Classification as an In-State Student

Applicants for admission apply for in-state status by completing the Application for Virginia In-State Educational Privileges and returning it with the admission application.

Currently enrolled students apply for changes in residency status through the Committee on Virginia Status, P.O. Box 9017, Charlottesville, VA 22906. Students must submit applications at least 30 days prior to the semester for which they seek in-state tuition rates.

Students classified as non-residents in current degree programs should contact the Committee on Virginia Status if they are considering applying for admission to other degree programs.

Section 23-7.4. Eligibility for in-state tuition charges. (Edited)

1. For purposes of this section the following definitions shall apply:
   

   Date of the alleged entitlement means the first official day of class within the term, semester, or quarter of the student's program.

   Dependent student means one who is listed as a dependent on the federal or state income tax return of his or her parents or legal guardian or who receives substantial financial support from his or her spouse, parents or legal guardian. It shall be presumed that a student under the age of twenty-four on the date of the alleged entitlement receives substantial financial support from his or her parents or legal guardian, and therefore is dependent on his or her parents or legal guardian, unless the student (i) is a veteran or an active duty member of the U. S. Armed Forces; (ii) is a graduate or professional student; (iii) is married; (iv) is a ward of the court or was a ward of the court until age 18; (v) has no adoptive or legal guardian when both parents are deceased; (vi) has legal dependents other than a spouse; or (vii) is able to present clear and convincing evidence that he or she is financially self-sufficient.

   Domicile means the present, fixed home of an individuals to which he or she returns following temporary absences and at which he or she intends to stay indefinitely. No individual may have more than one domicile at a time. Domicile, once established, shall not be affected by mere transient or temporary physical presence in another jurisdiction.

   Domiciliary intent means present intent to remain indefinitely.

   Emancipated minor means a student under the age of 18 on the date of the alleged entitlement whose parents or guardians have surrendered the right to his or her care, custody and earnings and who no longer claim him or her as a dependent for tax purposes.

   Full-time employment means employment resulting in, at least, an annual earned income reported for tax purposes equivalent to 50 work weeks of 40 hours at minimum wage.

   Independent student means one whose parents have surrendered the right to his or her care, custody and earnings, do not claimed him or her as a dependent on federal and state income tax returns, and have ceased to provide him or her substantial financial support for at least 12 months prior to the date of the alleged entitlement.

   Special arrangement contract means a contract between a Virginia employer or the authorities controlling a federal installation or agency located in Virginia and a public institution of higher education for reduced rate tuition charges as described in section 23-7.4:2G.

   Substantial financial support means financial support in an amount which equals or exceeds that required to qualify the individual to be listed as a dependent on federal and state income tax returns.

   Unemancipated minor means a student under the age of 18 on the date of the alleged entitlement who is under the legal control of and is financially supported by either of his or her parents, legal guardian or other person having legal custody.

   Virginia employer means any employing unit organized under the laws of Virginia or having income from Virginia sources regardless of its organizational structure, or any public or nonprofit organization authorized to operate in Virginia.

2. In order to become eligible for in-state tuition, an independent student shall establish by clear and convincing evidence that for a period of at least one year immediately prior to the date of the alleged entitlement, he or she was domiciled in Virginia and had abandoned any previous domicile, if such existed.

   In order to become eligible for in-state tuition, a dependent student or unemancipated minor shall establish by clear and convincing evidence that for a period of at least one year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement, the person through whom he or she claims eligibility was domiciled in Virginia and had abandoned any previous domicile, if such existed.

   In determining domiciliary intent, all of the following applicable factors shall be considered: continuous residence for at least one year prior to the date of alleged entitlement, state to which income taxes are filed or paid, driver's license, motor vehicle registration, voter registration, employment, property ownership, sources of financial support, military records, a written offer and acceptance of employment following graduation, and any other social or economic relationships with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions.

   Domiciliary status shall not ordinarily be conferred by the performance of acts which are auxiliary to fulfilling educational objectives or are required or routinely performed by temporary residents of the Commonwealth. Mere physical presence or residence primarily for educational purposes shall not confer domiciliary status.

   A matriculating student who has entered an institution and is classified as an out-of-state student shall be required to rebut by clear and convincing evidence the presumption that he or she is in the Commonwealth for the purpose of attending school and not as a bona fide domiciliary.

   Those factors presented in support of entitlement to in-state tuition shall have existed for the one-year period prior to the date of the alleged entitlement. However, in determining the domiciliary intent of active duty military personnel residing in the Commonwealth, or the domiciliary intent of their dependent spouse or children who claim domicile through them, who voluntarily elect to establish Virginia as their permanent residence for domiciliary purposes, the requirement of one year shall be waived if all other conditions for establishing domicile are satisfied.

3. A married person may establish domicile in the same manner as an unmarried person.
   

   An emancipated minor may establish domicile in the same manner as any other independent student. A nonmilitary student whose parent or spouse is a member of the armed forces may establish domicile in the same manner as any other student.

   Any alien holding an immigration visa or classified as a political refugee shall also establish eligibility for in-state tuition in the same manner as any other student. However, absent congressional intent to the contrary, any person holding a student or other temporary visa shall not have the capacity to intend to remain in Virginia indefinitely and, therefore, shall be ineligible for Virginia domicile and for in-state tuition charges.

   The domicile of a dependent student shall be rebuttably presumed to be the domicile of the parent or legal guardian claiming him or her as an exemption on federal or state income tax returns currently and for the tax year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement or providing him or her substantial financial support.

