<p>I am hoping that I get into Berkeley (fingers crossed). With the presumption that I do get in (yay), is it possible to pay gain California residency the 2nd year at college? My brother lives in California and I would be willing to get a license, get bank account, live for a year, etc. in California. How would I do this (i.e. the California residency) in order to get a much lower tuition rate? What would I have to do?</p>
<p>In short it’s extremely complicated if not impossible. I too am out of state. Take a look at this site: [Residency</a> for Tuition Purposes - Office Of The Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.berkeley.edu/staff_resources/residency.html]Residency”>http://registrar.berkeley.edu/staff_resources/residency.html)</p>
<p>In order to be classified as a resident for tuition purposes, you must fulfill ALL 3 requirements listed below:</p>
<p>Physical Presence: You must be physically present in California for more than one year (366 days) immediately prior to the residence determination date of the term for which classification as a resident is requested.</p>
<p>Intent: You must establish your intent to make California your home one year prior to the residence determination date of the term for which classification as a resident is requested.</p>
<p>If you are physically present in California solely for educational purposes, you will not be eligible for resident classification regardless of the length of your stay in California. The physical presence requirement (above) will be extended until you can demonstrate a concurrence of both physical presence and intent for one full year.</p>
<p>Financial Independence: If you will not reach age 24 by December 31 of the year in which classification as a resident is requested, and are not dependent upon a California resident parent (biological or legally adoptive only) for tuition purposes, you will be required to satisfy the University’s self-sufficiency requirement.</p>
<p>It should be noted that this requirement makes it extremely difficult for most undergraduates who do not have a parent domiciled in California to qualify for classification as a resident at a University of California campus.
If I am an out-of-state/nonresident student, what should I do once I arrive in California?
Bear in mind that even though you will probably not submit a petition to change your residency status until the end of your first academic year at Berkeley, you must start the residency process as soon as you arrive. The following are guidelines as to what you must do in order to establish California residency for tuition purposes.</p>
<p>Document your presence in the state as soon as you arrive. Save your airline ticket or bank/credit card statements showing that you were physically present in California one year prior to the beginning of the term for which you are seeking resident classification.
Obtain a California Driver’s License within 10 days of arriving in California. If you have never had a driver’s license in any state, then you must obtain a California Identification Card.
Surrender all out-of-state driver’s license and identification cards.
Register your vehicle(s) in California within 20 days of arriving in the state.
Register to vote in California, and vote in California elections.
Pay California income taxes as a resident on all taxable income earned after your arrival in California and file California resident or part-year resident tax returns.
File nonresident or part-year resident out-of-state tax returns if you have out-of-state taxable income prior to arriving in California.
Designate and use a California address as your permanent address on all records (e.g., school, employment, tax forms, military, etc.).
Open a California bank account and close out-of-state accounts. If your financial account is with an interstate or internet bank, change your permanent address to California.
Establish a California residence in which you keep your permanent belongings.
Obtain a professional license to practice in California, if applicable.
Note: The student is cautioned that this summation is not a complete explanation of the laws regarding residence. Please note that changes may be made in the residence requirements between the publication date of this statement and the relevant determination date. Non-citizen students should consult the Residence Affairs Officer for information regarding special criteria in determining residency eligibility. If you have questions, call (510) 642-5990. At the campus level, the Residence Affairs Officer is the only person qualified to answer residence questions or to make a residence determination. No other University personnel is authorized to supply information relative to residence requirements for tuition purposes.</p>
<p>Wow thanks, this is really detailed. Where did you get this mostlt from? I am actually gonna visit my brother this summer a week before berkeley starts school. I think that I can fulfill all those requirements actually. Hopefully (big hopeful) that everything turns out well for me. Thanks again, you have been a GREAT help :)</p>
<p>Not a problem. It’s on one of the pages linked to the link I provided. Best of luck!</p>
<p>You cannot fulfill all those requirements unless you become fully self-supporting - that is, paying your own school and living costs and not claimed as a dependent by your parents on their taxes. You also have to show some reason that you’re in California besides going to school. If you move there immediately before classes start and leave every summer, rebutting that presumption is very, very unlikely.</p>
<p>Effectively, what you want to do is impossible.</p>
<p>How about if I state my dependency on my brother? And that my brother (a California resident) can support me, as obviously I can’t be totally financially independent. I can also get a job and claim that the reason for stay in California is for that job, would that work? Also, I do not need a car, do I still need to “Register your vehicle(s) in California within 20 days of arriving in the state”? Sorry for all the questions, but I’m thankful for all the help!</p>
<p>Your brother is not your parent, therefore no.</p>
<p>What you’re talking about doing is, to put it bluntly, fraud. The reason for in-state vs. out-of-state tuition is that California residents pay to support the UC system through their state taxes. If you’re not a California resident, your family hasn’t been “paying into the system” and therefore, you’re not entitled to the benefit of reduced tuition.</p>
<p>Many years ago, when I first arrived to the golden state, I looked into this. It may have changed. But in all likelihood it is stricter now.
