23-7.4 - Eligibility for in-state tuition charges.
§ 23-7.4. Eligibility for in-state tuition charges.
A. For purposes of this section and §§ 23-7.4:1, 23-7.4:2 and23-7.4:3, the following definitions shall apply:
"Date of the alleged entitlement" means the firstofficial day of class within the term, semester or quarter of the student'sprogram.
"Dependent student" means one who is listed as adependent on the federal or state income tax return of his parents or legalguardian or who receives substantial financial support from his spouse, parentsor legal guardian. It shall be presumed that a student under the age oftwenty-four on the date of the alleged entitlement receives substantialfinancial support from his parents or legal guardian, and therefore isdependent on his parents or legal guardian, unless the student (i) is a veteranor an active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces; (ii) is a graduate orprofessional student; (iii) is married; (iv) is a ward of the court or was award of the court until age 18; (v) has no adoptive or legal guardian when bothparents are deceased; (vi) has legal dependents other than a spouse; or (vii)is able to present clear and convincing evidence that he is financiallyself-sufficient.
"Domicile" means the present, fixed home of anindividual to which he returns following temporary absences and at which heintends to stay indefinitely. No individual may have more than one domicile ata time. Domicile, once established, shall not be affected by mere transient ortemporary physical presence in another jurisdiction.
"Domiciliary intent" means present intent to remainindefinitely.
"Emancipated minor" means a student under the age ofeighteen on the date of the alleged entitlement whose parents or guardians havesurrendered the right to his care, custody and earnings and who no longer claimhim as a dependent for tax purposes.
"Full-time employment" means employment resultingin, at least, an annual earned income reported for tax purposes equivalent tofifty work weeks of forty hours at minimum wage.
"Independent student" means one whose parents havesurrendered the right to his care, custody and earnings, do not claim him as adependent on federal or state income tax returns, and have ceased to providehim substantial financial support.
"Special arrangement contract" means a contractbetween a Virginia employer or the authorities controlling a federalinstallation or agency located in Virginia and a public institution of highereducation for reduced rate tuition charges as described in subsection F of §23-7.4:2.
"Substantial financial support" means financialsupport in an amount which equals or exceeds that required to qualify theindividual to be listed as a dependent on federal and state income tax returns.
"Unemancipated minor" means a student under the ageof eighteen on the date of the alleged entitlement who is under the legalcontrol of and is financially supported by either of his parents, legalguardian or other person having legal custody.
"Virginia employer" means any employing unit organizedunder the laws of Virginia or having income from Virginia sources regardless ofits organizational structure, or any public or nonprofit organizationauthorized to operate in Virginia.
B. To become eligible for in-state tuition, an independentstudent shall establish by clear and convincing evidence that for a period ofat least one year immediately prior to the date of the alleged entitlement, hewas domiciled in Virginia and had abandoned any previous domicile, if suchexisted.
To become eligible for in-state tuition, a dependent studentor unemancipated minor shall establish by clear and convincing evidence thatfor a period of at least one year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement,the person through whom he claims eligibility was domiciled in Virginia and hadabandoned any previous domicile, if such existed. If the person through whomthe dependent student or unemancipated minor established such domicile andeligibility for in-state tuition abandons his Virginia domicile, the dependentstudent or unemancipated minor shall be entitled to such in-state tuition forone year from the date of such abandonment.
In determining domiciliary intent, all of the followingapplicable factors shall be considered: continuous residence for at least one yearprior to the date of alleged entitlement, state to which income taxes are filedor 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 anyother social or economic relationships with the Commonwealth and otherjurisdictions.
Domiciliary status shall not ordinarily be conferred by theperformance of acts which are auxiliary to fulfilling educational objectives orare required or routinely performed by temporary residents of the Commonwealth.Mere physical presence or residence primarily for educational purposes shallnot confer domiciliary status. A matriculating student who has entered aninstitution and is classified as an out-of-state student shall be required torebut by clear and convincing evidence the presumption that he is in theCommonwealth for the purpose of attending school and not as a bona fidedomiciliary.
Those factors presented in support of entitlement to in-statetuition shall have existed for the one-year period prior to the date of thealleged entitlement. However, in determining the domiciliary intent of activeduty military personnel residing in the Commonwealth, retired militarypersonnel residing in the Commonwealth at the time of their retirement, or thedomiciliary intent of their dependent spouse or children who claim domicilethrough them, who voluntarily elect to establish Virginia as their permanentresidence for domiciliary purposes, the requirement of one year shall be waivedif all other conditions for establishing domicile are satisfied.
