RDS

The RDS, Residency Determination Service, is a form that should be completed by students that will claim to be in-state residents for tuition purposes. In order to be considered a NC resident, you must have lived in North Carolina for 12 consecutive years at the time you submit the form.

There are 2 ways of accessing the form:

1. Log into your CFNC account > Click Apply to College and scroll down > Click Residency Determination located on the left> Click NC Residency Determination Service

2. Go directly to ncresidency.cfnc.org > Log in using the same login info for CFNC

*CFNC and RDS are connected. If you have an account for one site you have an account for both. Use the same account name and password for both sites. Do NOT make separate accounts!

When to Complete:

• Complete before you submit college applications

  • required to be able to submit community college applications

  • not required to submit a 4-year application (but should be sent before enrollment for tuition purposes)

• A how-to video on how to complete the form can be found here.

I advise completing the form with a parent or legal guardian since you will need information from them. Once you complete the form you will be given a RCN. This number tells the colleges if you are an in-state or out-of-state student. Use this number on your college applications.

The documents below will walk you through the process of completing the RDS form as well as the information you will need in order to successfully complete and submit it

*Students without a social security number will NOT be able to claim residency for tuition purposes. See below for more information. In some cases, students may get a non-resident status and have to submit a reconsideration or appeal.

Resources for DACA, undocumented, or mixed status students:

If you, the student, do not have a social security number you are not eligible for in-state residency or tuition. However, you still need to complete the form. You will answer "No" to the first question about claiming to be a NC resident. At that time, it will automatically give you an out-of-state RCN that you will use on your applications.

Students with an out-of-state designation will be charged the out-of-state tuition cost at most colleges and universities. However, some schools will have specific guidelines and policies that they use for undocumented students that allow them to be charge the in-state tuition. I would encourage you to speak directly with both the admissions and financial aid offices of the schools you are interested in to ask about their policies if you feel comfortable.

Check out the following links for helpful resources as you plan for your post-secondary options.

https://mydocumentedlife.org/high-school-students/

https://somuchpotential.org/faqs/

Students that are U.S. citizens but whose parents are not, can claim NC residency. Students have the option of submitting an ITIN, USCIS, Alien Registration Number or I-94 Number for their parents. This will not affect their residency status. Students whose parents don't have any form of identification number will select that they do not wish to supply a number. A student will automatically be given an out-of-state status since the form in based on the parents. However, students can request an appeal to submit more information about their situation to have that status changed.

*In the past, all appeal requests for students with SSNs have been successfully overturned for students allowing them to claim in-state residency!

For answers to Frequently Asked Questions: https://ncresidency.cfnc.org/residencyInfo/studentFAQ