Claiming CA Residency

[wei ming]

Hello,

I am applying to UCSD/SDSU's Clinical Neuropsychology program for fall 2016 and also UC Berkeley's PhD program. I know both these apps will ask me about claiming CA residency. I went to school in New York City and have been living/working here for two years since. I plan to move home to CA in December 2015 and by then CA will be my "permanent residence." Based on the CSU website, "at least one full year prior to the residence determination date for the term in which enrollment is contemplated, has been both physically present in the state and also has timely evidence of the intent to remain in California indefinitely, may establish residence in California for tuition purposes," so essentially I would have to lie and say I moved back in September 2015. Does anyone have any experience with this? Will the university ask for documentation to prove that I moved back to CA? Does this even matter for doctoral programs when all my fees/tuition should be covered?

[svent]

No, it shouldn't make a difference for funded Ph.D. (or at least not from your perspective). That said, California makes it very tough on people to get in-state tuition. I think you need to spend a year working while not being a full-time student to establish residency.

[fuzzylogician]

My US citizen friends who went to California schools were expected to establish residency in CA after the first year of their program, and there were clear instructions on what they had to do to make it happen (see e.g. here: http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Residency/establish.html). It didn't matter for decisions before that time, including for admissions. I would recommend following the instructions your school provides and not lying. 

[TakeruK]

When I applied to the UC schools, they were not really concerned about CA residency prior to applying---after all, why limit themselves to just California residents when the best American students will likely be from all over the country? Since an out-of-state student will just cost more for the first year, the question they were concerned with was whether or not you would be able to establish California residency by the start of your 2nd year at the UC school (so if you are starting fall 2016, then what matters is that you are able to claim CA residency by Aug/Sept 2017).

[fencergirl]

The application for UCSC did ask me questions about California residency. I am from California but have spent the past 2 years in Japan so I don't qualify for the physical presence either. But they did ask if I have a valid California license (I do), where I have voter registration (CA), and some other questions. There were also some exceptions listed to the physical presence test and one of them was if you had attended at least 3 years of high school in CA, which I had. So I'm not sure if I'll be considered a CA resident or not, but just wanted to let you know there may be other ways to prove your CA residency.

[TakeruK]

Indeed, I think the application will want to know if you can have CA residency right away, or if you will have it starting year 2. They need to know this. What I meant was that I don't think having CA residency in year 1 is going to make a difference in terms of admissions chances. I don't think an out-of-state student is going to be disadvantaged in the same way as an international student at the UC schools. The extra tuition cost that the department has to cover for just one year is small compared to the overall cost of the student during length of degree.