Residence Status

Determining Texas Residency

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, Section 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.

Coordinating Board Rules, Chapter 21, Subchapter B, Section 21.24(b):

Independent individuals 18 years of age or older who are gainfully employed in the state for a period of 12 months prior to enrollment are entitled to classification as residents. Students registering in an institution of higher education prior to having physically resided in the state for the 12 months prior to enrollment shall be classified as nonresidents for tuition purposes during that term. Accumulations of summer and other vacation periods do not satisfy the employment requirement. Employment while enrolled in college during a 12-month period can be a basis of reclassification as a resident at the end of that period if other evidence indicates the student has established a domicile in Texas.

Military Personnel.

Section 21.23 (c). 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.

Federal Employees Other Than Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or Public Health Service.

Section 21.23 (g). The state has no special provisions for determining the residence of federal employees other than members of the U.S. Armed Forces or Public Health Service. Therefore, such persons (including civilian employees of the U.S. Armed Forces) must meet the basic residency requirements for non-military personnel.

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.

Coordinating Board Rules:

Marriage of a Texas resident to a nonresident does not jeopardize the Texas resident's claim to residency. A nonresident who marries a resident of Texas must establish his or her own residency by meeting the standard requirements of an independent individual 18 years of age or older.

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 U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration 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 (b). A nonimmigrant alien who resides in this state in accordance with the Agreement between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Regarding the Status of Their Forces (4 U.S.T. 1792) and the spouse or children of such an alien are residents for tuition and fee purposes under this code.

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.

Section 21.23 (h). Residents who move out of state should be classified as nonresidents upon leaving the state, unless their move is temporary and residence has not been established elsewhere.

Persons who were residents of Texas for at lease five years prior to moving from the state and who return to the state to re-establish their home, having been gone less than a year, are still Texas residents.
Students or parents or court-appointed legal guardians (in the case of dependent students) who are temporarily (generally less than five years) assigned to work outside the state may continue to claim residency in Texas if they provide conclusive evidence of their intent at the time they leave the state, to return. Among other things, a letter from an employer that the move outside the state is temporary and that a definite future date has been determined for return to Texas may qualify as proof of the temporary nature of the time spent out of state. Out-of-state internships that are part of the academic curriculum and that require the student to return to the school are temporary relocations and do not jeopardize a student's claim to residency.

Short-Term Stop-Out Students

Section 21.23(g). If the institution has documentation of residence on file when a dependent or independent student returns after being out of school for 12 months or less, it may continue the student's classification as resident upon confirmation from the student that his or her parents or court-appointed legal guardians (in the case of a dependent student) or the student him/herself (in the case of an independent student) have not changed their state of residence since the student's last enrollment.

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 Texas Higher Education 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 future 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, a person transferred to Texas 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.

Documenting 12 Months Domicile in Texas

Among the documents that may be used to prove 12 months' presence in Texas are:

Texas college or university transcript for the full senior year immediately preceding the semester enrolled (in conjunction with other documents from the institution);
An employer's statement of date of employment in Texas;
A permanent driver's license (at least one year old). The license expiration date minus date of enrollment should not exceed three years;
Texas voter registration;
Lease agreement that includes student's name and period covered;
Property tax payments for the year preceding enrollment;
Cancelled checks;
Utility bills for the year preceding enrollment;
A signed, dated and notarized comprehensive residence questionnaire;
An income tax form or (if current year federal tax form has not been filed) a signed, notarized statement regarding the student's independence or regarding the individual(s) who claim the student as a dependent;
A current credit report that documents the student's length and place of residence;
Other third party documentation that confirms residency status for the 12-month period preceding enrollment;
For a homeless individual, documentation may consist of written statements from the office of one or more legitimate social service agencies located in Texas, attesting to the provision of services to the individual over the previous 12-month period.

Materials to determine the establishment of a domicile in Texas are business or personal facts including, but not limited to:

The length of residence and employment prior to enrolling in college;
The nature of employment while a student;
Physical presence in Texas as a part of a household transferred to the state by an employer (other than the U.S. Armed Forces or Public Health Service) or as a part of a household moved to the state to accept employment; and Purchase of a homestead