C. A married person may establish domicile in the same manneras an unmarried person.
An emancipated minor may establish domicile in the same manneras any other independent student. A nonmilitary student whose parent or spouseis a member of the armed forces may establish domicile in the same manner asany other student.
Any alien holding an immigration visa or classified as apolitical refugee shall also establish eligibility for in-state tuition in thesame manner as any other student. However, absent congressional intent to thecontrary, any person holding a student or other temporary visa shall not havethe capacity to intend to remain in Virginia indefinitely and, therefore, shallbe ineligible for Virginia domicile and for in-state tuition charges.
The domicile of a dependent student shall be rebuttablypresumed to be the domicile of the parent or legal guardian claiming him as anexemption on federal or state income tax returns currently and for the tax yearprior to the date of the alleged entitlement or providing him substantialfinancial support.
For the purposes of this section, the domicile of anunemancipated minor or a dependent student eighteen years of age or older maybe either the domicile of the parent with whom he resides, the parent whoclaims the student as a dependent for federal and Virginia income tax purposesfor the tax year prior to the date of the alleged entitlement and is currentlyso claiming the student, or the parent who provides the student substantialfinancial support. If there is no surviving parent or the whereabouts of theparents are unknown, then the domicile of an unemancipated minor shall be thedomicile of the legal guardian of such unemancipated minor unless there arecircumstances indicating that such guardianship was created primarily for thepurpose of conferring a Virginia domicile on the unemancipated minor.
D. It is incumbent on the student to apply for change indomiciliary status on becoming eligible for such change. Changes in domiciliarystatus shall only be granted prospectively from the date such application isreceived.
A student who knowingly provides erroneous information in anattempt to evade payment of out-of-state fees shall be charged out-of-statetuition fees for each term, semester or quarter attended and may be subject todismissal from the institution. All disputes related to the veracity ofinformation provided to establish Virginia domicile shall be appealable throughthe due process procedure required by § 23-7.4:3.
E. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all dependents,as defined by 37 U.S.C. § 401, of active duty military personnel, or activatedor temporarily mobilized reservists or guard members, assigned to a permanentduty station or workplace geographically located in Virginia, or in a statecontiguous to Virginia or the District of Columbia, who reside in Virginiashall be deemed to be domiciled in Virginia for purposes of eligibility forin-state tuition and shall be eligible to receive in-state tuition in Virginiain accordance with this section. All such dependents shall be afforded the sameeducational benefits as any other individual receiving in-state tuitionpursuant to this section. Such benefits and in-state tuition status shallcontinue so long as they are continuously enrolled in an institution of highereducation in Virginia or are transferring between Virginia institutions ofhigher education or from an undergraduate degree program to a graduate degreeprogram, regardless of any change of duty station or residence of the militaryservice member.
For the purpose of this subsection:
"Date of alleged entitlement" means the date ofadmission or acceptance for dependents currently residing in Virginia or thefinal add/drop date for dependents of members newly transferred to Virginia.
"Temporarily mobilized" means activated for servicefor six months or more.
F. After August 1, 2006, for students who enroll at a public,baccalaureate degree-granting, institution of higher education in Virginia andwho have established Virginia domicile and eligibility for in-state tuition incompliance with this section, the entitlement to in-state tuition shall bemodified to require the assessment of a surcharge, as defined herein, for eachsemester that the student continues to be enrolled after such student hascompleted 125% of the credit hours needed to satisfy the degree requirements fora specified undergraduate program, hereinafter referred to as the "credithour threshold."
In calculating the 125% credit hour threshold, the followingcourses and credit hours shall be excluded: (i) remedial courses; (ii) transfercredits from another college or university that do not meet degree requirementsfor general education courses or the student's chosen program of study; (iii)advanced placement or international baccalaureate credits that were obtainedwhile in high school or another secondary school program; and (iv) dualenrollment, college-level credits obtained by the student prior to receiving ahigh school diploma.
The relevant public institution of higher education may waivethe surcharge assessment for students who exceed the 125% credit hour thresholdin accordance with the guidelines and criteria established by the State Councilof Higher Education for Virginia. Waiver criteria may include, but shall not belimited to, illness or disability and active service in the armed forces of theUnited States.
For the purpose of this subsection, "surcharge"shall mean an amount calculated to equal 100% of the average cost of thestudent's education at the relevant institution less tuition and mandatoryeducational and general fee charges assessed to a student meeting Virginiadomiciliary status who has not exceeded the 125% credit hour threshold.
(1984, c. 422; 1985, cc. 179, 572; 1988, c. 124; 1989, c. 371;1990, c. 680; 1991, c. 590; 1996, cc. 931, 981; 1999, c. 439; 2006, cc. 783,797, 806; 2007, cc. 108, 491; 2008, c. 723.)