Rejected for In-State Tuition

Hello,
I have been admitted to University of North Carolina, Charlotte for the Fall 2019 semester. I was a student at this university from 2010 to 2014. I had some issues with my FAFSA and had to take a break from school. Now I am back in Charlotte and going to begin my college this fall. I applied for in-state tuition and got rejected.

I have been in the state of North Carolina for 27 years (I am 27 years old!). I have never lived outside of NC for even a day. I applied for in-state tuition last year when I took a couple classes in a community college. I got approved then. The only thing that is different now is, I don’t have a car. My husband and I were co-owners of our previous car, but when that got in a wreck, we had to buy a new one. Due to circumstances, we could not get us both in the new car we bought. So he is the sole owner of the car and I don’t have a car registered in my name. Outside of that, there is absolutely nothing different in my life.

I have already appealed RDS’s decision that I am OOS. I even let them know that I am available to come in person to discuss my case. But I was just curious, what are my odds of getting in-state tuition at this point? If I don’t get it, how do I take this further? We are VERY willing to go to court over this. The fees right now is impossible for us to pay; not to mention my FAFSA didn’t get approved this time around either, so the tuition is coming out of our pockets. Instead of paying $5000, I will be paying $12000. We cannot afford that in a hundred years.

Anyone has any advise on what we could do?

Thank you

Did your husband live in another state in 2017?
You need to find out why the classified you as OOS. And you need to provide documentation to refute that.

Any chance you worked for a company not based in NC?

You will need to prove your instate residency. I am confused as to why they would classify you as OOS if you have lived in NC your entire life.

@thumper1 My husband is from India and he came here in 2013 as a student at the same university. He, like me, also had some issues with school, so had to take a break from school. When he went back in Spring of this year, he applied for in-state tuition and got approved! I have not had a job in 4 years now because I had to take care of my newborn child. I’ve been going back to work for the past month now, but as a part-time employee at a grocery store, just to make some extra cash. I have absolutely no idea why I got rejected because I was born in this state, got married in this state, gave birth in this state, attended years and years of schooling, community colleges, and university in this state. Never left, never had anything to do with anything outside of NC. The documentation I can provide include an NC State Employee Credit Union bank statement, a separate joint bank statement with my husband, utility bills, lease agreement, my husband’s ties to the state, and several years of tax returns. Would that suffice?

@twogirls I agree! I don’t have a voter registration card and I do not have a car registered in my name. I did not have a voter registration card last year when I applied for in-state status, but I did have a car. So I got approved. But this time, I have neither. I really hope just the appeal helps my situation.

I would call on Monday and explain all of this to them.

Do you have a lease in your name? Any utilities? Are your taxes state taxes? Do you have health insurance in NC? Utility bills? Would they accept affidavits from your landlord, employer, etc. that you have been living, working and getting health care in NC for years?
Good luck.

@techmom99 I have a lease, I have my energy bill, I have paid my taxes in the state of NC all my adult life, I am a part of my husband’s employer sponsored health insurance plan.

There seems to be some kind of mistake and you need to get to the bottom of it. If you have lived in NC your entire life then you should receive instate tuition.

The only other thing, that I think it would be, is that you attended the University for four years. If this was at the expense of the state’s funding, and you used up four years’ worth of funding, without completing your degree, then you have to pay for the rest of your education on your own. A number of states now have regulations about the use of public funding to get through school. The states can’t continue to use limited tax dollars to support students who can’t get through the system in an equivalent of 4 years. They just don’t have the money to support the same students. They need tax dollars to support new incoming students who will complete their degrees in four years. California has this system because it just doesn’t have the tax dollars to support students who use up funding, who change majors, or decide to take 8+years to finish a degree. This is how my brother, found out the hard way, that he needed to graduate. He had to pay for it on his own.

@SpacemanPiff -
If you have all of that proof, then you should present it. However, @“aunt bea” has an excellent point, too, that you should consider. Perhaps you have exhausted all of your aid.

@“aunt bea” - She should still get in-state tuition rate regardless of whether or not she’s getting any state financial aid on top of that.

@“aunt bea”

The student isn’t asking for aid. She is wondering why she doesn’t have instate status having lived in the state her entire life.

@SpacemanSpiff1

Do you have a NC drivers license? Take that too…along with your federal and state tax returns that show your NC address… and your lease, and everything else you have listed. Make an appointment to see someone in person ASAP. My guess is this is a typo someone made.

And register to vote.

Register to vote (it’s free!) And present proof.
It’s likely a mistake though.

It depends on the college. In our state you have to show proof of residency to get in state tuition. It involves taking some particular documents (photo ID, a current bill, a bill from a year ago, and one from 6 months ago) to our county clerk and getting a letter of residency. Our college bill is posted with OOS tuition until the proper paperwork is submitted. OP should contact the school to find out why they have her listed as OOS and ask how to correct it. Maybe it is only a mistake.

The larger problem will be how to pay. If she and her husband used up all their aid they’ll be paying out of pocket to finish their degrees.

I think you have missed a form needed to get instate tuition. I had to file one in Florida for my daughter to be considered a resident, even though she had a Florida hs diploma. The form was pretty basic and asked how long we’d lived there, for my DL number, lease/mortgage info, and a few other things. If I didn’t complete it, she’d have been deemed OOS.

Seems like you need to:

A. Find out the specific reason why you are classified as a non-resident.
B. Read through everything at https://ncresidency.cfnc.org/residencyInfo/ .

@cshell2, the way it was explained to my brother was that the state was subsidizing the “in state” rates. Once he passed over the “4 years’ worth” of units, he was put on notice that he would no longer be subsidized at instate rates even though he had lived in California all of his life and had never lived outside of the state. He was charged OOS rates for SDSU when he was finishing his degree.

If the OP is in a state that has these limitations, she might be stuck with OOS rates.
OP Get a voter registration card and a DL to prove your permanent residence.

@“aunt bea” - Sounds like your brother probably lost a state grant that only went for 4 years. That is common. My state (MN) has a grant as well that is only good for 8 semesters, so once that expires tuition would jump from what you were paying if you’d been receiving it, but that has nothing to do with in-state tuition rate. I have never heard of any state declaring someone an out of state student just because of how long they’d been in school.

My sister told me that Colorado has some kind of limit on the instate rate too but it is plenty generous enough to get an undergrad degree, something like 150 credits. My nephew remained an undergrad while he was getting a 1 year masters so that he could pay the cheaper tuition and get the subsidy.

My daughter’s Bright futures only lasted for 120 credits. It was a surprise her last semester when her grant was slashed because she only had 2 credits left, but still needed ~13-14 credits to graduate. She graduated in 8 semesters, but BF paid per credit, not per semester.