Exceptions to One-Year Colorado Domicile Requirement

Granting in-state student status to a child who moves to Colorado during the child’s senior year of high school as the result of the child’s parent or legal guardian taking a job in the state that requires relocating to Colorado.

• Child’s parent or legal guardian moved their family to CO for the purpose of accepting a job in the state during the child’s senior year of high school.
• Child moved with their parent or legal guardian to CO during the child’s senior yr of high school and they graduated from a CO public high school.
• Must be a legal resident of the US.

§23-7-111 Colorado Residency Statutes

If your parents (or court-appointed legal guardians) maintain Colorado domicile for four years and subsequently establish domicile elsewhere, you will remain eligible for resident tuition if:

• Your parents leave Colorado after your junior year of high school and you enroll at a Colorado public college or university within three years and six months after your parents leave Colorado.

OR

• You maintain continuous Colorado domicile. This provision will generally be met if you continue to reside in Colorado after your parents leave or if you reside outside the state only temporarily (for example, to attend college or for military service) while maintaining Colorado domiciliary connections such as voter registration and income tax filing.

A student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, must be classified as an in-state student for tuition purposes if:

• Attended a public or private high school in Colorado for at least one year immediately preceding the date graduated from a Colorado high School or was physically present in Colorado for at least one year immediately preceding the date the student successfully complete a high school equivalency examination, AND
• The student has been physically present in Colorado for at least twelve consecutive months prior to enrolling in an institution.

Under the Colorado Tuition Classification for Peace Corps Volunteers Act (effective Fall 2023), a student who would not otherwise qualify for in-state tuition and who was certified by the director of the Peace Corps as having served satisfactorily as a Peace Corps Volunteer, is eligible to be classified as an in-state student for tuition purposes.

You’ll be required to provide the following:

• A copy of your ‘Certification of Service for Employment Purposes’.

You must first obtain this certification through the Peace Corps RPCV Portal.

A military member who is on active duty with a permanent change of station (PCS) or is on temporary duty (TDY) in Colorado on the first day of class for the applicable term is eligible for in-state tuition.

Once qualified as a resident student, the member does not lose eligibility if the member retires or separates from the military, nor does the member lose resident status by reason of presence in any state or country while a member of the armed forces.

Complete the Military Tuition Waiver Request form.

Active Duty personnel is:

• if PCS, eligible for the College Opportunity Fund (separate application required),
• if TDY, not eligible for the College Opportunity Fund

A dependent of an active-duty military member currently stationed in Colorado must:

be a dependent of an active-duty military member currently stationed (PCS) in Colorado,
be a dependent at the time the member is stationed in Colorado, and
if a child dependent, be biological or legally adopted.
A dependent of a current or former military member not stationed in Colorado must:

• enroll in a Colorado institution of higher education within 12 years after the member was active duty and stationed (PCS) any length of time in Colorado,
• if a child dependent, be biological or legally adopted, and
• if a spouse, have been married to the military member at the time the member was stationed in Colorado and at the time the spouse is requesting resident tuition classification.
• Complete the Military Tuition Waiver Request form.

The military dependent is:

• eligible for the College Opportunity Fund (separate application required).

Members of the Colorado National Guard (and their dependents) qualify for resident tuition if the Guard member maintains his or her sole residence in Colorado.

The Guard member must have been a member of the Colorado National Guard by the first day of class for the applicable academic term.

Colorado National Guard status must be verified each term by the military installation using the National Guard Waiver.

The Guard member and/or dependent is:

eligible for the College Opportunity Fund (separate application required).

Canadian Active Duty member must:

• be stationed in Colorado with permanent change of station (PCS) orders, and
  have physical residence in Colorado.

Child dependents and spouses must:

• have physical residence in Colorado, and
  provide evidence that they are the military member’s spouse or their biological or legally adopted child.
• Complete the Military Tuition Waiver Request form.

All honorably discharged veterans and their dependents who show established domicile in Colorado immediately preceding the start of the semester, regardless of length of time, shall be granted in-state tuition.

The veteran can also petition for this benefit for their spouse and dependent if the veteran established domicile in Colorado. A dependent is an unmarried undergraduate student and under the age of 23 on or before the first day of class. Honorable discharge status must be verified using the Honorably Discharged Veteran In-State Tuition Application form.

In August 2014 Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014. Section 702 of the “Choice Act” requests that UNC provide in-state residency for tuition purposes to veterans and their family members using the Post 9/11 GI Bill® (Chapter 33), Survivors’ and Dependents’ Education Assistance (Chapter 35) or the Active Duty Montgomery GI Bill® (Chapter 30) for terms that begin after July 1, 2015 (re-authorized July 1, 2017) with the following qualifying circumstances:.

