Residency for Tuition - Appealing Nonresident Status

Overview

Read all instructions below before completing and submitting a residence for tuition appeal form. Please consult with a residence specialist before completing an appeal form to confirm whether an appeal is the correct way to request residency in your circumstance and to make sure you understand the legal rights on the form’s last page.

Appeal forms for a specific term are only available during limited windows that start prior to the term and end shortly after the term begins. If you plan to submit an appeal for a specific term, make sure to download the form during that window of availability and submit it no later than the listed deadline.

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Table of Contents
• Eligibility
• Types of Appeals
• Notification of Appeals Decision
• Important Information about Tuition and Fee Payment
• Special Residency Withdrawal
• Completing the Form
• Submitting the Form
• Forms

Eligibility

Only current UW–Madison students who are registered for classes for the term of appeal are eligible to submit this form. If you submit this form prior to enrolling in the term for which you are appealing, your appeal will not be scheduled until after you enroll in classes. If you do not enroll in classes, your appeal will not be heard.

Only the appellant (the student) may complete and submit this appeal form. Parents, spouses, and other individuals may not complete or submit this form on behalf of a student. Appeal forms completed and/or submitted by individuals other than the student will be dismissed without review.

Types of Appeals

You may choose to appeal for Residence or Fee Remission.

An appeal for Residence is a request to change your residence for tuition status from nonresident to resident. Your request will be evaluated under Wisconsin Statutes 36.27(2), Wisconsin’s Residence for Tuition Law. Individuals determined to be eligible under that statute will be reclassified as Wisconsin residents, while individuals determined to be ineligible under that statute will maintain their nonresident status. The basis for that nonresident decision will be sent in a Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law letter about one month after the conclusion of the hearing.

An appeal for Fee Remission is a request for a limited reprieve from nonresident tuition. Students who are granted fee remissions maintain a nonresident for tuition status, but their tuition is reduced to the resident rate for a specific period. UW–Madison is not required to provide fee remissions for any student under any circumstance. Fee remission requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and are generally granted only when students convincingly demonstrate extraordinary circumstances that warrant a reprieve from nonresident tuition, or if students demonstrate an inequity in the application of law that uniquely impacts them and they would otherwise be able to demonstrate bona fide residency. Students who appeal successfully for fee remission will maintain nonresident status and receive notification that their tuition bill will be reduced for a number of semesters determined by the appeal’s evaluators. Generally, fee remissions are not granted for more than three consecutive semesters (one academic year), after which time the student should expect to pay the full nonresident tuition. Any subsequent consideration for fee remission will require a new appeal. Students who appeal unsuccessfully for fee remission will be notified that the fee remission is denied but will not receive a detailed basis for the decision.

Neither Residency nor Fee Remissions are granted on the basis of financial need. The Nonresident Tuition Appeals Process is not a financial aid mechanism.

Notification of Appeals Decision

The Office of the Registrar will send a brief notification of the Committee’s decision regarding your appeal after the conclusion of your hearing. These letters are usually sent within one to three business days after the hearing. If your appeal was successful or if your appeal for fee remission was unsuccessful, this will be the final notification of your hearing result. If your appeal was unsuccessful and you have appealed for residence, you will also receive a longer Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law letter within 30 days after your hearing that provides a more detailed explanation of the appeal decision.

You may also contact a residence specialist at (608) 262-1355 on the next business day after your hearing to learn of your decision. A residence specialist can provide the decision, but not the basis of the decision. The basis of a nonresident decision will only be provided in the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law letter noted above.

Important Information about Tuition and Fee Payment

Your tuition and segregated fees are due by the fee payment deadline stated on your Student Account Invoice.

In most cases, appeals hearings do not occur before the tuition due date. If your appeal is not heard before your fees are due, you need to pay the total amount on your Student Account Invoice by the fee payment deadline.

If you do not pay your fees by the deadline, you will be assessed a late payment fee. There will be no fee payment extension due to filing an appeal from nonresident tuition.

