Colorado § 23-7-102 - Definitions.

§ 23-7-102. Definitions.

As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Repealed.

(2) "Domicile" means a person's true, fixed, and permanent home and place of habitation. It is the place where he intends to remain and to which he expects to return when he leaves without intending to establish a new domicile elsewhere.

(3) "Emancipated minor" means a minor whose parents have entirely surrendered the right to the care, custody, and earnings of such minor, no longer are under any duty to support or maintain such minor, and have made no provision for the support of such minor.

(4) "His" applies to the female as well as the male sex.

(5) "In-state student" means a student who has been domiciled in Colorado for one year or more immediately preceding registration at any institution of higher education in Colorado for any term or session for which domiciliary classification is claimed, but attendance at an institution of higher education, public or private, within the state of Colorado shall not alone be sufficient to qualify for domicile in Colorado. "In-state student" includes a member of the armed forces of the United States or his dependents who qualify under section 23-7-103 (1)(c).

(6) "Institution" means a Colorado college, university, or local district college supported partially or entirely by appropriations made by the general assembly.

(7) "Minor" means a male or female person who has not attained the age of twenty-two years.

(8) "Parent-qualified student" means an unemancipated minor who is not domiciled in Colorado but who has a parent domiciled in Colorado.

(9) "Qualified person" means a person qualified to determine his or her own domicile. A person twenty-two years of age or older, a student commencing a postbaccalaureate degree-granting program, an emancipated minor, or an unaccompanied homeless youth pursuant to section 23-7-103.5 is so qualified.

Source: L. 61: p. 718, § 2. CRS 53: § 124-19-2. C.R.S. 1963: § 124-18-2. L. 67: p. 822, § 1. L. 84: (1) repealed and (3), (8), and (9) amended, pp. 633, 631, §§ 3, 1, effective April 5. L. 86, 2nd Ex. Sess.: (5) amended, p. 59, § 1, effective August 15. L. 93: (9) amended, p. 1865, § 2, effective July 1. L. 96: (7) and (9) amended, p. 732, § 1, effective May 22. L. 2016: (9) amended, (HB 16-1100), ch. 169, p. 536, § 2, effective May 17.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 1993 act amending this section, see section 1 of chapter 311, Session Laws of Colorado 1993.

ANNOTATION

Fundamental to the classification of "in-state student" is the establishment of a domicile as it is expressly defined in subsection (2). Seren v. Douglas, 30 Colo. App. 110, 489 P.2d 601 (1971).

Intent as to domicile is to be determined by trier of fact, absent legal disability. In the absence of a legal disability preventing a student admitted to the United States as an alien from forming the requisite intent to establish a domicile after the expiration of his student visa, it is within the province of the trier of act to determine whether the intent required by this section was present. Seren v. Douglas, 30 Colo. App. 110, 489 P.2d 601 (1971).

Although the federal statutes create a disability during the period that a student is a nonimmigrant alien, no state or federal statute compels the conclusion that this impediment remains until he is granted the status of lawful permanent resident. Seren v. Douglas, 30 Colo. App. 110, 489 P.2d 601 (1971).

The legal disability created by federal statute can, as a matter of fact and law, dissolve upon the expiration of an alien student's visa, and at such time he can abandon his legal intent to return to his homeland and seek status as a permanent resident of the United States. Seren v. Douglas, 30 Colo. App. 110, 489 P.2d 601 (1971).

Where there was evidence to the effect that an alien student intended to reside permanently in Colorado, and where he did in fact reside in Colorado, the trial court did not err in finding that he met the requirements for the establishment of a "domicile" as expressly defined by subsection (2); and where the trial court additionally found that plaintiff had been domiciled in Colorado for more than one year prior to his application for resident tuition status, its conclusion that the student was entitled to classification as an "in-state student" for tuition purposes under subsection (5) was also proper. Seren v. Douglas, 30 Colo. App. 110, 489 P.2d 601 (1971).