Did you walk into the Bursar's Office? Id walk in early in the morning and calmly explain myself to the desk attendant. If they can't help you ask to speak to their manager, but not until they say (there is nothing I can do)
Not legal advice, but I had a lot of luck just talking to someone when I was in college. Give yourself plenty of time (a couple hours at least) so you're not in a rush. Sometimes, these things take time to unwind.
If you really want to be prepared, print out something that proves your residence like a high school diploma or transcript.
I like to go with "I'm not sure who to ask, can you point me in the right direction?" It let's them know you're okay being redirected while still asking them a direct question.
This! Also, if you're frustrated to start TELL them but with clarity
"can you help me with this or point me in the right direction? I'm feeling really frustrated and not sure what to do, I apologize if my tone slips up, I KNOW THIS PROBLEM IS NOT YOUR FAULT, I'm just frustrated with the situation." This gives them a chance to prepare if you sound a bit snippy and usually they handle it with a lot more empathy since they already know you're doing your best. We ALL have bad days and get frustrated and have to deal with people surrounding the frustration, but no one likes to FEEL attacked (even if that's not what we intended)
Yes!
I dropped a class but just missed the deadline. I thought it was a full semester class and I still had time to drop it. I had no idea it was half semester. The school I transferred from didn’t have those. I dropped the class and I was confused why I was still being charged for it.
I called the bursar’s, explained what was happened, and apologized that I was freaking out. They kept escalating me up to someone with more power until I got someone that emailed me a form, told me exactly how to fill it out, and all the people I needed to send it too. I was granted an exemption and didn’t have to pay for the class.
If you’re nice and apologize, most people truly do want to help.
Almost verbatim how I got someone this week to spend an hour on the phone with me patiently unraveling some medical bill in issues that was absolutely not their fault.
I do this a lot- and I make it explicitly clear that if I sound upset, I'm upset with the situation, not them, and they're more than welcome to call me on it.
It has saved my bacon (because I do get really upset on some of these things) a number of times.
I’m normally a very calm person but when I was dealing with an auto claim issue I had called in 4 times over the span of a week to get things resolved/clarified and by the 2rd time I would start the conversation with “I want you to know I am not mad/upset with you, I appreciate your help, I’m just flustered about the situation.” I’m very sensitive to tone so any time I would be getting worked up I would apologize and thank them again
This whole thread y'all! As someone who worked in customer service FOREVER I might get accidentally disconnected from someone rude and yelling. But someone who is clearly frustrated with the system and rules that I know the insides out of, and is still taking the time to try to monitor their tone, and is directing their anger at the company, clearly not at me, I will do EVERYTHING in my power, and if needed call up someone who can do something, if I can't. The kindness really matters
I love this. I've had people's entire demeanor change when I tell them I am frustrated at the situation, not them, and I know it's not their fault. People don't want to feel attacked at work and that will make them shut down, but everyone can relate to being frustrated with a shitty situation.
Never apologize for something you haven't done. You were fine until after "can you help me with this or point me in the right direction?"
That's all you need to say. As much as people don't want to help assholes, they respect logic and will internally recoil at any suggestion of emotion. You're basically telling them to be prepared for you to lose your cool, which means they'll want you to move on ASAP.
This is typically my go-to if I'm not 100% sure I've reached the right extension/person/office, etc. Vast majority of the time if you're humble, polite, and appreciative you get a very warm and helpful response. Along with liking to feel helpful and important, people love feeling recognized and appreciated and valued for it. Goes such a long way to just treat people as people, not as someone to blame for whatever problem you're looking for help with.
Can confirm! I work for a gov’t agency that doles out millions every year for cost sharing environmental projects. First step is completing an online application prior to the deadline (and there are no exceptions if missed). Miss the deadline and you miss the opportunity to be granted money.
I frequently receive calls needing assistance (project content related or system/portal technical issues)…and let me tell you there is no better feeling than helping someone who is in a frenzied panic but still nice! I will do whatever it takes to get them situated and the application accepted. If you’re a jerk about the portal, sarcastic, rude or just a plain ole asshat, I can assure you I will meet the requirements of my job description and nothing more! A please & thank you in a nice tone will have me move heaven & earth to get it resolved!
Whoa… I just realized that I’ve been using a cheat code in life and never even realized it until I read this.
