Residency guide to be clarified for spring semester

Many University students may think that living in Ann Arbor for a full year or getting a Michigan driver's license is grounds to claim Michigan residency.

But University officials said proving Michigan residency isn't that easy, and they are currently updating the decades-old Residency Classification Guidelines. The changes, which were approved by the University Board of Regents nearly one year ago, will go into effect this spring semester.

"The goal was to present the University's residency requirements in as clear and straightforward a way as possible, so students can better understand them," said Sandra Dunn, assistant registrar for residency status.

Dunn explained that the soon-to-be-enforced changes are not changes to the University's residency policy, but minor adaptations to the guide's wording.

The University is clarifying which circumstances do and do not demonstrate permanent domicile. Although the wording of some requirements will remain the same, others will have clearer definitions.

For instance, included in the list of circumstances that do not constitute in-state residency under the updated classifications is ownership of property. Under the current classifications, this area was not as clearly identified.

Residency Appeals Committee Chair Roberta Palmer, who assists the University in special projects, said the changes were made to avoid confusion regarding specific factors such as property holdings. She said the new guidelines will hopefully decrease the number of students who appeal their residency denials.

Palmer said one of the main areas students misinterpreted was situations in which a student lived in Michigan, left the state and later returned to attend school.

"You may think of Michigan as still your home, but you gave up your residency," she said. "We wanted to clarify that with people."

If a student is denied Michigan residency after going through the Residency Classification Office, the student can maintain non-Michigan resident status or appeal the decision.

Of the nearly 1,300 applications processed during the 1996-97 school year, 627 were approved by the Residency Classifications Office and 608 were denied. From that pool, 194 students appealed the office's decision. Only 13 students succeeded in overturning the office's ruling.

The appeals committee reviews applications submitted by students who think they were unfairly denied Michigan residency by the Residency Classification Office - a part of the Office of the Registrar.

After reviewing a student's appeal application, the committee either denies or accepts the student's claim. If the student receives Michigan resident status, he or she will be reimbursed for the difference of paying out-of-state residency tuition for the duration of the appeals process.

LSA senior Stephanie Brimo, who served on the committee from fall '95 through fall '97, said some of the current guidelines' language is "deceiving," and caused many students a great deal of anguish.

"It's a very serious issue," Brimo said. "So, people were getting very upset because they were being led to believe something because of the language."

Brimo said students who wish to obtain Michigan residency cannot apply to or attend the University and then try to get in-state residency. In most situations, they must show interest prior to that point.

"One of the big hang-ups (is that) people think you have to live in the state of Michigan for one year, but that's not true," Brimo said. "If you show an interest in the University of Michigan before you come here, you won't get residency."

SNRE sophomore Joe Thompson received word earlier this semester that the University approved his Michigan residency status.

"I'm not really sure what their justifications are for letting me keep in-state (status), other than the fact that I'm here for three-fourths of the year," Thompson said.

Thompson lived in Michigan when he applied to the University as a high school senior. His family then moved away from Michigan, but Thompson maintains that he is still a Michigan resident.

"My parents lived here for a few years and paid taxes in the system," Thompson said, adding that if the University had not approved his application, he would not have been able to afford out-of-state University tuition. "If I couldn't do it, I would have to go to school in Wisconsin."

Although it is not common, some students choose to take their case to the Michigan court system if the appeals committee denies their claim.

"The number of students who take their case to court is very small," Dunn said, adding that the court cannot determine a student's residency status in this context. "They simply decide if the University has been fair and consistent in its determinations."

Dunn said that out of the small number of residency cases filed by University students in the Michigan court system, she is not aware of a case the University has lost in 20 years.

04-17-98