California Residency Eligibility

Generally, to be eligible for resident classification, a person must be able to establish the following one year prior to the residence determination date:

1. They have the legal right to establish California residency.
2. They have initiated the legal intent to establish California residency.
3. They have established and maintained a physical presence and permanent residence in California.

Frequently Asked Questions About Residency

Sacramento State Residency Review Process

If you have been classified as a non-resident and would like to have your status reviewed by Sacramento State, submit a Residency Questionnaire along with supporting documentation via the fillable form below. All required documentation should be attached when you submit the questionnaire.

Please submit your documents using only one of the following formats.

Residency Questionnaire (Adobe Fill & Sign)

You can also submit the questionnaire and required documents to caresidency@csus.edu. All documents must be in Portable Document Format (PDF), or JPEG format.

Residency Questionnaire Instructions

Residency Questionnaire

WE ARE ONLY ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS VIA THESE PLATFORMS AT THIS TIME. We do not accept faxed documents or pictures of documents. Documents submitted either in person or via mail will have a longer processing time.

Residency Appeal

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT APPEALS TO THE CSU CHANCELLORS OFFICE: Appeals to the CSU Chancellors Office can only be completed AFTER STUDENTS FIRST SUBMIT DOCUMENTS TO SACRAMENTO STATE FOR REVIEW. Sacramento State MUST DETERMINE A Non Resident Status prior to reaching out to the CSU Chancellors Office. Appeals WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED by the CSU Chancellors Office unless the Sacramento State initial review is COMPLETED FIRST, as stated above.

A student, following a final Sac State campus decision concerning the student's residence classification or reclassification, may submit an appeal to the Chancellor's Office within 30 calendar days of the issuance of the notification of the final campus decision. The student must have the Sacramento State campus final residency decision before submitting an appeal to the Chancellor’s Office. The campus decision may be appealed only if at least one of the following applies:

1. The decision was based on:
   • a significant error of fact;
   • a significant procedural error; or
   • an incorrect application of law which, if corrected, would require that the student be reclassified as a resident; and/or,
2. Significant new information, not previously known or available to the student, became available after the date of the campus decision classifying the student as a nonresident and based on the new information, the classification as a nonresident is incorrect.

• About residency
• How to file an appeal in regards to your residency

AB540

Students who meet specific requirements under AB540 are exempt from paying non-resident tuition at public California colleges and universities.

Qualified AB540 students should submit the California Non-Resident Tuition Exemption Request.

In order to qualify a student must:

1. Have attended a high school in California for 3 years or more.
2. Have graduated from a California high school or received the equivalent of (GED).
3. File an affidavit with the public state college or university stating that he or she will file an application to obtain legal permanent residency as soon as he or she is eligible.

Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE)

The WUE program allows admitted non-resident students to pay tuition fees which are 150% of the regular California resident rate.

All admitted non-residents from any of the participating states and U.S. territories will receive an offer to participate in either March (for Fall admission) or October (for Spring admission).

No separate request or application is required. Those eligible will receive an email with additional information and the WUE contract from the Program Coordinator.

See the Most Recent Tuition Fees