North Carolina Residency

  • Due north Carolina Residency workshops
  • Requirements and Background
  • Definitions
  • North Carolina Country Residency Nomenclature Transmission
  • Awarding Procedure
    • Who Should Apply
    • Online Residency Awarding
    • Residency Awarding Dates
  • Special Provisions
  • Statutory Grace Periods
  • Decision Notification
  • Entreatment Process
  • Contact information

In lodge to exist considered for in-state residency status for tuition purposes whatsoever student admitted to and enrolled in a graduate caste program administered by The Graduate School with nonresident status is required to request a residency reconsideration via the Residency Determination Service in gild to be considered for in-land tuition benefits.

In one case granted in-state status for tuition purposes, this status will remain in effect unless the student fails to enroll for two consecutive terms (fall/spring simply). Should the student's residency status modify to nonresident, they will need to request reconsideration in lodge to exist considered for in-state tuition benefits.

North Carolina Residency Workshops

Each semester representatives from The Graduate School facilitate information sessions on Due north Carolina residency for tuition purposes and answer questions most the application and review process.

Autumn 2021 residency workshop slides pdf icon

Requirements and Background

The Northward Carolina State Constitution, Section ix states, "The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher pedagogy, equally far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense."

This is the constitutional basis for conducting residency classifications for tuition purposes. The Country of North Carolina created and maintains its public institutions primarily for the benefit of the residents of Northward Carolina. Under the North Carolina Land Constitution, the State's policy is to provide the educational benefits of its institutions of higher education at every bit low a cost every bit is practicable to those students who qualify as "people of the Country." In club to attain this, nonresidents are charged a higher tuition rate than State residents.

The Northward Carolina General Associates enacted a detailed police for determining who qualifies for lower in-state tuition. Due north Carolina General Statute Section 116-143.ane provides specific guidelines and standards that should be used to determine whether someone qualifies as a resident for tuition purposes, and then as to receive the lower in-state tuition charge per unit. Subsections of this statute also provide the applicable standards for special rules and exceptions. The review of all North Carolina residency applications for tuition purposes is guided by the laws outlined in the above-mentioned General Statute.

To assistance in the preparation of your application for in-state status for tuition purposes, we have summarized several key points and definitions beneath.

Under North Carolina General Statute § 116-143.i, to authorize for in-state tuition an applicant (legal resident) must demonstrate a preponderance of evidence that:

  • he/she established and maintained a dwelling in North Carolina at least twelve months before the start twenty-four hour period of classes, and
  • with the intent to make North Carolina a permanent dwelling house indefinitely, and
  • he/she was not in Due north Carolina solely to attend college.

Definitions

Resident for Tuition Purposes:
A person who has: (i) established home in N Carolina, and (2) maintained that domicile for a menstruation of at least 12 months prior to their classification equally a resident for tuition purposes.
Domicile:
A person's true, stock-still and permanent abode and place of habitation of indefinite duration. The terms "domicile" and "legal residence" are used interchangeably.
Residence versus Domicile:
"Residence is a place of abode, and may be either permanent or temporary. By contrast, domicile is never temporary; rather, it is one's permanent, established home. To be domiciled in a particular place, one must intend to remain there for an indefinite period of fourth dimension, and it is the place where one intends to return if absent. A person may take many residences, but may only accept one habitation." A home is not a temporary residence established for the purpose of attending the Academy.
Indefinite:
A elapsing of time having no exact limits or no predetermined stop engagement.
Capacity:
The legal ability to establish residence unimpeded by other factors, such as age or improper clearing status. Capacity includes the ability to remain in North Carolina indefinitely through one's own fiscal resources.
Dependent versus Independent:
If an applicant's parent(south) or legal guardian(south) are domiciled in North Carolina, the applicant may seek to show that they are dependent on their parents and, therefore, that they should be presumed to have their home. Proof of parental/guardian abode in North Carolina is required. Dependent refers to a person divers as a "qualifying child" or "qualifying relative" for income tax purposes. Contained refers to a person who is legally entitled to merits themself on income tax returns, is not claimed every bit a dependent past others, and possesses sufficient funds to live and pay tuition and fees without parent-financed, parent-guaranteed, or co-signed loans.
Bona Fide:
In good religion with hostage intent. A bona fide domicile is 1 in which the person's relevant carry and motivation evidence a 18-carat desire to establish legal residence in Due north Carolina.
Brunt of Proof:
The applicant bears the burden of proof and must establish, by a preponderance of the testify, that they are a bona fide domicilic for tuition purposes. The following deportment are taken into account as intent to establish a permanent domicile in Northward Carolina. This list represents examples of acts that tin can exist taken and does not stand for a comprehensive fix of actions nor does it serve equally a checklist for a residency decision. No one action by itself guarantees or denies NC residency status for tuition purposes.
  • Financial independency/Employment
  • Voter registration and activity
  • Jury duty
  • Sources of financial back up
  • Car registration
  • Driver's license
  • Country identification card
  • Belongings buying
  • State income tax returns
  • Time in and out of state
  • Ties to customs
Not-U.s.a. Citizens:
Non-U.S. citizens must have certain visas and/or canonical forms in order to have the capacity to establish and maintain a domicile in North Carolina. If these requirements are met, and then non-U.S. citizens are bailiwick to the domicile analysis like whatsoever other applicant.

