A Guide to Gaining In-State Residency Status
Written by Lowell Fleming, Kristina Lee   

This article is ideal for students who need a step-by-step example to how to gain in-state residency status within their public college. 
 
We will use attaining a California Residency as an example.

If you are a U.S. citizen, you can gain California resident status to be eligible for in-state tuition to save you a great deal of money. For students at UC Berkeley in the 2010-2011 academic year, this equates to saving $22,879 per year!
 
So why don’t Private Universities have Out-of-State fees?
Public universities are funded partially through student fees, and partially through state taxes. Thus, as a resident in California, you pay taxes that fund the school you may one day attend. Students who are not residents of that state do not pay those taxes, and thus do not help to fund the university. To compensate for this, the schools charge an out-of-state registration fee, equalizing as best they can the contribution of each student. Private universities are privately funded, and thus do not get state help. 
 
To help you out on your money-saving adventure, should you decide to go the public university route, here’s a general guide to help you out along the way. It is by no means an exact formula, but you can find official residency guidelines on your University’s website, often under the Office of the Registrar’s page on Legal Residence Information. We’ll use UC Berkeley as an example to demonstrate. 
 
Residency at UC Berkeley is evaluated by the Residence Affairs division of the Office of the Registrar. 
 
Note: You must establish your continuous presence in California more than one year preceding the residence determination date for the applicable semester, so act fast, as soon as you arrive in California! 

Step 0: Eligibility
There are two cases where you do not have to attempt to change your resident status:
  • You are already a California resident: When you declared your intent to attend the University of California, you were asked to submit an initial Statement of Legal Residence (SLR). If you grew up in California, you may have claimed in-state resident status in that form. If your claim was accepted, you are already a resident. You can double-check your initial status on the Personal Profile page of your university’s Web site or database, at UC Berkeley this is known as Bear Facts.
     
  • You are an international student: Students who are not U.S. citizens are ineligible for California residency and will be charged out-of-state tuition rates until they pass their Qualifying exam. In this case, departmental support is usually available to provide the tuition difference for international students through fellowships and other funding resources. If you are an incoming international student, talk to a residency advisor about tax forms and other funding-related issues.
Step 1: Initial Measures
Residence Affairs insists that you demonstrate intent to make California your permanent home at least one calendar year prior to the beginning of the academic term for which you are attempting residency. So, you should certain measures more than one year before the start of your second-year academic term. The residence determination date is usually between August 20 and August 31 for the fall term, and in early January for the spring term. It is best to take the measures below as soon as you arrive:
  • Designate California as your address on all records
  • Obtain a California driver’s license or state ID card
  • Register your car in California
  • Close out-of-state bank accounts
  • Open bank accounts in California
  • Register to vote in California (you can do this at the same time you get your driver’s license)
Tip: If you get your License/ID before the one-year deadline, it will double as evidence of your timely arrival. Otherwise, you should keep a travel record of your entry into the state. It is useful to save receipts of purchases made in California throughout your first year, so you can show your continual presence in the state if requested. Residence Affairs may also demand proof that you actually voted in California. Therefore, keep your ballot stub when you vote in November.

Step 2: Taxes
When you file your tax returns in April, you must classify yourself as a California resident for all income earned in California. If you did not earn any income outside of California during the year of your arrival, you can file a California Resident Income Tax Return (form 540/540A). If you did earn out-of-state income before you arrived, you can file a California Nonresident or Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return (form 540NR). On this form, your stated arrival date in California must precede the required date set by Residence Affairs (see Step 1 of this page). You must also file tax returns for those states where you earned other income. Finally, you should use your California address on your federal income tax return.
 
Information about filing California state taxes is available on the Franchise Tax Board webpage.
 
Step 3: Summer Employment and Financial Support for Graduate Students
If you know your GSI or GSR positions for your first-year summer and second-year fall before you petition for residency, this information will help you on two fronts. First, Residence Affairs will demand evidence that you are staying in California during the summer of your first year. Although they instruct you to spend as little time out of the state as possible throughout the year, they are mostly concerned with your summer whereabouts (still, it is a good idea to keep records of all travel outside California during your first year). Once you determine your summer funding, Residence Affairs can provide a signed letter that declares your summer employment in California. Knowledge of your second-year fall employment is related to Residence Affairs’ financial independence requirement. One way to satisfy this requirement is to provide evidence of a 50 percent or greater GSI or GSR position for the term in which you expect to gain resident status. Another way to satisfy the financial independence requirement by providing copies of your parents’ income tax returns, on which you are not claimed as a dependent. Check the Legal Residence Information webpage for other exceptional cases that satisfy the financial independence requirement.
 
Step 4: Submitting Your Residence Classification Petition
During the summer before your residency status is evaluated (the summer after your first year), you must submit an online Residence Classification Petition via Bear Facts and deliver supporting documents to the Office of the Registrar. Refer to this supporting document checklist to ensure that you include all necessary documents in the correct format. Petitions can be submitted as early as May 1, and no later than the deadline in late August. In May you should receive an e-mail that contains instructions and the appropriate deadline.
 
Petitions are evaluated on a first-come, first-serve basis, so if you submit yours early in the summer, it is possible that you will be granted resident status before the fall term even begins.

Step 5: Evaluation
The evaluation process to determine your residency status will happen one of two ways:
  1. Approved: You will receive an e-mail notifying you that your status has been determined and will be posted on Bear Facts within a few days. After a few days, check your Personal Profile on Bear Facts to see your new status.
     
  2. Declined: Residence Affairs will notify you that your petition has been rejected, or that they need more information from you. In this case you must submit additional documents clarifying why you deserve resident status. Reasons for an initial rejection and methods of resolutions vary widely from person to person. However, almost all students have attained resident status after submitting additional information.
Step 6: The End
Once you have attained resident status, you do not need to re-apply. You are set for the remainder of your undergraduate or graduate career at Berkeley. Remember executing the preceding steps in the proper order will save you at least $15K a year, you’ve got nothing to lose but a couple of hours. Any economist will tell you that a cost-benefit analysis would conclude it’s well worth your time even if you think your chances are slim. And, should you succeed, CONGRATULATIONS!
 
*Tuition does not technically exist, but it is used in lieu of, an sometimes interchangeably with Registration Fees. As The University of California is a “Publicly Funded” University it is illegal to charge tuition.

 

 

    

Last Updated on Thursday, 19 August 2010 03:11