If the Committee determines that you are eligible for relief from the nonresident portion of tuition, the Bursar's Office will refund the nonresident portion of the tuition you have paid for the term for which you are appealing. These refunds are generally issued within two weeks of the Committee’s decision. If your tuition is paid with outside funds such as financial aid, scholarships, or third-party payments, your tuition accounts records will be reviewed to determine whether the refund will be sent to you or to the original source of the funds.

Special Residency Withdrawal

For unsuccessful appellants only, the University offers a limited opportunity for a special type of withdrawal. This “Residency Withdrawal” will allow you to withdraw from all classes in your term of appeal without incurring any fees or fee penalties regardless of how late in the term your appeal hearing is held.

If the Committee denies your appeal and grants no relief, you may request this “Residency Withdrawal” directly from a residency specialist in the Office of the Registrar. To request the “Residency Withdrawal,” you must contact a residence specialist at (608) 262-1355 no later than the Friday of the week following your hearing. Requests for this withdrawal will not be granted if made after the Friday of the week following your hearing. You cannot request this withdrawal through the normal methods of withdrawing from or dropping classes. If you drop or withdraw from classes using normal methods, you will not receive the financial reprieve offered through the “Residency Withdrawal.”

If you withdraw from the University prior to your appeal hearing, you are subject to the same withdrawal fee policies as other students. Refer to the key deadlines on the Office of the Registrar’s website.

Completing the Form

The appeal form must be typed or printed in dark ink. Every section of the appeal form must be filled in completely. If a question is not applicable, type "N/A" in the fields.

For sections with multiple duplicate rows, including the sections on relatives, employment, organizations and activities, and education history, you may enter “N/A” into the first unused row and leave the remaining rows blank. If you need additional rows for any of those sections, you may download supplemental pages below.

If any field on this form is left blank, you are asserting that you have no information to provide in that field. After submission, you may be contacted to provide any required information if missing, incomplete, or unclear on your form.

This form includes space for three personal statements responding to different questions. All three statements are required for a completed form. These statements should be concise but should clearly and completely address each prompt preceding the essay boxes. If you need more space for any or all of the statements, you may attach a separate document with the statement text(s). If attaching a separate document, list the statement number and question above your text for each statement, and write “see attached” in the relevant essay box(es) on the form. If submitting a printed copy, please only use 8½" x 11" (regular office-sized) paper for your statement.

On the bottom of Page 11, there is a signature section. You must sign your full name and include the full date of completion before this form is complete. This is the signature that attests to the information on this form. The signatures on the next page (Page 12) are optional and only pertain to the legal rights listed on that page.

When signing this form, please type your full name (or sign your name, if completing by hand) and make sure to include the date. Please do not use a digital signature tool, as these tools can impede the processing of your application.

Page 12 requests information that is needed for the processing of your appeal. Do not sign the signature fields under the legal rights until you have read and fully understand what you are signing. We strongly encourage all potential appellants to contact a residence specialist before submitting an appeal to confirm that they understand the legal rights on Page 12.

The appeal form must be fully complete when submitted, otherwise it will not be accepted. Make sure to check that you have filled out all pages of the appeal form, including all fields, the personal statements, the signature and date on Page 11, and your communication address and legal rights selections on Page 12.

Submitting the Form

Send your appeal form through your UW–Madison email, by postal mail, or deliver it to the Office of the Registrar in person. We will attempt to confirm receipt of your appeals form within one week of receiving the form. Contact our office if you have not received a submission receipt by email within two weeks of mailing. It is your responsibility to ensure that we have received the form on time. We strongly recommend submitting this form by email. Late submissions will not be accepted.

• Email: ResidenceForTuition@registrar.wisc.edu
• Postal Mail/In-Person:
  
  Office of the Registrar, Residence for Tuition Purposes
  333 East Campus Mall, Room 11101
  Madison, WI 53715-1384

Forms

The table below explains when appeals can be submitted by term. Download and complete the form specific to the term for which you are appealing.