In order to cooperate as fully as possible with the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, the following rules shall apply at the University of Missouri for the determination of the residence of any student or prospective student for all purposes, including, but not limited to, assessment of tuition; admission to limited-enrollment programs; and eligibility for restricted financial aid. 

1. (CBHE Rule) Adult Student shall mean any student having attained the age of twenty-one (21) years.

2. (CBHE Rule) Domicile shall mean presence in a state with an intent of making the state a permanent home for an indefinite period.

3. (CBHE Rule) Emancipated Minor Student shall mean any student not having attained the age of twenty-one (21) years and who is not under the care, custody, and support of a legal custodian(s).

4. (CBHE Rule) Residency or Resident Status shall mean that status which is achieved when sufficient proof of domicile in a state is presented.

5. (CBHE Rule) Unemancipated Minor Student shall mean any student not having attained the age of twenty-one (21) years, and who remains under the care, custody, or support of the legal custodian(s) of the student.

1. (CBHE Rule) Adult Student. If an adult student, not a resident, shall present sufficient proof of the establishment of a domicile within the state of Missouri, said student shall be granted resident status at the first enrollment following the establishment of said domicile.

2. (CBHE Rule) Emancipated Minor Student. Any student not having attained the age of twenty-one (21) years and who is not under the care, custody, and support of a legal custodian(s).

The domicile of emancipated minor students shall be determined as if they were adults. An unemancipated minor may become emancipated through marriage, formal court action, abandonment, or positive action of alienation on the part of the minor. Mere absence of the minor student from the domicile of his or her legal custodian(s) shall not constitute proof of emancipation. Any minor student taken as an income tax deduction by anyone other than a spouse shall be considered an unemancipated minor. In all instances, alienation from care, custody, and support shall be complete and the burden of satisfactory proof of emancipation shall be that of the minor student.

3. (CBHE Rule) Unemancipated Minor Student. Domicile of an unemancipated minor student is presumed to be that of the student’s legal custodian(s). In order to establish domicile for an unemancipated minor student, a divorced or separated legal custodian claiming Missouri residency must, in addition to the factors listed in section (D) of this rule, show:

a. A divorce decree or separation agreement giving the resident legal custodian joint or sole legal or physical custody of the unemancipated minor student; or

b. A notarized declaration that the unemancipated minor student resides with the resident legal custodian a majority of the year.

Once an unemancipated minor establishes residency under this rule, they may continue to qualify for resident status so long as they remain continuously enrolled, excluding summer terms, in a Missouri institution of higher education, even if the legal custodian(s) of the unemancipated minor student cease to hold Missouri resident status or the student becomes an adult student.

4. (CBHE Rule) Noncitizens of the United States. Individuals who are not citizens of the United States must possess a lawful immigration status, as determined by the federal government, prior to consideration for resident status as otherwise provided in this rule, except that individuals and their family members who hold F, J, or M visa status are ineligible for resident status.

Refugees and Persons Granted Asylum. A student who is classified as a refugee or as one who has been granted asylum by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service and who has been granted permission to remain in the United States shall be granted resident status, if there is proof of the establishment of a domicile in Missouri. Presence in the State of Missouri for such a person shall begin with the date indicated on the alien registration card.

5. (CBHE Rule) Members of the Military Forces. For the purposes of student resident status, military personnel, when stationed in Missouri pursuant to military orders, their spouses, and unemancipated minor or dependent children shall be regarded as holding Missouri resident status. However, a member of the military forces who is specifically assigned, under orders, to attend a Missouri institution of higher education as a full-time student, shall be classified, along with his/her spouse and unemancipated minor or dependent children, as if they had no connection with the military forces.

6. University Staff or Children or Spouses of University Staff. Any full-time academic or administrative, service, or support staff member of this University, or the unemancipated minor child, adult dependent (as defined in E.2.d), or spouse of such staff member shall qualify for resident status when enrolling as a student on any campus of the University.

7. Graduates of Missouri High Schools. A graduate of a high school located in Missouri, whose parents (or legally appointed guardian or custodian) are residents of Missouri at the time of the student’s graduation from high school and whose initial registration at the University occurs at the beginning of the next academic term, excluding summer terms, following graduation from high school, is presumed to be a Missouri resident so long as he or she remains continuously enrolled in the University of Missouri.

