Revisions Adopted by President’s Cabinet 5/31/19
Revisions Adopted by President’s Cabinet 3/30/18
Adopted by President’s Cabinet 12/20/16
In accordance with Board of Regents Policy 4.3.4, all applicants who are accepted for admission or readmission to the college for Fall 2011 or any academic semester thereafter, and who seek to be classified as in-state for tuition purposes, will be required to provide validation of residency and lawful presence in both the State of Georgia and the United States.
East Georgia State College will strive to make this process clear by publicizing to all applicants through letter, website (check your status) and e-mails to students requesting in-state tuition that they must confirm their Georgia residency status on their applications and provide proof of legal presence in the United States.
Students in the below categories whose lawful presence has been verified by the agency indicated, are considered lawfully present in Georgia and the United States:
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- After the filing of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the student is deemed financial aid eligible by the US Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid; or
- F, J or M Visa verified by Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS); or
- Naturalized citizen, immigrant or non-immigrant status verified through Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE), or through submission of the documentation noted below.
Students must provide a copy of one of the following documents to verify lawful presence:
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- A Certified U.S. Birth Certificate showing that the student was born in the U.S. or a U.S territory. A photocopy provided by the student is not acceptable.
- A U.S. Certificate of Naturalization (USCIS form N-550 or N-570).
- A U.S. Certificate of Citizenship (USCIS form N-560 or N-561).
- A U.S. Certification of Report of Birth of a US Citizen born abroad issued by the United States Department of State (Form FS-1350) or a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (FS-240).
- A current U.S. passport.
- A current Driver's License issued by the State of Georgia after January 1, 2008. A limited term license/ID or a license/ID issued for a period of less than two years is not acceptable.
- A current valid Permanent Resident Card (USCIS form I-151 or I-551)
- A current military ID (service member only, not dependent) Documented using the Confirmation of Review of Military IS Worksheet- A photocopy is not acceptable.
Documentation must be valid (unexpired) at the time of the lawful presence review in order to satisfy the verification requirement based on documentation. In order for the student’s lawful presence to be verified based on eligibility for federal student aid, the student must be eligible for the aid the term the student is applying for in-state tuition. Applications processed by the Admissions or Records Office will be reviewed with emphasis on those students requesting in-state tuition and their positive responses to Georgia residency questions. Our policy provides that these students will be initially coded as in-state awaiting proof of their U.S. lawful presence. We agree that all students Fall 2011 and thereafter will have the LAWP code included in their Banner Checklist and the LP code added to SOAHOLD to prevent them from registering or releasing a transcript until they establish U.S. lawful presence. We believe that the majority (80-90%) of our students will satisfy this requirement through their FAFSA application since SAVE is checking their U.S. lawful presence status as part of this process. For the remaining 10-20%, those students may use one of the other documents listed above to satisfy their in-state tuition requirement. Each respective department will manually enter the appropriate document code on the checklist and place an end date on the hold.
Our Database Administrator created a script that runs 9 a.m. every day checking for information from the FAFSA, if one was filed, and will automatically update the checklist code and place an end date to the hold. In some cases, the student must provide additional information. Conversely, if a new application is processed and no FAFSA has been filed yet, the script will add the LAWP code to the checklist and the LP code to SOAHOLD.
Students at the time of registration on orientation days or other registration days, who have satisfied the Georgia residency requirement (but not provided proof of the U.S. lawful presence) will have their status changed to non-resident (update SAAADMS, SGASTDN), place an end date on the LP hold, and Opt-Out added to the LAWP checklist code. The attribute code UDOC will be added so that they are listed as undocumented.
Students will have until the last official day of schedule adjustment to provide their proof of U.S. lawful presence or complete the Opt-Out of Verification of Lawful Presence form.
All students who failed to prove their lawful presence after that date will be assessed out-of-state tuition for the current term. If they provide the lawful presence proof before the next semester’s registration period and they have already proved their Georgia residency status, they may be changed to in-state.
