NC Residency

NC Residency

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 NC. In particular, it means maintaining a permanent home of indefinite duration as opposed to maintaining a mere temporary residence to enroll in an institution of higher education.

Thus, physical residence alone is not sufficient. The big indicators are: driver’s license, voter registration, physical residence, car registration, etc. Every one of those must be in place for a calendar year before someone can even hope to have in-state status. For example, if you started living in North Carolina January 2016 but you delayed getting a NC driver’s license until March 2016, the year doesn’t start until March 2016 (or the latest of the dates).

The reason for this is that in-state tuition is heavily subsidized by NC taxpayers. The NC Legislature sets the rules for in-state status. The Universities do not. The Legislature has written the rules into the Law, not just regulations. They are very meticulous about people getting in-state status. The Graduate School is responsible for interpreting the law with regard to in-state status and can further clarify the distinction between in-state and non-state residence. Students can appeal their out-of-state status.