1. (CBHE Rule) Attendance at an institution of higher education shall be regarded as a temporary presence inside or outside of Missouri; therefore, a student neither gains nor loses resident status solely by such attendance.

2. (CBHE Rule) The burden of proof of establishing eligibility for Missouri resident status shall rest with the student.

3. (CBHE Rule) In determining resident status for the state of Missouri, either of the following shall be sufficient proof of domicile in Missouri:

a. Presence in Missouri for a minimum of the twelve (12) immediate past, consecutive months coupled with proof of intent, pursuant to subsection (4) of this section, to make Missouri a permanent home for an indefinite period; or

b. Presence in Missouri for the purpose of retirement, full-time employment, full-time professional practice, or to conduct a business full-time coupled with proof of intent, pursuant to subsection (4) of this section, to make Missouri a permanent home for an indefinite period.

4. (CBHE Rule) In determining whether an adult or independent student, or the legal custodian(s) of an unemancipated minor or dependent student, intends to make Missouri a permanent home for an indefinite period, the following factors, although not conclusive, shall be considered:

a. Heavily weighted factors: Continuous presence in Missouri during those periods not enrolled as a student; marriage to a Missouri resident and sharing a home with the resident spouse in Missouri; substantial reliance on sources in Missouri for financial support; former domicile in Missouri and maintenance of significant connections while absent; and ownership of a home in Missouri. The twelve (12) month period of presence within the state, as stipulated in paragraph (3.a.) of this rule, in and of itself, does not establish resident status in the absence of the required proof of intent.

b. Lightly weighted factors: Registration for voting; part-time employment; lease of living quarters; a written statement of intent to establish domicile in Missouri; automobile registration or driver’s license obtained in Missouri; and payment of income, personal, or property taxes in Missouri. The factors listed in this subsection have applicability only as they support the intent to make the state of Missouri a permanent home for an indefinite period.

5. A student who transfers to a University of Missouri campus from another campus of the University or from another Missouri public college or university without an interruption in enrollment, except for a summer term, and who possessed resident status at the prior institution shall be granted resident status at the University of Missouri campus.

1. Rates Assessed. Residents of Missouri as defined in the residence rules will be assessed tuition at the Missouri resident rates. Students who are not residents of Missouri as defined by these rules will be assessed the tuition fee at the non-resident rates.

2. Waivers for Nonresident Students

a. The difference between tuition for nonresident and Missouri resident students is waived for a graduate or first professional degree student who is a teaching, research or extension assistant holding a .25 or more FTE (full-time equivalent) appointment. Also applies to full-time hourly employees.

b. The difference between the tuition for nonresident and Missouri resident students is waived for a graduate or first professional degree student holding a fellowship which does not include payment of tuition or required fees.  Fellowship needs to be at least an equivalent of a 25% FTC according to the graduate stipend X.

c. The difference between the tuition for nonresident and Missouri resident students is waived for a student who is admitted under a specific agreement between an institution in the student’s state of residence and this University providing for payment of tuition and required fees at resident student rates.

d. The difference between the tuition for nonresident and Missouri resident students is waived for a student who is an unmarried adult, is for good reason dependent on his or her parents as if a minor, and is an adult dependent for Federal income tax purposes, provided the student would be classified under the residence rules as a Missouri resident were he or she a minor. Such a student will be exempt from other nonresident regulation.

It is the duty and responsibility of each student seeking admission to the University to apply and register under the proper residence and to pay the proper amount of fees. It is the further duty of each student, if there is any possibility that the nonresident rate of the tuition is applicable, or that the student is subject to restrictive admission or other nonresident regulations of the University under these rules to raise the question with the campus residency officer in the first case, or the Director of Admissions in the second prior to registration.

Any student unwilling to accept a ruling relative to his or her residency status shall ask the campus residency officer to transmit the student’s residency questionnaire to the Tuition and Residence Committee so that the student’s appeal may be reviewed.

1. The Tuition and Residence Committee shall hear the appeal and, if requested by the student, shall provide such student with a hearing before the Committee.

2. The Tuition and Residence Committee shall notify the student, the campus residency officer and the Registrar of its decision.

3. The student may appeal an adverse ruling to the Chancellor, whose decision shall be final.