Residency Classification Manual

Due north Carolina Country Residence Classification Transmission pdf icon

Awarding Process

Who Should Employ:

Any pupil with nonresident residency status who wishes to be considered for in-state residency condition for tuition purposes.

It is very important to:

  • Complete the Residency Determination Service interview with accurate information.
  • If additional documentation is required, respond to requests for boosted information inside the time frame indicated by the Residency Conclusion Service.

Online Residency Awarding:

Students who wish to be considered for in-state tuition benefits will need to complete the Residency Determination Service (RDS) interview procedure (for initial requests, reconsideration requests, and appeals). Please visit your ConnectCarolina StudentCenter and click the NC Residency Reconsideration or Appeal link under the Personal Information tab. In one case yous complete the RDS process yous must enter your Residency Certification Number (RCN) in your StudentCenter.

To access RDS directly, please visit ncresidency.org. Showtime September five, 2018, all requests for in-state residency determinations must be submitted online via the RDS process.

Anyone found to purposely present false/misleading information will be subject field to the atmospheric condition of the University Honor Code.

Residency Awarding Dates

For a residency conclusion to exist applied to the current term, a pupil must consummate a request for a afterthought on or before 45 days after the first twenty-four hour period of the term. Students must notify campus of any changes in residency status via their ConnectCarolina StudentCenter in club for changes to be reflected.

Upcoming residency application dates are listed below. Please see the Office of the University Registrar for more data.

  • Summer I 2022 – RDS reconsideration request on or before May xvi, 2022 for conclusion to utilize to Summer I 2021 term
  • Summer II 2022 – RDS reconsideration asking on or before June 25, 2022 for determination to apply to Summer II 2021 term
  • Fall 2022 – RDS reconsideration request on or earlier September 28, 2022 for decision to use to Autumn 2022 term

Special Provisions

The Office of the Academy Registrar will evaluate and track students' eligibility for specific exceptions to the residency guidelines. Many of the exceptions crave a supplemental awarding, which can be establish on the Office of the Academy Registrar'south website. For questions regarding these exceptions, students and staff may e-mail residency@unc.edu, or telephone call 919-962-3954.

Statutory Grace Periods: As documented in the NC Residency Manual

If a student has been properly classified as a resident for tuition purposes at an institution of college education in North Carolina, a change in their state of residence does not effect in an immediate or automatic loss of entitlement to the in-state tuition rate. Students in this situation are allowed a "grace period" during which the in-state rate will all the same be applicative even though the student is no longer a legal resident of North Carolina. The grace period can apply under certain circumstances both to currently enrolled students too as to students who are no longer enrolled or who have graduated.

