AACC this semester began requiring students to reveal during registration where they will be physically located while taking courses.
The U.S. Department of Education instructed AACC’s Federal Compliance Office to record the location for all students.
“We award federal financial aid to our students who qualify and if we fail to be compliant with federal regulations, they can withdraw our authority to award that,” John Grabowski, the dean of enrollment services, said.
Anne Arundel County residents who reveal that they will be taking online classes in a location outside of the county will still pay in-county tuition, Grabowski said.
“If you’re still a resident of Anne Arundel County it doesn’t impact your residency or your tuition rate,” Grabowski said.
When a student registers for classes, a message appears in the upper right-hand corner of the screen asking for the state where the student will be located.
Alyssa May, a second-year hospitality and tourism student who takes classes online while living in Florida, said the new requirement did not make registration challenging.
“It was super easy,” May said. “It just asked me to fill in my location … It only took a second.”
Matilda Marinello, a first-year undecided student, said she “wasn’t aware that we could take classes in different locations. … So that’s good.”