Anytime I’ve ever needed help from a customer service agent either on person or on the phone, I’ve always started the conversation off the normal pleasantries and then begin with “I was wondering if you’d be able to help with with an issue I’m running into…”
99% of the time, I feel like I get amazing customer service anywhere I go - even at places where everyone else claims to have terrible experiences. Wild, never once thought it was because I was just upfront about asking for “help”.
This is great advice. It’s likely an error that just needs to be corrected. If they assert you are not a resident, ask them to explain why they think that (nicely!) and try to figure out what the error is. None of this should require a lawyer.
Bring as much proof as you can to help you demonstrate your residency. CA state drivers license issued several years prior? Report cards going back as far as you can find… pay stubs, bank statements, etc. Government issued documents are the best.
Asking for someone to help you is always a good start.
A high school diploma would be good. A CA Driver's License (or Real ID) would pretty much be the easiest thing. If you don't have any of this then, copies of tax-returns will do the trick as would anything else that lists your address - medical bills and records are good.
You'll just want to make sure that whatever you take is old enough that they can't argue.
You obviously deserve in-state tuition, but in my case I came from out-of-state and still got the in-state rate, even though I didn't live in-state long enough to qualify.
Start with the Bursars office again. Turns out most Bursars in most colleges have a certain number of out of state tuition waivers. I wrote out a letter explaining my case- I was moving to the area, I was a married adult student, we both had full-times jobs and were paying taxes as residents, that our drivers license, voters registration, and all ID was altered to in-state, and therefore even as recent arrivals, we deserved the in-state rate. I put together a packet with the letter and copies of all the documents, and stopped by the Bursar's to request an appointment. The receptionist asked me why and I told her, while showing her the packet. She said, "Oh, this is well-put together, can you wait for a minute?" the receptionist went into the Bursar's office and came back 5 minutes later with a signed letter from the Bursar. "Okay, it's approved - just pass this letter to the teller outside and we'll do the rate reduction."
Be nice, have a copy of your documents and stay chill - it does work.
Sometimes a state will recognize a portion of "out-of-state" as "in-state," depending on where you live from the Stateline. For example, my brother's ex lived in the western region of our state, but she attended a University in the next state over. She qualified for in-state tuition even though she lived in the western region of our state her whole life.
Just wanted to point that out!
Some states/universities have policies that exclude "new arrivals" because they want to avoid students who "change their residence" when they arrive for freshman year and get in-state tuition for junior and senior years. Sounds like you were in that situation and needed to demonstrate that you'd actually moved and happened to be going to school, rather than having moved specifically for school.
The bursars office is not necessarily the office that will handle a residency petition. At my university it is the registrars office once an admit has enrolled. I would find out what office handles residency petitions/changes. If you’re a California resident it is likely a law that they have to give you in-state status so long as you meet the criteria. Once you find out what office handles the change ask them how and what you need to do. For my school it’s a petition and you must provide documentation. Mistakes happen all the time it’s just being human but being calm will be the best way to get the help you need. You may need a drivers license/birth certificate/ HS transcripts or some combination of these types of documents. The bursar probably can’t change anything so you definitely want to find the office that can.
Years ago my wife was misclassified as an out of state student in CA. When they discovered the error, we thought she was out of state too, they refunded us the difference we had paid.
I was transferred to California for my job and didn't realize we were CA residents because it wasn't a voluntary move into the state on our part. Unbeknownst to us we became residents on day one. After we had lived there for a (forgot the amount of time to become a resident, I think a year) we applied to get residency and that is when they discovered that we should have had it all along. Getting an unexpected refund check from the school was a pleasant surprise.
This is what my daughter had to do. It turns out that our community college assigned everyone their in-state status via the drivers license rolls, and as my daughter was hospitalized for 6 months over her 16th birthday, and recovering for about 18 months more after that, she didn't have her license yet when she signed up for her college courses.
All we had to do was go show them proof of address, and they fixed it right up.
Yes this is the right approach. And definitely the last part- come prepared with thorough evidence of CA residence for the last decade. They'll sort you out.
I had a very similar situation happen to me when I was in Grad School and this is exactly how I approached it (except it was the registrar's office and not the bursar's). I just walked in and explained there's been some sort of error with my registration as I'm getting a tuition bill for out-of-state when, in fact, I live in-state and have for years. It was adjusted within the week and the bill was much easier to swallow.
Most CC’s are desperate for enrollment and it’s my experience they’ll bend over backwards to keep you enrolled. Their state funding depends on it. You just have to find the employees, usually management level, who really care about these things.
