Residence Status

Residence Status

Determining Texas Residency

Under state statutes according to Title 3 Texas Education Code and the Rules and Regulations for Determining Residence Status made known by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), which interprets those statutes, an individual will be classified as a resident or nonresident. Residency rules are adopted and amended by legislative action.

The Office of Admissions Processing will determine your residence status for tuition purposes before your enrollment. Students may contact the Office of Admissions Processing for help determining correct residence status for tuition purposes or for steps to complete to change residence status.

You must be prepared to pay tuition and other required fees by specified due dates or become subject to the penalties applied by the Coordinating Board rules. If you know of an error in your residency status for tuition purposes, notify the Office of Admissions Processing immediately. These rules are subject to change. For current Residency Information, view the Coordinating Board’s College for All Texans website. Enter “Residency Information” in the search box to find the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Rules on Determining Residency.

An individual who has lived in the state under the circumstances specified in these rules will be eligible for classification as a resident. An individual who does not meet resident criteria will be classified as a non-resident and must pay the tuition and fees required of non-resident students. An individual classified as a non-resident may qualify to pay resident tuition rates and other charges while continuing to be classified as a non-resident under certain exceptions specified in these rules.

If you qualify for Texas Residency based on the State statutes, you may request the Core Residency Questionnaire from the Office of Admissions Processing. You may also print the form from the link and attach the supporting documents for proof of your claim to Texas residency. You must submit one document from Part A and one from Part B or C in the Supporting Documents list as proof of physical residence in Texas.

Initial Residency Information

To ensure proper resident classification upon admission to the University of Houston-Victoria, students must answer all Texas resident status questions that appear on the ApplyTexas electronic application for admission. The student is responsible for providing correct information to the Office of Admissions Processing so that resident status may be correctly determined at the time of enrollment. UHV may request that a person provide documentation to support or clarify the answers to residency questions previously submitted.

Errors in Residency Classification

Errors in residency classification may occur. However, the university will respond to questions upon notification by students. If you believe your resident status to be incorrect prior to or during your enrollment at UHV, you may contact the Office of Admissions Processing to determine the proper steps to address your concerns.

If a student provides information to UHV that would classify them as a Texas resident by the census date of a given semester, they are entitled to resident tuition for that semester. UHV will refund the resident and nonresident tuition difference for each semester the student was misclassified and paid the nonresident tuition rate and refunded. If the student believes they were charged the incorrect tuition/fee rate, they will need to submit a Tuition and Refund Appeal to the Office of Student Billing.

If UHV erroneously permits a student to pay resident tuition and the student is not eligible to pay resident tuition under the rules stated on the THECB website, UHV shall charge nonresident tuition to the student beginning with the semester following the date that the error is discovered.

UHV may notify the student before the first day of the following semester that they must pay the difference between resident and nonresident tuition for each previous semester in which the student should not have paid resident tuition if the person:

1. failed to provide to UHV, in a timely manner after the information becomes available or on request by UHV, any information that the person reasonably should know would be relevant to an accurate classification by the institution under this subchapter information;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 or
2. the person provided false information to the institution that the person reasonably should know could lead to an error in classification by UHV under this rule.

Reclassification Based on Additional or Changed Information

If a student is initially classified as a nonresident based on information provided, they may request a reclassification.  The student must provide supporting documentation as described in the residency rules on the THECB website to the UHV Office of Admissions Processing.