The Residency Manual
II. Definition of Terms
The language of residency determination includes many legal terms as well as certain lay terms which, of necessity, have a specialized meaning for present purposes. The following definitions shall be controlling in connection with the interpretation and application of G.S. 116-143.1:
A. Bona Fide - in good faith; in the context of domiciliary inquiries, describes the quality of certain relevant conduct and its motivation, viz., acts performed not to subvert residence law but to meet its requirements to establish a genuine legal residence.
B. Domicile - one's permanent dwelling place of indefinite duration, as distinguished from a temporary place of abode; synonymous with "legal residence."
1. Domicile may be established:
a. By birth; i.e., a child upon birth has the domicile of his or her parents and retains the same until there is a legally effective change in that domicile;
b. By operation of law, as in the case of a minor, whose domicile, in most cases, is presumed conclusively to be that of his or her parents (actual physical presence in the new state of domicile not required in such cases); or
c. By choice. Assuming the existence of no disabilities such as infancy, a person may establish domicile in a jurisdiction of his or her choice.
2. One always has a domicile. [Note. One is not guaranteed under the law, however, always to have a state in which one qualifies as a resident for tuition purposes.]
3. One retains a given domicile until it is abandoned and another is established.
4. One never has more than one domicile at a given time.
5. Establishing domicile by choice requires the overt act of establishing physical presence in a place while maintaining at that time the intent to make the place one's permanent home of indefinite duration. Thus, an adult person, having previously acquired domicile in one place, whether by birth, operation of law, or choice, may change that domicile only by choice, through the concurrence of physical presence and residentiary intent in the new place.
6. The requisite domiciliary intent is tested by evaluating relevant, objectively verifiable conduct which may constitute a manifestation of the state of mind of the actor. The following types of inquiries, or combinations thereof, may be significant, though no one item, nor any combination of items, will necessarily control resolution of the question:
a. Living or not living in the home of one's parents.
b. Place where one voted or registered to vote.
c. Place where one has served on jury duty.
d. Place where one has registered and/or licensed a car.
e. Place where one last acquired a driver's license.
f. Place where one has filed state income tax returns.
g. Place where one maintains personal property and last listed such for taxation.
h. Place where one owns a home or other real property and pays taxes thereon.
i. Place where one spends substantial parts of available vacation time.
j. Place where one is or was employed or working gainfully.
k. Place where one maintains membership in one or more professional associations, unions, and other organizations.
l. Place where one last attended or graduated from high school.
m. Place where one resided before enrolling in an institution of higher education.
n. Sources of one's financial support .
C. Enrollment; Enrolled - the status of one who is registered with respect to an academic term that has begun. G.S. 116-143.1 (e) and (i) both contain statutory benefits conditioned upon enrolled status. [Paragraph IV.B.7.b., below, further defines "enrolled" in the context of G.S. 116-143.1(i).]
D. Institution of Higher Education - in general usage, all institutions, public and private, offering educational instruction above the level of the secondary school, specifically the senior institutions (universities, liberal arts colleges, and independently organized graduate or professional schools) and the two-year institutions (community colleges, junior colleges, technical institutes, and semi-professional schools); under G.S. 116-143.1, the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina and the community colleges and technical institutes under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Community Colleges.
E. Legal Guardian - a person who by court order has been appointed to act in the place of an individual's parents. There are several types of legal guardian. The type having major significance under G.S. 116-143.1 is "guardian of the person" which may be appointed should the minor's parents not be living and capable of supporting the minor. Guardianship should be distinguished from adoption, whereby one acquires new legal parents.
F. Legal Residence - synonymous with domicile [see above].
G. Minor - a person below the age of 18 years; a minor is presumed to be legally incapable of establishing a domicile independent of that of his or her parents.
H. Presumption - a legal device to place the burden of proof or of producing evidence on one or another party to a proceeding; i.e., in the absence of satisfaction of the burden, the presumption is conclusive that an assumed state of affairs exists.
I. Prima Facie - by a first or initial showing (of the minimum evidence needed to support some conclusion of fact or law). G.S. 116-143.1(e), in part, makes the domicile of a student's parents prima facie evidence of the student's domicile. Read along with the rest of subsection (e) and with reference to subsection (d), however, this provision is transformed by the whole statute from the minimum evidence function into simply a substantive beginning point of inquiry for the residence classification.
J. Residence - according to the context, used either technically to mean legal residence (domicile) or, loosely, to mean abode irrespective of duration.
K. Tuition -the basic fee for educational services that an institution charges its students each time they register.
