Determining Residence Status

Under state statutes pursuant to Title 3 Texas Education Code and the document, “Rules and Regulations for Determining Residence Status”, (published by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board) interpreting those statutes, an individual will be classified as a resident or nonresident.

Your residence status for tuition purposes will be determined by the Registrar prior to your enrollment. Students may contact the Office of Admissions and Records for help in determining correct residence status for tuition purposes or for steps to complete in order to change residence status.

You must be prepared to pay tuition and other required fees by specified due dates or become subject to the penalties applied by the Coordinating Board rules. If you have knowledge of an error in your residency status for tuition purposes, it is your responsibility to notify the Office of Admissions and Records immediately. These rules are subject to change. For a complete copy of the rules and regulations, contact the Office of Admissions and Records or view them on the Coordinating Board web site: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us .  Following is a summary of the rules and regulations:

An individual who has lived in the state under circumstances specified in these rules will be eligible for classification as a resident.  An individual who does not meet resident criteria will be classified as a non-resident, and must pay tuition and fees required of non-resident students.  An individual classified as a non-resident may qualify to pay resident tuition rates and other charges while continuing to be classified as a non-resident under certain exceptions specified in these rules.

Minors and Dependents. Texas Education Code, Sec.54.052 (a) (1) (2) (3). “Residence” means “domicile.” “Resided in” means “domiciled in.” “Dependent” means an individual who is claimed as a dependent for federal income tax purposes by the individual’s parent or guardian at the time of registration and for the tax year preceding the year in which the individual registers.

Section 54.052 (c). An individual who is under 18 years of age or is a dependent and who is living away from his family and whose family resides in another state or has not resided in Texas for the 12-month period immediately preceding the date of registration shall be classified as a nonresident student.

Section 54.052 (d). An individual who is 18 years of age or under or is a dependent and whose family has not resided in Texas for the 12-month period immediately preceding the date of registration shall be classified as a nonresident student, regardless of whether he has become the legal ward of residents of Texas or has been adopted by residents of Texas while he is attending an educational institution in Texas, or within a 12-month period before his attendance, or under circumstances indicating that the guardianship or adoption was for the purpose of obtaining status as a resident student.

Section 54.0551. An individual who is 18 years of age or under or is a dependent and who, along with the individual’s parents, was formerly a resident of this state is entitled to pay tuition at the rate provided for Texas residents if:  (1) the individual and the parent who is the individual’s managing conservator or who is the individual’s joint managing conservator with whom the individual primarily resides change their legal residence from this state to another state; and (2) the other parent who is the individual’s possessory conservator or who is the individual’s joint managing conservator with whom the individual does not primarily reside continues to reside in this state and is not delinquent on the payment of any child support.

Independent Individuals 18 Years of Age or Older. Statute: Section 54.052 (3). An individual who is 18 years of age or over who has come from outside Texas and who is gainfully employed in Texas for a 12-month period immediately preceding registration in an educational institution shall be classified as a resident student as long as he continues to maintain a legal residence in Texas.

Section 54.052 (f). An individual who is 18 years of age or over who resides out of the state or who has come from outside Texas and who registers in an educational institution before having resided in Texas for a 12-month period shall be classified as a nonresident student.

Section 54.052 (g). An individual who would have been classified as a resident for the first five of the six years immediately preceding registration but who resided in another state for all or part of the year immediately preceding registration shall be classified as a resident student.

Military Personnel.  Members of the U.S. Armed Forces and commissioned Public Health Service Officers are presumed to maintain the same domicile that was in effect at the time of entering the service during their entire period of active service.  They are presumed not to establish a domicile in other states in which they are assigned duty because their presence is not voluntary but under U.S. military or Public Health Service orders.  See complete rules pertaining to this section in the Rules and Regulations on the website above.

Married Students. Section 54.056. A student who is a resident of Texas and who marries a nonresident is entitled to pay the resident tuition fee as long as the student does not adopt the legal residence of the spouse in another state.

Foreign Students. Section 54.057 (a). An alien who is living in this country under a visa permitting permanent residence or who has applied to or has a petition pending with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to attain lawful status under federal immigration law has the same privilege of qualifying for resident status for tuition and fee purposes under this subchapter as has a citizen of the United States.

Section 54.057 (j).  Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, an individual shall be classified as a Texas resident until the individual establishes a residence outside this state if the individual resided  with the individual’s parent, guardian, or conservator while attending a public or private high school in this state and (1) graduated from a public or private high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma in this state; (2) resided in this state for at least three years as of the date the person graduated from high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma; (3) registers as an entering student in an institution of higher education not earlier than the 2001 Fall semester; and (4) provides to the institution an affidavit stating that the individual will file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity the individual is eligible to do so.

Persons Temporarily Absent From the State.  Section 54.052(g).  An individual who would have been classified as a resident for the first five of the six years immediately preceding registration but who resided in another state for all or part of the year immediately preceding registration shall be classified as a resident student.

Reclassification. Section 54.054.  A nonresident student classification is presumed to be correct as long as the residence of the individual in the state is primarily for the purpose of attending an educational institution.  After residing in Texas for at least 12 months, a nonresident student may be reclassified as a resident student as provided in the rules and regulations adopted by the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System.  Any individual reclassified as a resident student is entitled to pay the tuition fee for a resident of Texas at any subsequent registration as long as he continues to maintain his legal residence in Texas.

Procedures.  Students classified as nonresident students shall be considered to retain that status until they apply for reclassification in the form prescribed by the institution and are officially reclassified as residents for tuition purposes by the proper administrative officers of the institution.  Application for reclassification must be submitted prior to the official census date of the relevant term.  Reclassification as residents must be made in keeping with the General Rules outlined in the publication, “Rules and Regulations for Residence Status.” 

Student Intent.  If a student’s residence in Texas is primarily for the purpose of education and not to establish a domicile, the student shall be classified as a nonresident.  The following persons are NOT considered to have come here for the purpose of education:  the spouse or dependent child of an individual transferred here by the U.S. Armed Forces, through the state’s plan for economic development and diversification, or as a part of a household moved to the state to accept employment.  Therefore, once such individuals have physically resided in Texas for 12 consecutive months, even though they may have been enrolled full-time, they may be considered residents if they have otherwise established a domicile in the state.

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