Bill Text: NY A04509 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Includes active duty military and certain veterans going to college under the new GI bill in the definition of resident as it relates to community colleges and state-aided four-year colleges.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-04 - referred to higher education [A04509 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A04509-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4509

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 4, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JENSEN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Higher Education

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education law, in relation to including certain
          veterans in the definition of resident  as  it  relates  to  community
          colleges and state-aided four-year colleges

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 6301  of  the  education  law,  as
     2  amended  by  chapter  327  of the laws of 2002, the opening paragraph as
     3  amended by chapter 669 of the laws  of  2022,  is  amended  to  read  as
     4  follows:
     5    5.  "Resident."  A person who has resided in the state for a period of
     6  at least one year and in the county,  city,  town,  intermediate  school
     7  district,  school  district or community college region, as the case may
     8  be, for a period of at least six months, both immediately preceding  the
     9  date  of  such  person's registration in a community college or, for the
    10  purposes of section sixty-three hundred five of this  article,  [his  or
    11  her] such person's application for a certificate of residence; provided,
    12  however,  that this term shall include any student who is not a resident
    13  of New York state, other than  a  non-immigrant  noncitizen  within  the
    14  meaning  of  paragraph (15) of subsection (a) of section 1101 of title 8
    15  of the United States Code, if such student:
    16    (i) attended an approved New York high school for two or  more  years,
    17  graduated  from an approved New York high school and applied for attend-
    18  ance at an institution or educational unit of the state university with-
    19  in five years of receiving a New York state high school diploma; or
    20    (ii) attended an approved New York state program  for  general  equiv-
    21  alency  diploma exam preparation, received a general equivalency diploma
    22  issued within New York state and applied for attendance at  an  institu-
    23  tion  or  educational  unit of the state university within five years of
    24  receiving a general equivalency diploma issued within New York state; or

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04639-01-5
        A. 4509                             2

     1    (iii) was enrolled in an institution or educational unit of the  state
     2  university  in the fall semester or quarter of the two thousand one--two
     3  thousand two academic year and was authorized  by  such  institution  or
     4  educational  unit  to  pay  tuition  at  the  rate or charge imposed for
     5  students who are residents of the state.
     6    Provided,  further,  that  a student without lawful immigration status
     7  shall also be required to file an affidavit  with  such  institution  or
     8  educational  unit  stating  that the student has filed an application to
     9  legalize [his or her] their immigration status, or  will  file  such  an
    10  application as soon as [he or she is] they are eligible to do so.
    11    Provided,  further,  that  any  person who is serving or has served in
    12  active duty of the United States military, including the  United  States
    13  navy,  marines,  army  or  air  force,  during a war in which the United
    14  States engaged and who has been released from such service by any  means
    15  other  than by dishonorable discharge, or who has been furloughed to the
    16  reserve and who is attending any community college or state-aided  four-
    17  year college under the federal post-9/11 veterans educational assistance
    18  act  of 2008, public law 110-252, supplemental appropriations act, 2008,
    19  shall be considered a resident for the purposes of this article.
    20    In the event that a person qualified as above for state residence, but
    21  has been a resident of two or more counties in the state during the  six
    22  months  immediately  preceding [his] their application for a certificate
    23  of residence pursuant to section sixty-three hundred five of this [chap-
    24  ter] article, the charges to the counties of residence  shall  be  allo-
    25  cated  among  the several counties proportional to the number of months,
    26  or major fraction thereof, of residence in each county.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.