Austin Community College says Texas Marine not a state resident
Update: According to ACC President Stephen Kinslow, Basham listed his state of residency in his military record as one other than Texas.
Texas residency is guided by state law, as reflected in the Texas Education Code. As a taxpayer-funded college, ACC is not able to pick the laws with which it complies. Additionally, this type of situation is complicated when a resident moves out of Texas for several years prior to entering the military, enlists in the military in another state, and lists that state as a home of record and permanent address in all military papers.
Contrary to some reports, ACC has assisted the student with his fall enrollment. Yet again, we are not able to ignore the state law which guides residency designation. The law mandates we treat all applicants equally. ACC has applied the current state residency law to the student in question, made many calls on his behalf to ensure that any documentation needed to comply with the law was understood, and confirmed with him his eligibility to receive Pell Grant and VA educational assistance. If public elected officials choose to change Texas’ public policy on residency to make it even more flexible for those who serve their country in the military, ACC would certainly be supportive.
I think Basham is stuck, ugly as it may be. This might be a case of where a servicemember missed something in his record. All those lectures from my LPO and from the PN1’s is Personnel are coming to mind.
end update
File this one under B for Bravo Sierra. KWTX (and other news outlets) reports, via the Associated Press, that a Texas Marine’s two tours in Iraq nullify his state residency, according to the good folks at Austin Community College.
Carl Basham said officials at Austin Community College recently told him that he lost his Texas resident’s status because of the years he spent out of state on two tours of duty in Iraq.
Not having the in-state designation would mean paying around $2,600 a semester in tuition, instead of about $500.
The school’s response surprised the 27-year-old Beeville native who is registered to vote in Travis County, has a Texas driver’s license and does his banking in Austin.
Officials at the college will only say Basham didn’t meet state requirements as determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
A school spokeswoman says privacy laws prevent discussing his case.
And your supervisor breathing down your neck because of the phone calls about to start coming in. ACC’s residency form is here (pdf file). Page 2 has the residency requirements. Nothing is mentioned of a state resident going on military service being denied. There is a section that talks of someone living in Texas while in the military. The section that seems to be at play is this:
To register as a Texas resident, you must have established residency in accordance with the Texas Education Code. If you are classified as out-of-state at another Texas college or university, you probably will be out-of-state at ACC as well.
The Texas Education Code’s residency section says this in Section G:
(g) An individual who would have been classified as a resident for the first five of the six years immediately preceding registration but who resided in another state for all or part of the year immediately preceding registration shall be classified as a resident student.
This seems to be the sticking point. My thinking is that if Basham was in country (Texas) for any period of time inbetween his two tours, that counts as residency, given he was likely living here prior to his first tour.
ACC needs to exempt him and the state legislature needs to amend the education code.
August 17th, 2005 at 7:55 pm
This is from http://www.collegefortexans.com/military/texans.cfm a state operated website about veteran benifits for Texans…it spells out the requirements for state residency.
Tuition for Texans at Public Institutions of Higher Education
A “Texan” is a service member whose “Home of Record” upon entry into the service was Texas and who has not processed a form with the military to change his/her permanent residence to another state.
A Texan continues to be a resident and is eligible to pay the resident tuition rate at any public institution of higher education in Texas. This is true for Texas service members taking traditional classes while living in Texas and for Texas service members stationed out-of-state or out-of-country who are taking classes through a Texas public institution via some form of distance education.
A Texan’s spouse and dependent children, unless they have established or maintained a separate residence from the member, are also Texas residents and are eligible to pay the resident tuition rate at any public institution of higher education in Texas.
Documents to prove Texas residence include:
Papers from the military indicating Texas was your “Home of Record” at time of entry into service, and
Leave and earnings statement showing Texas is still your permanent address with the military.
August 18th, 2005 at 7:46 am
[…] The story of former Marine Carl Basham and Austin Community College exploded on the radar over the last 24 hours. A Marine home from Iraq and living in Austin, Texas, enrolled in Austin Community College and was told he had to pay out of state tuition. Initially it looked like the community college was letting some snot-nosed bureaucrat stick it to this decorated veteran. However, a statement from ACC President Kinslow indicates the Marine listed a state other than Texas as his permanent residence in his service record. This is going to screw the Marine, I think., unfortunate as it is. I think he’s looking at higher tuition for this semester. More here, at General Quarters. […]
April 6th, 2006 at 12:44 am
Police have been checking vehicles in a zone around the site of the discovery, where poultry movements are restricted.