Residency & Lawful Presence Requirements

Regulations regarding the establishment of legal residency in South Carolina for tuition and fee purposes at South Carolina institutions of higher education are governed by the South Carolina Code of Laws, Sections 59-112-10 through 59-112-100. Residency classification is an essential part of fee determination, admission regulations and other relevant policies of Central Carolina Technical College. The initial determination of residency is made at the time an admissions application is submitted. That determination and any determination made at a later time prevail for each subsequent semester until a petition of South Carolina residency is found to be valid.

For more information about residency requirements and decisions, contact:

Sierra Neal, Residency Official
Central Carolina Technical College
506 North Guignard Drive
Sumter, SC 29150
Phone: (803) 774-3361
Fax: (803) 778-6686
Email: nealas@cctech.edu

An applicant/student applying for a change of residency from out-of-state to in-state or in-state to in-county must complete a Petition for Change Residency Request Form (available below or in the Forms Library) and provide supporting documentation to the Residency Official prior to or on the first day of classes of the semester for which change of residency is requested. Documents received after that date will be reviewed for the following semester.

*Note: establishing residency at a university or college other than Central Carolina Technical College does not guarantee the same residency status at Central Carolina Technical College.

The burden of proof to provide the required evidence to document the change in residency status resides with the applicant/student who is applying for a change of residency.

Persons in the following categories may qualify to pay in-state without having to establish a permanent home in the state for 12 months. Persons who qualify under any of these categories must meet the conditions of the specific category on or before the first day of classes of the semester for which payment of in-state tuition and fees is requested:

• Military personnel and their dependents
• Faculty and administrative employees and their dependents
• Residents and full-time employment and their dependents retired persons
• Persons on terminal leave
• Eligible veterans and covered individuals
• United States citizen students who are dependent on an undocumented parent or guardian

Any student, following the decision on his/her resident classification, may appeal the decision to the Vice President of Student Affairs. The Vice President, however, is bound by the same laws and regulations as the Residency Official, so its purpose is only to review the facts and details of any case and to evaluate the correctness of the decision made by the college’s Residency Official.

Students wishing to appeal a residency decision must provide a letter to the college’s Residency Official informing the official that they want to appeal the decision. The letter must also include a summary of the student’s situation and a statement that specifies the residency provision under which the person feels he/she qualifies to pay in-state tuition. The Residency Official will then schedule a meeting with the Vice President to hear the appeal. Any decision resulting from the meeting is final.

Except as otherwise specified in this section, all noncitizens and nonpermanent residents of the United States will be assessed tuition and fees at the nonresident, out-of-state rate. Independent aliens including refugees, asylees and parolees and their dependents may be entitled to in-state residency classification once they have been awarded permanent resident status by the U.S. Department of Justice and meet all the statutory resident requirements, provided that all other domiciliary requirements are met. Time spent living in South Carolina immediately prior to the awarding of permanent resident status may not be counted toward the 12-month residency period. Certain nonresident aliens present in the United States on specific visa classifications may be granted in-state residency for tuition and fee purposes