### Y GENERAL.

Honorable 

### RobertS. Calvert Comptroller of Public Accounts Austin, Texas Opinion No. C-483
Re: Whether Texas Western College may use an appropriation set up in GeneralAppropriation Bill as "Tuition Scholarships" to pay tuitions for nonDear Mr. Calvert: resident students.

We are in receipt of your letter of recent date requesting an opinion on the question as hereinafter stated:

Whether Texas Western Collegemay use an appropriation set up in GeneralAppropriation Bill as "Tuition Scholarships" to pay tuitions for non-resident students.
House Bill No. 12 of the 59th Legislature,Regular Session, 1965, same bein the Biennial Appropriations Bill, provided in Section IV-2 fithe following:
"TEXASWESTERN COLLEGE OF TBE DNIVERSITY OF TEXAS II

. . . 

### "7. Special Item (non-transferable): Tuition Scholarships 

### $4,000" Article 2654c, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, provides in part as follows:

I,

. . . "Sec. 1 (b)The GoverningBoards of the several state-supported institutionsare hereby authorized and directed to have reserved and set apart in a separate account on the books of the respective institutions,

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out of the fees levied and collected from studentsunder Subsection (a), Section 1 of thisAct, an amount to be determined by the Legislature for each institution in the biennialAppropriationBill, for the purpose of creating a special fund to be used in awarding Tuition Scholarships to needy resident students enrolled in such respective institutions. Tuition Scholarships shall **be** awarded to students with the approval of the President or other administrativeheadsof each such respective institution in accordancewith such rules and regulationsgoverning the award of such Tuition Scholarshipsas may be promulgated by the GoverningBoards of said respective institutions. Rules and regulations shall be subject to the following conditions: II

. . . "1 (b) (3)Recipients of such Tuition Scholarshipsmus% be classifi d as 'resident students' under theprovision: of thisAct.

II

. . . “Sec. 1 (e)The term 'residence'as used in thisAct means 'domicile';the term 'residedin' means 'domiciledin'; provided, the GoverningBoard of each institution required under thisAct to charge a nonresident registration fee is hereby authorized and directed to follow such rules, regulations, and interpretationsas are issuedby the Commission on Higher Education for the effective and uniform administrationof the nonresident tuitionprovisions of this Act. Any such rules, regulations,and interpretationsas may be issuedby said Commission shall also be furnished to the presidents or executive heads of public junior colleges in this State. For the purposes of thisAct, the status of a student as a 'resident,'or 'nonresident' student, is to be determinedas follows: "1 (e) (1)A nonresident student is hereby defined tobe a student of less than twenty-one (21)years of age, living away
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### 3 (C-483)

fromhis family and whose family resides in another state, or whose family has not resided in Texas for the twelve (12)months immediatelypreceding the date of registration; or a student of twenty-one (21) years of age or over who resides out of the state or who has not been a resident of the state twelve (12)months immediately preceding the date of registration. 1,

. . . "1 (e) (4) Individualsof twenty-one (21)years of age or less whose families have not resided in Texas for the twelve (12)months immediatelypreceding the date of registration, shall **be** classifiedas 'nonresidentstudents' regardlessof whether such individualshave become the legal wards of residents of Texas or have been adopted by residents of Texas while such individuals are attending educational institutions in Texas or within a year prior to such an attendance or under circumstances indicating that such guardianship or adoptionwas for the purpose of obtaining status as a 'resident student.' "1 (e) (4) (f)All aliens shall be classified as 'nonresidentstudents'; provided, however, that an alien who is iiving in this country under a visa permitting permanent residence or 

### whohas filed a Declaration of Intention to become a citizenwith theproper federal immigration authorities shall have the same privilege of qualifying for resident status for fee purposes under thisAct as has a citizen of the United States. Provided, however, that a resident alien residing in a junior college district located immediately adjacent to state boundary lines shall be charged the resident tuitionby such junior college. II

. . .' (Emphasisadded).
From the letterwhich you received from Texas Western College,which is the basis of your inquiry,we quote the following: -2286-Hon. Robert S. Calvert, page 4 

### (C-483)

"TexasWestern College of The University of Texas in its request for legislativeappropriations for the fiscal years ending August 

### 31, 1966and 1967, requested a special item for each year, $4,000 for 'Scholarshipsfor Top Juares High School Graduates.' The amount requestedwas to take care of the tuition of ten non-resident students for nine months. "The item was appropriatedby the FiftyEighth Legislature and set out in the appropriation bill as 'TuitionScholarships.' The regular tuition scholarship,as you know, is for resident students and in the amount of 

### $25per semester. This was not set up as the statutesprovide the regular resident tuition scholarshipwill be. "My question is: May we use this appropriation to pay tuition for non-resident students, the purpose for which itwas requested, or will its use be limited to the regular statutory 'tuitionscholarship'?"
From reading the above quoted letter, the same discloses that these students are and will be residents of Juarez, Mexico, while attending Texas Western College of The University of Texas at El Paso, Texas, and will be classified as non-resident students.

As Article 

### 2654~requires that recipients of tuition scholarshipsmust be classified as resident students, it therefore follows that non-resident studentswould not be eligible to receive tuition scholarships.

SUMMARY Under the provisions of Article 265&c, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, appropriation set up in House Bill No. 12, Biennial Appropriation Bill, 59th Legislature, Section IV-24, Tuition Scholarships cannotbe used topay tuitions for non-resident students.

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Hon. Robert S. Calvert,page 

### 5 (c-483)

Yours very truly,
WAGGONER CARR Attorney General

By:

JBB:sj
APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE
W. 0. Shultz, Chairman H. Grady 'Chandler Roy Johnson Linward Shivers
APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: T. B. Wright

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