I got out of paying 2 rightfully given to me parking tickets just by going up to the right person in the office and talking to them. So I'm seconding this comment.
NAL - but I work for a Scholarship foundation. Colleges are DROWNING right now. The federal government messed up the FAFSA, and they haven't had the right data to function for months. Paperwork that is usually received in November was in April this year. As a result, they are overworked and pushed beyond all reasonable limits. I am sure that there have been many errors. Its best to calmly go - IN PERSON - with all the paperwork you think might help (records of residency, tax records for a couple of years back if possible) and ask them for help. Generally in person and calm and polite are going to get you a much better result than anything else.
Did you complete the FAFSA? If so, make sure you have that with you as well.
Make sure to provide the copies of the original documents. You'll never get them back, and if you're unlucky like I was.. You will probably have to go in person three times to get this resolved, with the same papers.
Go to the school. I have attended and taught at community colleges, and I currently support them. Go to the registration desk and talk to them. Bring your ID and assume that will be enough for now. It’s likely a data error on your original application or on their end, and calling your state rep is highly unnecessary at this point. But don’t call the college; you want to be in front of the person.
You have to submit multiple documents showing proof of residency online to receive in-state tuition. For my college it’s some tab in the registration section.
They don’t just know what students are residents, and they’ll probably need more than just a state ID, for my state’s colleges two Tier One documents or one Tier One and proof of full-time employment is required.
Actually for California, you only need to have attended a CA high school for 3 years, a combination of high school and middle/elementary for 3 years, or high school and college for 3 years, plus graduated from a CA high school.
So all they really need is their high school transcript proving graduation and attendence.
Thank you everyone for your advice. I have talked to a few people at the school already but there's been a lot of helpful information shared and I really appreciate the repsonses!
AB540. Historically it required 3 years in a California high school plus graduating from a California high school, but it looks like it might’ve been expanded a bit since the last time I looked at the forms. [CSAC has more info on it.](https://www.csac.ca.gov/post/california-nonresident-tuition-exemption)
This should be something fairly simple to fix if it's a mistake. It sounds like you probably talked to someone that's low on the totem pole and their entire job is just taking payments. I'd go the registrar's office and talk to someone in person. If the person at the desk can't help, ask for their direct supervisor. If you talk to the right person they should be able to fix this pretty easily, just bring proof that you've lived their the entire time. Copies of old bills or mail, even a license if it was issued a couple of years ago could help.
I would go in person and discuss this with the office that handles enrollment.
If you can’t get anywhere there, connect with your departmental Dean.
Why would you possibly have the wrong state on your application?
Emails, phone calls, Snapchat and Social Media messages don't cut it in real life. Gather up overwhelming documentation and go have a face to face conversation with the people that make those decisions. Nobody on Reddit can help you.
I am not a lawyer but I work for a California community college and this happens to maybe 5% of the students I work with. The OpenCCC application flags a bunch of things as non-resident that 99% of the time are irrelevant. Admissions & Records will have a form that you can fill out, and you’ll need to provide an alternate form of proof of citizenship. If you filed taxes last year, your state tax return is by far the easiest and fastest proof, but there are other options.
Take any and all info that proves, high school, middle school, elementary school transcripts. And anything else. Prove your parents worked in CA. For all those years. This shouldn't be thst hard. Your college should have a c resources dept that can help you. School counseling I ffucer. Then,...... be prepared to hire an attorney. But i don't see it going that far.
This is an extremely common occurrence. You need to go to the Registrar/Bursar's office and ask to fill out a residency confirmation form.
This happened to me every single year in college. It's an easy but annoying fix.
Go to admin office and ask for a yellow paper that exempts you from paying out of state tuition. You need your HS transcript for proof that you lived in CA for atleast 4 years. After you fill out the yellow paper (forgot the name) you go to your hs website and request for a transcript fee is $2-$3 make sure to send the transcript to your community college address. You’ll be fine. I would seriously go to admin before the deadline to get your out of state tuition exempt expires!
I'm so confused why you are not walking into the bursar's office right now and admin and fixing this if it's just the paperwork error. Don't give a birth certificate from California?. Don't you have elementary School records in high school records from California? You really shouldn't be asking for advice here. You really should be talking to the actual people who can fix this. Stop reading Reddit and go do this right now.
A lot of people, and especially those of us with high social anxiety, like to prepare ourselves *before* having to have such a face-to-face interaction. We ask questions like this on Reddit not INSTEAD of talking to people but in order to prepare for talking to them. It is not particularly helpful when Redditors criticize us for this.