Grace Period for Currently Enrolled Students: To qualify for the grace menses if the pupil is currently enrolled, the student must satisfy the following conditions:

  • First, the student must take been properly classified as a resident for tuition purposes on the ground of a valid finding that the student in fact was domiciled in (a legal resident of) North Carolina and had been for the required 12-calendar month period prior to nomenclature.
  • Second, at the time of change of legal residence to a state other than Due north Carolina, the individual must have been enrolled in an establishment of higher education in North Carolina.

"Enrolled" shall include both persons who are actually attending the institution during an academic term too as those whose consecutive attendance of bookish terms has been interrupted just past institutional holiday or summer recess periods. A person whose change in legal residence occurred during a menstruum while not enrolled is not entitled to this benefit.

The grace period extends for 12 months from the date of the change in legal residence, plus any portion of a semester or academic term remaining at the time the change in legal residence occurred. No alter in applicable tuition rates resulting from the expiration of the bones 12-month grace period will exist effective during a semester, quarter, or other academic term in which the student is enrolled; the change in tuition rates are effective at the beginning of the following semester, quarter, or other academic term. Once perfected, the grace menstruation is applicable for the entire menses at any institution of higher instruction in the Country.

Grace Catamenia for Not-Enrolled Students: To qualify for the grace period if the pupil is no longer enrolled, the student must satisfy the following weather:

  • First, the student must have been properly classified as a resident for tuition purposes at the time the student ceased to be enrolled at or graduated from an institution of higher pedagogy in this state.
  • 2nd, if the student afterwards abandons their domicile in North Carolina and then reestablishes dwelling house in this state within 12 months of abandonment, the student may re-enroll at an establishment of higher education in this country as a resident for tuition purposes without having to satisfy the 12-month durational requirement then long as the student continuously maintains their reestablished domicile in Northward Carolina at to the lowest degree through beginning of the academic term for which in-country tuition status is sought.

It is important to note that a pupil may benefit from this particular grace period just in one case. There is no such limitation on the grace period available to students who feel a change in residence status while still enrolled at an institution of high pedagogy in this state.

Conclusion Notification

Upon completing the initial RDS interview process, RDS communicates your residency status immediately. This determination is contingent upon you submitting whatever required documentation and passing validation of the data y'all provide.

  • If you are required to provide boosted documentation and do not submit this documentation earlier the 25-day deadline, your residency status changes from resident to non-resident.
  • RDS validates data you provide with federal and state agencies. Should the data you provide not validate, your residency status changes from resident to non-resident.

In addition to your residency conclusion status, RDS provides you a Residency Certification Number (RCN) and a summary of the information you enter. Yous must enter your RCN number in your ConnectCarolina StudentCenter (if you have an onyen) in order for your residency status to be updated.

For afterthought and appeal requests, RDS staff must review the request in full before providing a residency status. RDS tin review your request merely later you provide all your required documents. If your required documents are not submitted before the 25-day deadline, your request is canceled and your residency status remains not-resident.

Entreatment Process

You may asking an Appeal if you lot believe that the RDS process has failed to accurately consider important data regarding your residency claim. There are two types of appeal:

  1. RDS Entreatment - the RDS Appeal is for students who believe their agile residency conclusion is incorrect - either from an initial consideration or a reconsideration. Students have the ability to asking the RDS Appeal online, submit additional information and documentation to support their claim, and meet face up-to-confront (or via technology) to review their appeal.
  2. SEAA Entreatment - the SEAA Entreatment is the final authoritative step in the residency process. The appeal is conducted by a statewide committee comprised of representatives from the North Carolina Customs Higher Organisation, North Carolina Contained Colleges and Universities, State Education Assistance Authority, and The Academy of Due north Carolina Organisation. No additional documentation or information is permitted past RDS or the student in this appeal.

Both the RDS Appeal and SEAA Appeal require submitting a notification to appeal within 10 agenda days of the determination the student is highly-seasoned. Requests for appeal later on 10 agenda days are not permitted. Get to the Residency Guidelines section of the website to learn more about Appeals.

Contact Data

For additional information, contact:

The Graduate School
Telephone: (919) 962-7772
Email: grad_residency@unc.edu

University Registrar's website