Unless provided otherwise by law, the Board of Governors shall fix the tuition and required fees charged nonresidents of North Carolina who attend the institutions enumerated in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 116-4 at rates higher than the rates charged residents of North Carolina and comparable to the rates charged nonresident students by comparable public institutions nationwide, except that a person who serves as a graduate teaching assistant or graduate research assistant or in a similar instructional or research assignment and is at the same time enrolled as a graduate student in the same institution may, in the discretion of the Board of Governors, be charged a lower rate fixed by the Board, provided the rate is not lower than the North Carolina resident rate. (1933, c. 320, s. 3; 1983, c. 761, s. 112; 2016-94, s. 11.4(c2).)