Residency Information for Future Students

If you're under the age of 23, unless you meet the criteria as a qualified person below, you must use the domicile information of a parent or court-appointed legal guardian to determine residency status. Your parent is considered the qualified individual for your residency determination.

You are a qualified individual and eligible to establish domicile separate from your parents if, at the beginning of the 12-month domicile year, you were one of the following:

• 23 years of age or older
• Married
• Active or veteran member of armed forces, exceptions apply
• A one-year graduate student
• Emancipated minor

You are eligible to establish domicile and begin the one year domicile period if you are at least 23 years old, are married, or are emancipated from your parents. You must be a one-year graduate student for at least one year preceding the beginning of the term for which in-state classification is being sought in order to be eligible to establish a Colorado domicile on your own and begin the one year domicile period necessary to qualify for in-state tuition.

Adult students, 23+ years of age, generally can't qualify for in-state tuition through their parents.

Each person, male or female, must qualify based on his or her own legal connections with the state. Marriage to a Colorado resident does not automatically qualify a student for in-state tuition. Colorado has passed a State Equal Rights Amendment to the Colorado Constitution, which means that each person is treated equally.

The requirements for establishing residency for tuition purposes are defined by Colorado law (Colorado Revised Statutes 23-7-101 et. Seq), and the tuition classification statutes apply to all state-funded institutions in Colorado. Institutions are bound by the provisions of this statute and are not free to make exceptions to the rules. The Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) also has information regarding the residency classification rules.

Domicile is used to describe the place where an individual has demonstrated intent to make a permanent home and legal residence. Colorado residency requires a domicile in Colorado for 12 continuous months on or prior to the first day of classes of each semester.

In order to demonstrate Colorado Domicile, you first must demonstrate physical presence in the state. Physical presence refers to the place where a person lives. Proof of physical presence may include several items. 

• Home ownership
• A lease agreement
• Rent receipts
• A notarized statement from a landlord

Having a domicile in Colorado involves more than mere physical presence in the state. In addition to demonstrating physical presence, you must also demonstrate intent to make Colorado your permanent home.

Evidence of intent to make Colorado your permanent home and legal residence is demonstrated by giving up all your legal ties with any prior state and establishing them with Colorado for at least 12 continuous months. Intent is demonstrated by completing all applicable actions to legally tie yourself to the State as would be expected of any other Colorado resident.

There is no formula or checklist to follow in establishing domicile. Generally, physical presence plus one connection with the state will not be sufficient to establish domicile. Several kinds of connections are necessary, and the more connections that are made, the more assurance a person has of qualifying for residency.

• Colorado driver's license or valid Colorado ID
• Colorado motor vehicle registration
• Colorado voter registration
• Permanent employment in Colorado
• Permanent, full-time, off-campus employment and payment of Colorado State income taxes are considered highly persuasive evidence of intent to make Colorado one's permanent home. Student employment or temporary work is not considered persuasive. It is the actual official acceptance of employment that forms the connection with the state.
• Payment of Colorado state income taxes as a Colorado resident
• Ownership of, and residence in, a residential property in Colorado
• Graduation from a Colorado high school and/or continued presence in Colorado during periods when not enrolled in college, or during periods between academic sessions

Bank accounts, seeking dental or medical care, and marrying or divorcing in the state are matters of convenience because one happens to be present in the state and are therefore not the kinds of connections with the state that show intent to make Colorado one's permanent home.

Any connections maintained with any other state during the 12-month period for establishing domicile may be viewed as negative intent to make Colorado one’s permanent home. A variety of evidence can indicate domicile outside Colorado.

• Failure to pay Colorado state income tax, if your income is sufficient to be taxed
• Filing a Colorado state income tax return as a non-resident or filing with an out-of-state address
• Failure to obtain a Colorado driver’s license or Colorado ID
• Residing in another state between academic terms or when not enrolled as a student
• Maintenance of a home in another state
• Prolonged absence from Colorado, except for military or civilian government service or for temporary absences required by an employer
• Being registered to vote in another state
• Any other factor particular to your situation that indicates non-Colorado domicile

The requirements for establishing residency for tuition purposes are defined by Colorado law (Colorado Revised Statutes 23-7-101 et. Seq), and the tuition classification statutes apply to all state-funded institutions in Colorado. Institutions are bound by the provisions of this statute and are not free to make exceptions to the rules. The Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) also has information regarding the residency classification rules.

Students who meet the criteria below are eligible for in-state tuition classification. This includes U.S. citizens, individuals with permanent resident immigration status, and those who don’t have lawful immigration status.

