Thousands of students who have attended Nevada's public colleges at any time since 1995 will receive refunds because they should have been charged cheaper tuition as state residents.

The Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada voted unanimously on Friday to give refunds to an estimated 5,700 students who paid the higher out-of-state tuition. The refunds could total more than $4.6-million, according to documents from the board.

In December a student told a member of the board that she believed the Nevada institutions were violating state law, which says a student must live in the state for only six months before qualifying for the in-state rate.

The board's policy since 1995 had been to require a 12-month residency to qualify for in-state tuition. The charge for a community-college student from Nevada would be $4,600 a year less than for an out-of-state student. At the university level, the difference would be $8,600.

"It's going to cost a lot of money, and that's going to hurt the university system," Thalia M. Dondero, a regent, said in an interview on Sunday. She noted that the Nevada system had grown tremendously in recent years and that the states closest to Nevada all have one-year residency requirements. "But you can't break the law," she said.

The money for the refunds is likely to come from the system's general fund, which has a surplus of about $6.5-million, according to board documents.