Regents may consider more refining of residency rules

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

The university Board of Regents will consider further refining its residency rules during the board's meeting Thursday.

Outgoing Regent Tom Kirkpatrick, chairman of the Academic, Research and Student Affairs Committee, wants his committee to look at easing the requirements out-of-state students must meet to be reclassified as a resident student and receive the discounted in-state tuition.

Kirkpatrick said the way the rules are currently written, some students are being denied refunds after being unfairly classified as non-residents under the board's old policy.

The Board of Regents voted in January to change their residency requirement from 12 to six months to be in compliance with state law, and later agreed to refund tuition to any student who was wrongly charged out-of-state tuition.

But regents didn't change the reclassification policy requiring students to show they had lived in Nevada as a bona fide resident for 12 months before they could be reclassified as a in-state student, making it difficult for some students to get refunds, Kirkpatrick said.

"We're trying to make sure that anyone who fell through the cracks doesn't get the short end of the stick," Kirkpatrick said.

The ARSA committee will consider allowing students to apply for reclassification after only six months, which is how long students must live in Nevada prior to the start of classes to be classified as an in-state student.

Kirkpatrick said he requested the change out of fairness, not because he wants to make it easier for students to receive the cheaper in-state tuition. The Board of Regents is asking the 2005 Legislature to change the law to require 12 months residency before the start of classes to earn in-state tuition, and Kirkpatrick said he would then like to see the Board of Regents do away with the ability to ever be reclassified.

There is no state law regulating the reclassification of residency status and regents do not have to alter the current policy, Assistant Chancellor Trudy Larson said.

The proposed change would also do away with a requirement for students to prove they are independent by submitting tax returns, Larson said.