Idaho Residency FAQs

If you are offered and accept the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) scholarship, you cannot count the time you receive the WUE toward establishing residency. The WUE is a program for inter-state tuition exchange among the western states. It requires you to maintain residency in your home state while receiving assistance. You must be domiciled in Idaho for 12 consecutive months prior to the opening day of the semester while not receiving the WUE to be eligible to gain residency status for fee paying purposes.

A student who is enrolled for more than eight (8) hours in any semester or quarter during a twelve (12) month period shall be presumed to be in Idaho for primarily educational purposes. Such period of enrollment shall not be counted toward the establishment of a bona fide domicile in this state unless the student proves, in fact, establishment of a bona fide domicile in this state primarily for purposes other than educational.

The GEM scholarship does not affect your ability to establish Idaho residency for fee paying purposes. However, you will want to check with our Financial Aid office about how actively establishing residency in Idaho might affect your scholarship.

“Support” means financial support given to the student during the twelve (12) months preceding the opening date of the term for which resident status is requested, but shall not include educational scholarships or grants provided to the student to attend a post-secondary educational institution. Any student who receives less than fifty percent (50%) support may demonstrate this by showing that he is not claimed as a dependent by a parent or guardian for income tax purposes or that a parent or guardian provides less than fifty percent (50%) of the cost of attending an institution according to the financial aid office of that institution or that other similar evidence exists of parental support such as dental bills, medical bills, etc.

Domicile refers to an individual’s permanent home where personal household belongings are located. It is the place where the individual intends to remain and expects to return to when leaving without establishing a new home elsewhere.