North Dakota Resident Tuition Status for Veterans and Military Families
A veteran, a serving member, a Guard or reserve member, and their spouses and dependents are resident students for tuition purposes immediately. There is no waiting period and no requirement to have lived in the state.
Section 15-10-19.1(2) lists who is a resident student for tuition purposes, and the military limbs of that list carry no durational requirement at all. Everyone else on the list has to have lived in North Dakota for twelve months, or graduated from a North Dakota high school, or have been a legal resident for three consecutive years within the last six. The military limbs do not.
Covered directly: a full-time active duty member of the armed forces; a member of the national guard; a member of the armed forces reserve component; and a veteran as defined in section 37-01-40.
Covered as a family member: the spouse of any of those, and the dependent of any of those. For the veteran limb, the statute adds "including a veteran eligible to transfer entitlement under the Post 9-11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act", which removes the argument about whether a transferee's parent must themselves be present in the state.
Two further limbs matter. Subdivision (i) makes a child, spouse, widow or widower of a veteran killed in action, dead from wounds or other service-connected causes, totally disabled from service-connected causes, dead from service-connected disabilities, a prisoner of war, or declared missing in action, a resident student. And subdivision (j) adopts the federal "covered individual" definition in section 702 of Public Law 113-146, which is the federal in-state tuition requirement for recently separated veterans and their transferees using GI Bill benefits; North Dakota puts it in state law rather than leaving it to a compliance condition on the campus.
The practical consequence is that a veteran who has never set foot in North Dakota can enroll at a state institution and pay resident tuition from the first semester. For a state whose university system charges a substantial nonresident differential, that is a larger benefit in cash terms than several of North Dakota's named waivers, and it asks for no application beyond proving status.
Residency is not lost to a temporary absence for vacation or other special or temporary purposes, provided a residence is maintained in the state. But a student who leaves and resides in another state for a period of months without maintaining a place of residence here is not a resident for those months.
Thresholds
Thresholds for North Dakota Resident Tuition Status for Veterans and Military Families
Gate
Rule
No waiting period for the military limbs
A full-time active duty member, a national guard member, an armed forces reserve component member, and a veteran as defined in 37-01-40 are resident students immediately. The twelve-month and three-of-six-years rules that apply to other students do not apply to them.
Spouses and dependents are covered in their own right
The spouse and the dependent of any covered member or veteran are resident students, and the veteran limb expressly includes a veteran eligible to transfer Post-9/11 entitlement. Survivors of a veteran killed, totally disabled, a prisoner of war or missing are covered separately.
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Disclaimer
VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.