Minnesota West Policies

Chapter 2 - Students

2.2 State Residency Requirement

1. Classification as State Residents. Students who meet one or more of the following conditions on the date they apply for admission to a state college or university shall be classified as residents of Minnesota.
   1. Students must have resided in Minnesota for at least one calendar year immediately prior to applying for in-state tuition or are dependent students whose parents or legal guardian resides in Minnesota at the time the student applies. Residence in Minnesota must not be merely for the purpose of attending college.
   2. Students are Minnesota residents and can demonstrate that they were temporarily absent from the state without establishing residency elsewhere.
   3. Students moved to the state for employment purposes and, before moving and before applying for admission to a public postsecondary institution, accepted a full-time job in the state, or students who are spouses or dependents of such persons.
2. Required Exceptions. Non-residents of Minnesota who meet one or more of the following conditions shall be charged the resident tuition rate unless otherwise prohibited by applicable state or federal law or regulations.
   1. Current and former members of the U.S. military, their spouses, and dependent children.
   2. Students who have been in Minnesota as migrant farmworkers, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, title 20, section 633.104, over a period of at least two years immediately before admission or readmission to a Minnesota public postsecondary institution, or students who are dependents of such migrant farmworkers.
   3. A student who graduated from a Minnesota high school, if the student was a resident of Minnesota during the student's period of attendance at the Minnesota high school and the student physically attends a Minnesota State College or University.
   4. Persons who were employed and were relocated to the state by the person's current employer.
   5. Students who are recognized as refugees or asylees by the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
   6. Students, other than nonimmigrant aliens within the meaning of United States Code, title 8, section 1101, subsection (a), paragraph (15), who meet the following requirements established in Minnesota Statutes 135.043.
      1. High school attendance within the state for three or more years;
      2. graduation from a state high school or attainment within the state of the equivalent of high school graduation; and
      3. in the case of a student without lawful immigration status: (i) documentation that the student has complied with selective service registration requirements; and (ii) if a federal process exists for the student to obtain lawful immigration status the student must present the higher education institution with documentation from federal immigration authorities that the student has filed an application to obtain lawful immigration status.
3. Discretionary Exceptions. Non-residents of Minnesota may be charged the resident tuition rate under one or more of the following exceptions.
   1. Nonimmigrant international students classified under 8, U.S.C. 1101 (a) (15) (B), (F), (H), (J), and (M).
   2. High Ability Students who are in the top 15 percent of their high school class or who score above the 85th percentile on a nationally-normed, standardized achievement test and who reside in states that do not have reciprocity agreements with Minnesota.
   3. Intergovernmental Agreements. Minnesota West has an agreement with Merged Area III in Iowa (All or parts of the counties of Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Kossuth, and Palo Alto) to charge students who live in that area resident tuition.  The agreement has been approved by the Board of Trustees.

Approved by: Richrd Shrubb, President
Date: July 1, 2003
History & Revision:

Policy rewritten (February 7, 2014)