Y GENERAL. 

Honorable Robert S. Calvert 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion No. C-483 

Re : Whether Texas Western College 

may use an appropriation set 

up in General Appropriation 

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 College may use an 

appropriation set up in General Appropriation 

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 fi the following: 

"TEXAS WESTERN 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 Governing Boards of the 

several state-supported institutions are 

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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Hon. Robert S. Calvert, Page 2 (C- 483) 

out of the fees levied and collected from 

students under Subsection (a), Section 1 

of this Act, an amount to be determined 

by the Legislature for each institution 

in the biennial Appropriation Bill, 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 

administrative headsof each such respective 

institution in accordance with such rules 

and regulations governing the award of such 

Tuition Scholarships as may be promulgated 

by the Governing Boards of said respective 

institutions. Rules and regulations shall 

be subject to the following conditions: 

II . . . 

"1 (b) (3) Recipients of such Tuition 

Scholarships mus% be classifi d as 'resident 

students' under the provision: of this Act. 

II 

. . . 

“Sec. 1 (e) The term 'residence' as 

used in this Act means 'domicile'; the term 

'resided in' means 'domiciled in'; provided, 

the Governing Board of each institution 

required under this Act to charge a nonresident 

registration fee is hereby authorized and 

directed to follow such rules, regulations, 

and interpretations as are issued by the Commission on Higher Education for the effective and 

uniform administration of the nonresident 

tuition provisions of this Act. Any such rules, 

regulations, and interpretations as may be 

issued by said Commission shall also be 

furnished to the presidents or executive heads 

of public junior colleges in this State. For 

the purposes of this Act, the status of a 

student as a 'resident,' or 'nonresident' 

student, is to be determined as follows: 

"1 (e) (1) A nonresident student is 

hereby defined to be a student of less than 

twenty-one (21) years of age, living away 

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Hon. Robert S. Calvert, page 3 (C-483) 

from his family and whose family resides in 

another state, or whose family has not 

resided in Texas for the twelve (12) months 

immediately preceding 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) Individuals of twenty-one 

(21) years of age or less whose families 

have not resided in Texas for the twelve 

(12) months immediately preceding the date 

of registration, shall be classified as 

'nonresident students' regardless of whether 

such individuals have 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 adoption was for 

the purpose of obtaining status as a 'resident 

student.' 

"1 (e) (4) (f) All aliens shall be 

classified as 'nonresident students'; 

provided, however, that an alien who is 

iiving in this country under a visa permitting permanent residence or who has 

filed a Declaration of Intention to become 

a citizen with the proper federal immigration authorities shall have the same 

privilege of qualifying for resident status 

for fee purposes under this Act 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 tuition by such junior 

college. 

II . . . ' (Emphasis added). 

From the letter which 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) 

"Texas Western College of The University 

of Texas in its request for legislative appropriations for the fiscal years ending August 

31, 1966 and 1967, requested a special item 

for each year, $4,000 for 'Scholarships for 

Top Juares High School Graduates.' The amount 

requested was to take care of the tuition of 

ten non-resident students for nine months. 

"The item was appropriated by the FiftyEighth Legislature and set out in the appropriation bill as 'Tuition Scholarships.' The 

regular tuition scholarship, as you know, is 

for resident students and in the amount of 

$25 per semester. This was not set up as 

the statutes provide the regular resident 

tuition scholarship will be. 

"My question is: May we use this appropriation to pay tuition for non-resident 

students, the purpose for which it was 

requested, or will its use be limited to 

the regular statutory 'tuition scholarship'?" 

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 

scholarships must be classified as resident students, it 

therefore follows that non-resident students would 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 cannot be used to pay 

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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