NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

CHAPTER 836

SENATE BILL 824

AN ACT TO CONFER RESIDENT STATUS FOR TUITION PURPOSES ON A MINOR WHO HAD LIVED FOR FIVE OR MORE CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN THE NORTH CAROLINA HOME OF AN ADULT RELATIVE ACTING AS A DE FACTO PARENT.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 116-143.1 is amended by adding a new subsection to read as follows:

"(k)      Notwithstanding other provisions of this section, a minor who satisfies the following conditions immediately prior to commencement of an enrolled term at an institution of higher education, shall be accorded resident tuition status for that term:

(1)        the minor has lived for five or more consecutive years continuing to such term in North Carolina in the home of an adult relative, other than a parent, domiciled in this State; and

(2)        the adult relative has functioned during those years as a de facto guardian of the minor and exercised day-to-day care, supervision, and control of the minor.

A person who immediately prior to his or her eighteenth birthday qualified for or was accorded resident status for tuition purposes pursuant to this subsection shall be deemed upon achieving majority to be a legal resident of North Carolina of at least 12 months duration; provided, that the legal residence of such an adult person shall be deemed to continue in North Carolina only so long as the person does not abandon legal residence in this State."

Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 7th day of June, 1979.