   For the purposes of this section, the domicile of an unemancipated minor or a dependent student 18 years of age or older may be either the domicile of the parent with whom he or she resides, the parent who claims the student as a dependent for federal and Virginia income tax purposes for the tax year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement and is currently so claiming the student, or the parent who provides substantial financial support. If there is no surviving parent or the whereabouts of the parents are unknown, then the domicile of an unemancipated minor shall be the domicile of the legal guardian of such unemancipated minor unless there are circumstances indicating that such guardianship was created primarily for the purpose of conferring a Virginia domicile on the unemancipated minor.

4. It is incumbent on the student to apply for change in domiciliary status to become eligible for such change. Changes in domiciliary status shall only be granted prospectively from the date such application is received.

   A student who knowingly provides erroneous information in an attempt to evade payment of out-of-state fees shall be charged out-of-state tuition fees for each term, semester or quarter attended and may be subject to dismissal from the institution. All disputes related to the veracity of information provided to establish Virginia domicile shall be appealable through the due process procedure required by Section 23-7.4:3.

5. A nonmilitary student whose parent or spouse is a member of the armed forces may establish domicile in the same manner as any other student. However, a nonmilitary student, not otherwise eligible for in-state tuition, whose parent or spouse is a member of the military residing in the Commonwealth pursuant to military orders and claiming a state other than Virginia on their State of Legal Residence Certificate, shall be entitled to in-state tuition charges when the following conditions are met:
   1. if the student is a child of a member of the armed forces, then the nonmilitary parent shall have, for at least one year immediately prior to the date of alleged entitlement for in-state tuition charges, resided in Virginia, been employed full time and paid individual income taxes to Virginia. Such student shall be eligible for in-state tuition charges only if the nonmilitary parent claims him or her as a dependent for Virginia and Federal income tax purposes as evidenced by claiming him or her as a dependent on an individual or joint return; or

   2. if the student is the spouse of a member of the armed forces, then such student shall have, for at least one year immediately prior to the date of alleged entitlement for in-state tuition, resided in Virginia, been employed full time and paid individual income taxes to Virginia; or

   3. if the student is the child or the spouse of a member of the armed forces, then the student shall be entitled to in-state tuition charges for a maximum of one year during the period that the military parent or spouse is residing in the Commonwealth.

      (Note: Appropriations for this subsection (3) were recently reconsidered by the General Assembly. Eligible applicants should contact the Virginia Status Office for current information on this provision.) Any student whose spouse or parent is a member of the armed forces shall be eligible for in-state tuition charges for so long as the conditions of clauses 1 and 2 of this subsection continue to be met. Military dependents provided in-state tuition for the first year of residence in Virginia shall be counted as out-of-state students for admissions, enrollment and tuition and fee revenue policy purposes.

6. Students who live outside this Commonwealth and have been employed full time inside Virginia for at least one year immediately prior to the date of the alleged entitlement for in-state tuition shall be eligible for in-state tuition charges if such student has paid Virginia income taxes on all taxable income earned in this Commonwealth for the tax year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement. Students claimed as dependents for federal and Virginia income tax purposes who live outside this Commonwealth shall become eligible for in-state tuition charges if the nonresident parent claiming him or her as a dependent has been employed full time inside Virginia for at least one year immediately prior to the date of the alleged entitlement and paid Virginia income taxes on all taxable income earned in this Commonwealth for the tax year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement. Such students shall continue to be eligible for in-state tuition charges for so long as they or their qualifying parent are employed full time in Virginia, paying Virginia income taxes on all taxable income earned in this Commonwealth and the student is claimed as a dependent for Virginia and federal income tax purposes.

7. Public institutions of higher education may enter into special arrangement contracts with Virginia employers or authorities controlling federal installations or agencies located in Virginia. The special arrangement contracts shall be for the purpose of providing reduced rate tuition charges for the employees of the Virginia employers or federal personnel when the employers or federal authorities are assuming the liability for paying, to the extent permitted by Federal law, the tuition for the employees or personnel in question and the employees or personnel are classified by the requirements of this section as out-of-state.

   Please contact the Committee on Virginia Status for further information regarding special arrangement contracts.

8. Each public institution of higher education shall establish an appeals process for those students who are aggrieved by decisions on eligibility for in-state or reduced tuition charges pursuant to Sections 23-7.4 and 23-7.4:2. The Administrative Process Act (9-6.14:l et seq.) shall not apply to these administrative reviews.

An initial determination shall be made. Each appeals process shall include an intermediate review of the initial determination and a final administrative review. The final administrative decision shall be in writing. A copy of this decision shall be sent to the student. Either the intermediate review or the final administrative review shall be conducted by an appeals committee consisting of an odd number of members. No person who serves at one level of this appeals process shall be eligible to serve at any other level of this review. All such due process procedures shall be in writing and shall include time limitations in order to provide for orderly and timely resolutions of all disputes.

Any party aggrieved by a final administrative decision shall have the right to review in the circuit court for the jurisdiction in which the relevant institution is located. A petition for review of the final administrative decision shall be filed within thirty days of receiving the written decision. In any such action, the institution shall forward the record to the court, whose function shall be only to determine whether the decision reached by the institution could reasonably be said, on the basis of the record, not to be arbitrary, capricious or otherwise contrary to law.

To ensure the application of uniform criteria in administering this section and determining eligibility for in-state tuition charges, the State Council of Higher Education shall issue and from time to time revise guidelines, including domiciliary status questions to be incorporated by all state institutions of higher education in their admissions applications. These guidelines shall not be subject to the Administrative Process Act.

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