By Matthew Roland
“What do you mean I’m not a resident? I’ve lived in Colorado for the last eight years.” I was shocked when I came back from Iraq last fall and tried to register for the spring semester. I was declared a non-resident, because my parents had moved out of state for two years. At the time, it felt like a slap in the face. Had I not been able to prove my residency, I would have been forced to pay more than three times the price of in-state tuition.
According to the Colorado State Law, in order to be classified as a resident, students must meet several criteria. If the prospective student is under the age of 23, he or she must have a parent that is a resident of Colorado. The prospective student may be exempted from this if the student is married, if the student has been emancipated and is considered self-supporting, or if the student is an Olympic athlete.
I gained re-classification as a resident, because I was emancipated when I enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 17. However, it was not easy to prove. I still had to fill out a multiple-page petition, and provide copies of my tax returns, vehicle registrations, driver’s license, DD214 (military paperwork), and other evidence showing that what I claimed was true. Then, after I turned the petition in, I still had to wait for it to be reviewed and approved. It took a one-on-one appointment, several phone calls, and over a month for my case to be settled.
All members of the armed forces are emancipated and considered to be self-supporting, and can therefore complete a petition to be classified as residents, even if they are under the age of 23. Also, anyone who is actively serving in the military, and is stationed within Colorado, even if they are a resident of another state, can attend school at the in-state tuition rate, although that process is somewhat different.
Each semester, many students are initially classified as non-residents. When this happens, some students just choose not to go to school, but many more complete a petition to change their classification.
There are two types of petitions. There is the regular full petition which I had to complete, and there is a shorter supplemental petition which is used only for the prospective students who did not initially supply enough information about their parents. This fall, 786 students submitted one of the two types of petitions.
According to Twila Humphrey, the resident Tuition Classification Officer at Pikes Peak Community College, “In the past, although it’s declining a little bit, 99 percent of all petitions and supplementals were approved.” She also said, “It’s just matter usually, of missing information.” Of the 786 petitions submitted last fall, 93 percent, or 731 were approved.
When asked what the most common reason was for non-resident classification, Humphrey said that most residency issues occur with “students under 23 who don’t provide parent information. The second biggest is extended absences, and that’s our soldiers.”
While Humphrey, and others at PPCC, do not try to make life difficult for prospective students, proving residency is a difficult process. It takes time, effort, and patience. Often times it is hard for students to see why it is so difficult, but Humphrey and others actually try to approve as many students as they legally can.
The staff at PPCC ultimately has to account for all of their actions whenever a state inspector comes around, and because PPCC is a state-funded school, the staff cannot fudge any of the rules. The bottom line is this: The Colorado State Legislature makes the rules, and Pikes Peak Community College has to follow them. There are enough exceptions to allow most students who actually live in Colorado to prove residency and pay in-state tuition.
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