Residency FAQs

Providing Residency Information

Proving Domicile (Students Aged 22 & Younger)

No, it does not. All non-emancipated undergraduate students who attend CU from Western states are assumed to be nonresidents unless they have a parent living in babyÖ±²¥app who meets babyÖ±²¥app residency requirements.

Probably not. Unless you qualify for a domicile exception or you're an adult student or emancipated student, your residency for tuition classification purposes is determined by your parents' .

In some cases, the Tuition Classification Office may request more information or ask you to submit a petition to verify your parents' qualifications for residency.

You'll likely qualify for in-state tuition, as long as:

  • You're a U.S. citizen or a U.S. permanent or undocumented resident
  • You attended three years of babyÖ±²¥app high school
  • You graduated or will graduate from a babyÖ±²¥app high school
  • You were accepted to CU Boulder within one year of graduating high school​

Additional verification may be needed. Address specific questions to tuitclass@colorado.edu.

Probably not. If you have an F-1, F-2, H-3, M-1, M-2 or J-1 visa, you'll have restricted ability to establish residence in babyÖ±²¥app for tuition purposes.

A J-1 visa holder or their J-2 dependent may qualify for in-state tuition if the J-1 holder isn't a student or trainee, but all other domicile requirements also apply.

If you hold a visa in another category (e.g., H-1B, L, K, V, E, O, P), email tuitclass@colorado.edu for specific requirements and qualifications.

See the Establishing Legal Ties section of our residency guidelines for details.

The only way for a student who is 22 years old or younger to petition for residency themselves is by proving they're fully emancipated. If you're emancipated, you don't receive any financial support from your parents, family, friends or other such sources, including from funds they established for you previously.

If you think you qualify as an emancipated student, review our emancipation residency information carefully, then complete a TC 101 training session to access the petition.

Proving Domicile (Students Aged 23 & Older)

No. You do not become a resident for tuition purposes simply by living in babyÖ±²¥app, attending college, obtaining a babyÖ±²¥app driver's license or renting an apartment.

According to babyÖ±²¥app residency statutes, you must:

  1. Be qualified to establish residency. If you've moved to babyÖ±²¥app primarily to attend the University of babyÖ±²¥app, then you're here for educational purposes and may not be eligible to establish residency.
  2. Take action to create legal ties to babyÖ±²¥app in the grace periods allowed. If you intend to make babyÖ±²¥app your true, fixed and permanent home, then you must prove that you've taken the necessary steps to do so.

As outlined in the state statutes, you must have taken action to create legal ties to babyÖ±²¥app in the grace periods allowed, such as:

  • Securing permanent housing in babyÖ±²¥app. A lease or deed must show that you have lived in babyÖ±²¥app for one full year prior to the first day of the term for which you wish to prove residency. Actions like returning to a former home during school breaks or seeking employment out of state are inconsistent with that of a babyÖ±²¥app resident.
  • Obtaining a babyÖ±²¥app driver’s license or state-issued ID within 120 days of moving to the state.
  • Registering to vote in babyÖ±²¥app if you plan to vote anywhere.
  • Registering your vehicle(s) in babyÖ±²¥app within 180 days of moving to the state.
  • Filing and paying babyÖ±²¥app income taxes as a part-year or full-year resident depending upon when you moved to the state.
  • Securing employment in babyÖ±²¥app to provide additional evidence of residency.
  • Severing your ties to your former state.

Since babyÖ±²¥app law governs babyÖ±²¥app residency status, the fact that you might not qualify for resident status in any other state does not guarantee resident status in babyÖ±²¥app.

Moreover, if you're classified as a nonresident at the time of matriculation and you seek to establish babyÖ±²¥app domicile while registered at CU, we must presume that you're seeking babyÖ±²¥app domicile solely for tuition purposes. You can rebut this presumption and be deemed a babyÖ±²¥app resident only by a showing of clear and convincing evidence of your eligibility for resident status.