S536 - Students Know Before You Go and Central Residency. (SL 2016-57)

Overview: S.L. 2016-57 directs the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) to provide on a Web site, under a section entitled "Know Before You Go," information to assist students and parents in selecting major and career opportunities. This information must include, as data is available, projected employment needs in the labor economy and the salary ranges for those areas of employment, college majors which may fulfill those employment needs, and institutions of higher education that may provide those majors. This section becomes effective April 1, 2017.

The act also authorizes the NCSEAA to administer a coordinated and centralized process for determining residency for tuition and State-funded financial aid purposes that is jointly developed and implemented by The University of North Carolina (UNC), the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), and the NCSEAA, in consultation with the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU). The NCSEAA must establish a council with representatives from UNC, NCCCS, and the NCICU to guide and assist the NCSEAA in developing and implementing any policies needed to administer the coordinated and centralized process for determining residency for tuition and State-funded financial aid purposes. This section became effective September 1, 2016, and the centralized process for residency determination applies to all undergraduate enrollments for academic quarters, terms, or semesters that begin on or after January 1, 2017, and to all graduate enrollments for academic quarters, terms, or semesters, that begin on or after January 1, 2018.