already enrolled in Graduate School who wish to convert North Carolina residents for tuition purposes). Should a student be determined ineligible for in-state tuition, however, there are steps that he or she can take to change his or her status for the following year.

Under North Carolina law, legal residency means maintaining a domicile (permanent home of indefinite duration) as opposed to a temporary residence incident to enrollment in a college, university, or technical institute of the state. To determine whether an individual can become a legal resident of NC for tuition purposes, that individual must:

1. Demonstrate financial independence from parent(s) or guardian if the parent(s) or guardian are non-residents of North Carolina;
2. Demonstrate a visible means of support substantiating the claim of financial independence. If the individual has not been entirely self-supporting during the last 24 months, a completed affidavit may be required from the parent(s) or legal guardian;
3. Demonstrate intent to make North Carolina the student's permanent dwelling place of indefinite duration by performing residentiary acts at the beginning of the 12-month period. These acts should be undertaken immediately upon the student's arrival to North Carolina (within the first ten days); and
4. Having clearly established the intent and financial independence, the student must maintain North Carolina residency for 12 months immediately prior to the semester in which the in-state status can be effective.

B. NC General Statute 116-143.1, the basis for residency decisions

Decisions of NC residency for tuition purposes are based upon NC General Statute 116-143.1 and on A Manual to Assist the Public Higher Education Institutions of North Carolina in the Matter of Student Residence Classification for Tuition Purposes prepared by the General Administration of the University of North Carolina. A copy of this manual is available for inspection in the Graduate Admissions Office, 1575 Varsity Drive, Flex Lab, Module 6.

The following portions of this manual have been excerpted below, to assist DGPs and their graduate students in understanding NC State's residency policies and procedures.

C. Residence

To qualify as a resident for tuition purposes, a person must become a legal resident and remain a legal resident for at least 12 months immediately prior to classification. Thus, there is a distinction between legal residence and residence for tuition purposes. Furthermore, 12 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, who must show his or her entitlement by the preponderance of the residentiary information.

D. 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.

E. Parents' Domicile

If an individual, irrespective of age, has living parent(s) or a court-appointed guardian of the person, the domicile of step 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, non-domiciliary 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.

F. 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 ensure 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 wife and her husband 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 12-month requirement for in-state tuition status.

G. Military Personnel

A current student who has been deemed to be a NC resident and who is called to serve outside the State in the armed forces does not lose North Carolina residence for tuition purposes simply by reason of such service as long as the student remains continuously enrolled in the degree program. 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, with a permanent duty station in North Carolina, and their dependents even though not qualifying for the in-state tuition rate based on the twelve months qualification. 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.

H. Grace Period

A person may continue to enjoy in-state tuition rates for a grace period of 12 months measures from the date on which North Carolina legal residency was lost. To qualify for the grace period, one must:

1. have been a bona fide legal resident;
2. have consequently been classified a resident for tuition purposes; and
3. have subsequently lost North Carolina legal residence while enrolled at a public institution of higher education

If the 12 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. 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.

I. Minors

Minors (persons under 18 years of age) usually have the domicile of their parents, but the residence classification statute, in determining residence for tuition purposes, recognizes certain special cases.

1. 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 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 "begins enrollment at an institution of higher education not later than the fall academic term next following completion of education prerequisite to admission at such institution."
   
2. 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 18th birthday, that person on achieving majority will be deemed a legal resident of North Carolina of at least 12 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 12 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.

J. 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 non-resident 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.

K. Transfer Students

When a student transfers from one North Carolina public institution of higher education to another, he or she is treated as a new student by the institution to which he or she is transferring and must be assigned an initial residence status classification for tuition purposes.

L. How to Apply for in-state Residency

Graduate students who wish to attain residency need to complete several "residentiary acts" as soon as possible before they can begin the 12-month waiting period required before applying for NC residency. To begin this process it is necessary to:

The Graduate School Residency Officer has compiled detailed instructions to assist students in Residence-and-Tuition Status Application.

M. Additional Residentiary Acts Necessary for Certain Individuals at the Time of Application

Resident aliens who are in possession of Form I-151 or Form I-551 (Alien Registration Receipt Card or "green card") must also complete the Residence Status Supplemental Form and include a copy of the front and back of the Alien Registration Receipt Card. For married couples, if residency is to be based upon the spouse's residentiary acts, copies of the spouse's residentiary acts and the marriage certificate must be attached.

Note: International students in possession of an F-1, F-2, J-1, or J-2 visa are not eligible for NC residency for tuition purposes.

N. Submission of Residency Applications

1. Filing the residency application

Students must complete the Residence-and-Tuition Status Application and attach the following documentation of residentiary acts to the application:

1. NC driver's license
2. Vehicle registration
3. Voter registration
4. NC income tax returns
5. Year-to-date cumulative wage earning statements from all jobs held for the current year
6. Listing of personal property taxes
7. Student loan agreements and/or financial aid forms, if applicable
8. Marriage certificate, if residency is to be based upon spouse's residentiary acts, and copies of the spouse's residentiary acts
9. In addition, aliens (non-U.S. citizens) must submit a Residence Status Supplemental Form (available in the Graduate School) accompanied by copies of the student's approval for permanent residence status, which shows the date of adjudication by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

2. Application processing policies

No tuition status change can be made without the Residence-and-Tuition Status Application. The 12-month residency waiting period must be completed prior to the first day of the semester or summer session in which in-state residency is being requested. To meet this requirement, the application should be submitted:

1. no earlier than June 1 for the fall semester
2. no earlier than October 1 for the spring semester
3. no earlier than March 1 for first summer session
4. no earlier than May 1 for the second summer session.

Please note that the application can be submitted a maximum of 75 days before the start of the semester in which the in-state status can become effective even though the entire 12-month residency period may not have been satisfied at the time the application is filed. To avoid being billed as an out-of-state resident, the individual should file for a status change before the tuition bills are due so that the Graduate School will have time to process the applications and notify the University Cashier's Office as to the tuition status change.

Incomplete applications will be returned. Omission of any of the requested documentation and/or failure to fill out the application in its entirety will necessitate the return of the application to the student for additional information, further delaying a decision. An application submitted earlier than the 75-day period will be returned.

3. Notification and appeals

An applicant will be notified by letter of any and all action taken regarding the application. If there are any questions, the applicant will be contacted before any decision is made and will be notified of the decision by letter within approximately 14 days. If denied NC residency for tuition purposes, an appeal of the decision is possible, but applicants should not call the Graduate School.

A six-member committee meets once or twice a month to hear appeals, and at this time, the applicant is given the opportunity to appear in person to clarify points and to present additional arguments. Approximately two weeks prior to the scheduled appeal hearing, a letter will notify the student appealing the residence status decision. Further appeals are possible, if necessary.

O. Effect on Residency Status of Leaving North Carolina for 12 Months or Less

The NC General Assembly established the following policy in 1981:

"Any person who ceases to be enrolled at or graduates from an institution of higher education while classified as a resident for tuition purposes and subsequently abandons NC domicile shall be permitted to re-enroll at an institution of higher education as a resident for tuition purposes without the necessity of meeting the 12 month durational requirement of this section if the person reestablished NC domicile within 12 months of abandonment of NC domicile at least through the beginning of the academic terms for which in-state tuition status is sought. The benefit of this subsection shall be accorded not more than once to any one person."