If you want your status changed from non-resident to resident, you must apply to a California state school twelve months AFTER establishing residency, or be over 24 and emancipated. This means that your parents did not claim you as a dependent for at least twelve months BEFORE YOU APPLIED.</p>
<p>As you might imagine, many have tried, and almost no one succeeds. I’ve lived in California for ions now, and I’ve seen this attempted.</p>
<p>Do you really want to be a California resident, or do you just want to mess with the system and pay in state tuition prices?</p>
<p>^There’s always marriage fraud (Marry a Californian, gain residency, and then divorce him/her) [this is a joke, please don’t attempt]</p>
<p>On a more serious note my RA when I was a freshman was from Seattle and she gained instate tuition even though both her parents are in Seattle. They put all her college money under her name two years before she applied to college or something like that, so it was like she was using her own money to support herself.</p>
<p>So I guess it’s not impossible.</p>
<p>Well, i truly want to live in california. I will probably stay in california even after college and graduate school (also hopefully in california). Although it sounds like I just want to be called a california resident just for tuition, I would definitely like to stay and live in California for many years. (maybe its just my reaction to living on the east coast all my life, but california sounds really nice almost everywhere)</p>
<p>That’s cool, but you still won’t be able to claim California residency for tuition purposes. That ship has sailed.</p>
<p>The only way you can be a California resident for tuition purposes is for your whole family to pick up and move to California now, rescind your college applications, wait one year and reapply.</p>
<p>Haha, thanks anyways. I’ll still see what I can do.</p>
<p>Do you think if I ask the Berkeley advisers about gaining California residency (and hence in-state tuition)? I feel if I ask, they’ll be suspicious and the conversation will not go well.</p>
<p>If I do have any questions about gaining California residency, who should I call? Financial Aid Office perhaps?</p>
<p>^No, they are tired of receiving questions over the phone. They try to hold you up by making you wait through a 5 min recorded message. That’s why the website i provided is so detailed and thorough.</p>
<p>DubbleBubble, your optimism is really admirable, but also really misplaced here. See also this FAQ for undergraduates: <a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/ogc/documents/ten-things.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/ogc/documents/ten-things.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>As 205mom said, it was once much easier to “become” a Californian, but things have changed. If you are under age 24, and you have never married, served in the armed forces or been legally emancipated by a court, it will be virtually impossible for you to establish residency for tuition purposes in a state where your parents do not reside.</p>
<p>And keep this in mind: of all the 50 states, California is perhaps in the worst shape of all to be granting discounted tuition to out-of-state students. California is dead, flat broke.</p>
<p>Also, I second mkapur’s advice that you not call anybody at the University of California until you have pored over every word (and there are pages and pages of them) about residency on Cal’s web site. Every answer you seek is there. I am afraid you won’t like them, but they’re there.</p>
<p>ya, I still have a question not answered about california residency even though I read through the page and all the other pages. They seemed really ****ed off, they probably have a lot of calls whining about financial aid (including me :P), especially from OOS students >.<</p>
<p>What if my mom finds a job in California? My parents are both looking for jobs there, but most likely only my mom can find one in the near future. Would it be possible to become a resident by my second year?</p>
<p>if your parents are dividing homes in California and another state, they will demand quite a bit of additional proof - no drivers licenses from other states, credit cards and tax returns listing California not some other state, and that she is not just visiting from time to time. Even in the best case, you are talking a few years before you might get residency rates. They have set up the rules to make it almost impossible for a student to get in-state rates if they were not a resident for two years before admission. </p>
<p>Really unlikely to happen.</p>
<p>The requirement that will actually prevent you from doing this is that you pay for your own tuition. This can be done, but you’re going to need over $50,000 in an account in your name for this to happen. If your parents “saved for college” by putting money into such an account, this is a possibility. Remember that you need to cover not just the first year of out-of-state tuition and expenses, but also the following years of lower tuition. Remember that being a resident for tuition and being independent for financial aid are not the same thing, so don’t just assume that everything will be free after a year. You would probably want to take out the maximum federal loan every semester and get a job from the start, because you really can’t let that money run out.</p>
<p>This isn’t fraud, if you fulfill all of the requirements. Morally, I think you should determine if you are “someone from x who will be staying in California for school for four years” or “someone who used to be from x and is a Californian from now on”. </p>
<p>A less expensive and risky approach would be to move out to CA with your brother as soon as you graduate, go to a CC, and apply later as a transfer student. For all of the protests, young adults who are both low income and very smart have it good in CA, whether they end up a Berkeley, UCLA, or somewhere else.</p>