• A Veteran who lives in the state in which the institution of higher learning is located (regardless of his/her formal state of residence) and enrolls in the school of discharge from a period of active duty service of 90 days or more;
• A spouse or child using transferred benefits who lives in the state in which the institution of higher learning is located (regardless of his/her formal state of residence) and enrolls in the school from a period of active duty service of 90 days or more;
• A spouse or child using benefits under the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship who lives in the state in which the institution of higher learning is located (regardless of his/her formal state of residence) and enrolls in the school following a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.
• Anyone using transferred Post-9/11 GI Bill® benefits who live in the state in which the institution of higher learning is located and the transferor is a member of the uniformed service who is serving on active duty.

Required documents for application for Section 702 classification are:

• Most recent DD-214, Member Copy 4 for the veteran who earned the GI Bill® entitlement to be used or copy of active duty member’s military ID (front and back) and;
• Certificate of Eligibility (COE) showing eligibility for either Chapter 33 (Post 9/11), Chapter 35 (DEA) or
• Chapter 30 (GI Bill®)
• Completed Section 702 Residency Application Form and;
• Proof of an Colorado address, such as a housing contract, lease agreement, or mortgage.

A residence determination cannot be made until all supporting documents have been received. Once a covered individual is determined to have met the qualifications for in-state residence, this person will retain his or her status as long as he or she remains continuously enrolled in the institution.

Visit the link for more information regarding the Section 702 Veterans Choice Act.

To qualify for in-state tuition under the ASSET bill, students will need to submit the ASSET In-State Tuition Application and provide all required documentation to the Registrar’s Office.

Required documentation to qualify for ASSET includes:

• An official final high school transcript showing three years of attendance at a Colorado high school immediately before obtaining your Colorado high school diploma or Colorado GED;
• Submit official Colorado GED transcript (if applicable);
• Submit official proof of acceptance at a Colorado college or university (for institutions other than UNC) within
• 12 months of graduation from a Colorado high school/completion of a Colorado GED;
• Complete ASSET In-State Tuition Application and
• COF Application and Affidavit (if the student is without lawful immigration status)

• Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
• Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma
• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
• Comanche Nation, Oklahoma
• Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
• Crow Tribe
• Eastern Shoshone Tribe (Wind River Reservation)
• Fort Sill Apache Tribe
• Jicarilla Apache Nation
• Kewa Pueblo (formerly the Pueblo of Santo Domingo)
• Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma
• Mescalero Apache Tribe
• Navajo Nation
• Northern Arapaho Tribe
• Northern Cheyenne Tribe
• Oglala Sioux Tribe
• Ohkay Owingeh
  (Pueblo of San Juan)
• Osage Nation
• Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
• Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma
• Pueblo de Cochiti
• Pueblo of Acoma
• Pueblo of Isleta
• Pueblo of Jemez
• Pueblo of Laguna
• Pueblo of Nambe
• Pueblo of Picuris
• Pueblo of Pojoaque
• Pueblo of San Felipe
• Pueblo of San Ildefonso
• Pueblo of Sandia
• Pueblo of Santa Ana
• Pueblo of Santa Clara
• Pueblo of Taos
• Pueblo of Tesuque
• Pueblo of Zia
• Rosebud Sioux Tribe
• San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe
• Shoshone-Bannock Tribes
• Southern Ute Indian Tribe
• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
• The Hopi Tribe
• Three Affiliated Tribes
• Ute Indian Tribe (Uintah & Ouray Reservation)
• Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
• Wichita & Affiliated Tribes
• Ysleta del Sur Pueblo
• Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation

In order for UNC to revise tuition classification for out-of-state residents, you must provide proof of tribal enrollment in one of the 48 federally recognized indigenous tribes to Colorado. These documents may include a copy of your tribal enrollment/identification card, or enrollment certificate.

For more information on how to become an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe, please visit the U.S. Department of the Interior webpage.

To apply, please click on the link below. Please have appropriate documentation ready to upload.

Colorado Affiliated Tribe In-State Classification Form.

Students who qualify for the Native American tuition classification legislation (23-7-112), are also eligible to apply for the Colorado Opportunity Fund (COF) stipend, and other state-funded financial aid and private financial aid programs.

The Colorado Opportunity Fund stipend was established by the Colorado legislature to reduce the cost of tuition for Colorado undergraduate students attending certain colleges in Colorado.

You can register for the stipend online at COF.COLLEGE-ASSIST.ORG. If you do not apply for the stipend, you will pay a higher in-state tuition rate.

Once you’ve applied, you must authorize COF on your Ursa account under the “Financial” tab. Selecting “lifetime authorization” allows the authorization to be done once for the entire time you are at UNC. “Term authorization” requires you to authorize COF every semester.

Once you’ve applied for COF, check your student bill to view your stipend. It will be applied to your bill.

For more information about the Colorado Opportunity Fund, please contact the Bursar’s Office at 970-351-4862 (Option 3).