• Enrolled for at least three years at a public/private Colorado high school immediately before graduation or earning a GED (General Education Degree)
• Admission into a Colorado institution of higher education, or attend a reciprocal program, within 12 months of high school graduation or earning a GED and remained continuously enrolled, or has documented previous 18 months of physical presence in Colorado
• Students without lawful immigration status are required to submit an affidavit to College Opportunity Fund (COF) stating that the student has applied for lawful presence or will apply as soon as he or she is eligible to do so — for details, email Registrar@ucdenver.edu

Colorado Employment and Relocation by Parents of Dependent Student

In-state residency status may be granted to a student who moves to Colorado during the student’s senior year of high school as the result of the parent or legal guardian taking a job in the state that requires relocating to Colorado. The company must have relocated to Colorado as a result of receiving an incentive from the Colorado Office of Economic Development. Additional criteria also applies.

• The student’s parent or legal guardian moved their family to Colorado for the purpose of accepting a job in the state during the student’s senior year of high school.
• The student moved with the parent or legal guardian to Colorado during the child’s senior year of high school and they graduated from a Colorado public high school.
• The student must be a legal resident of the U.S.

The parent/legal guardian must provide documentation that the company moved to Colorado based on the above criteria and that the parent was employed prior to the relocation.

Colorado Employment and Relocation by a Student

Employees whose employer moved their company operations to Colorado as a result of receiving an incentive from the Colorado Office of Economic Development are eligible for Colorado residency for tuition purposes. The employee must have been employed by the employer prior to the relocation. The student must provide documentation that the company moved to Colorado based on the above criteria and that the student was employed prior to the relocation.

Students granted in-state tuition under the Economic Incentive Program provisions are not eligible for state financial aid, and the student is not eligible to receive a COF stipend for the first year the student is enrolled at a Colorado institution of higher education.

Students whose parents maintain a Colorado domicile for four years and then establish domicile elsewhere, will remain eligible for in-state tuition under specific circumstances. 

• The parents leave Colorado after the student completes his or her junior year of high school and if the student enrolls at a Colorado public college or university within 3 years and 6 months after the parents leave Colorado. The student need not remain in Colorado when the parents leave or be emancipated from the parents. OR
• The student maintains continuous Colorado domicile. The student need not be emancipated. This provision generally will be met if the student continues to reside in Colorado after the parents leave or if the student resides outside the state only temporarily, for example, to attend college or for military service, while maintaining Colorado domiciliary connections such as voter registration and income tax filing.

Students who graduated from a Colorado high school or completed GED prior to September 1, 2013 and were not admitted into Colorado university or college within 12 months of graduation but meet ALL other eligibility criteria may qualify for in-state tuition by providing documentation to the school proving that the student has been physically present in Colorado for eighteen months prior to enrolling.

Students granted in-state tuition under this provision are not eligible for state financial aid.

Honorably discharged veterans (or their dependents) are eligible to pay in-state tuition in Colorado if the military member was honorably/general discharged on or before the first day of classes and did at least two (2) of the following on or before the first day of classes:

• Obtained a Colorado driver's license
• Registered to vote in Colorado
• Registered a car in Colorado
• Filed Colorado state income taxes as a resident
• Worked off campus in Colorado
• Purchased a home in Colorado (the home must be the student's primary residence)

The veteran must provide a copy of the veteran’s DD-214 with a “Character of Service” of "HONORABLE" or “GENERAL”.

Section 702 Veterans Choice Act

• This applies to a Veteran who lives in the state and enrolls in the school within three years of discharge from a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.
• A spouse or child of a veteran (as described above) using transferred benefits who lives in the state and enrolls in the school within three years of the transferor’s discharge from a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.
• A spouse or child (as described above) using benefits under the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship who lives in the state and enrolls in the school within three years of the Service member’s death in the line of duty following a period of active duty service of 90 days or more.

Military dependents continuously enrolled in a Colorado college continue to qualify for in-state tuition if the military educational benefits are exhausted.

The dependent child of a new faculty member, but not the faculty member or the spouse, at a state-supported institution of higher education is eligible for Colorado residency for tuition purposes. A faculty member is defined as academic faculty with regular and special appointments of 50% time or greater. A dependent child is an unmarried undergraduate student under the age of 23 on or before the first day of class.

Under the Colorado Tuition Classification for Peace Corps Volunteers Act  (effective Fall 2023), a student who would not otherwise qualify for in-state tuition and who was certified by the director of the Peace Corps as having served satisfactorily as a Peace Corps Volunteer, is eligible to be classified as an in-state student for tuition purposes.

Documentation

Incoming/Future Students

All new, admitted students are required to complete an Initial Verification of Colorado Residency form; this form allows students to self-identify as having completed service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Students must upload the following documentation in order to qualify for resident tuition classification status under the aforementioned legislation:

• Certification of Service for Employment Purposes (available via the Peace Corps RPCV Portal)

Current Students

Current students who believe they qualify for resident tuition as a result of this information should email a copy of their Certification of Service for Employment Purposes to residency@ucdenver.edu.

If approved, the student is:

• Eligible to apply for the College Opportunity Fund
• Eligible to apply for resident financial aid