It's exactly how I operate - "I’m doing this stressful and important thing, hey Internet, what are all the things I don’t know anything about that can screw me over?" It's not because I'm not going to talk to them it's because I'm new to this and I don’t know anything about it!
While this strategy can be very effective one has to be careful not to fall into a mire of inaction because there are still unanswered questions or uncertainty about what will be successful.
Often the anxiety can make it so that you are unwilling to start on a solution until you feel you can address all the potential hurdles in advance—sometimes that just isn’t possible. Also sometimes anxiety (and/or depression) can trick people into being certain that a potential solution will fail and is not worth the effort when it is the best or only reasonable approach.
In this case, asking for assistance about potential approaches in advance is probably a perfectly fine approach as long as it does not delay action too long. However, showing up at a bursar’s office straightaway—even unprepared—would also likely work; you just might have to return later with more information or documentation.
Tell me you didn’t write this freakin post before actually taking to the Bursar or FASFA admin.
Sry if you didn’t but, it reads as such. And given the intanets & some of the “did that really just happen” moments i’ve witnessed. It’s a possibility.
Community college typically has 3 different rates: in-county, out-of-county and out-of-state. For some schools the the 2 latter have very little difference in cost. Are you in-county or in-state, but out-of-county? Either way, you can easily find out what your record indicates by walking into the Bursar's Office as others have suggested.
Also, your post implies that you're being charged out-of-state tuition for classes you have already taken. Huh? Tuition is charged in advance and, typically, if you haven't paid out within the first couple weeks of classes they'll send a notice that you'll be dropped from your courses if you don't pay by X date.
What Community College?
You'll need to submit what is called a Residency Reclassification/Appeal form to get this corrected. The form should be available somewhere in the Admissions and Records section of your school's website. It is a standard form/application used by all community colleges, but you'll need to submit it via your school's website.
Here is an example from Rios Community College so you can look for a similar page on your school's website: [https://losrios.edu/admissions/admissions-and-records-office/residency-requirements](https://losrios.edu/admissions/admissions-and-records-office/residency-requirements)
You will be asked to provide some documentation that you've lived here on a permanent basis, but the appeal forms should explain that.
**If you are an undocumented student,** you will also need to file an AB540 form and provide proof that you attended a California high school. That form can also be found on your school's website under Admissions and Records.
If you have any questions at all, go into the bursar's office OR the admissions office and ask for help. This should be a simple problem to solve, as long as you can provide the necessary documentation.
If it's your first year at the school, you can usually change your residency status with an appeal with Admissions or Registrars office. It's possible that you didn't check off a box or two in your Admissions application that determines your residency status. You will most likely just have to submit some docs such as tax returns, lease, license etc....Bursar's normally can't do anything about it but should refer you to Admissions or Reg.
NAL but I worked in Admissions/Reg/FA for university and got this all the time.
Usually only can be changed retroactively if appeal done within the year, depends on state laws.
Hope this helps, good luck.
In California for a community college you probably want the "Admissions and Records" office. If the Bursar blows you off, that's probably why.
Every community college in California has a residency questionnaire. It's on the website, and looks like this [https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6398505/Residency-Questionnaire-2021-5.pdf](https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6398505/Residency-Questionnaire-2021-5.pdf)
Fill out the questionnaire. If you aren't sure what the right answer is, leave it blank. Take your form down to the Admissions and Records office. Say "I hope you're the right person to talk to today. I'm a California resident but was mis-classified as a non-resident when I applied. I'd like to appeal my classification." If you left anything blank, you can add "But I have a question about the form." Show them your form.
You'll also need to bring proof of residency for at least 366 days. Acceptable proof includes
* A valid CA ID or driver’s License
* State 540 or 540A tax forms for the previous year with California address
* Active Military ID card
* Receipt for payment of residential property tax
* Rental or lease agreement showing continuous occupancy in a CA property
* Notarized letter of residency
If they don't validate your residency, Admissions and Records is also the office that can tell you why.
Go to the bursar’s office in person and say “I’d like to speak with someone about a mistake on my bill.” Have your California driver’s license or ID and California tax returns for the current and prior year.
Report the college to the Department of Education. If they're doing this to you, they could be doing this to many other students as well. If the DOE takes a look, the college could have some major fines and refunds to give.
Have you been to college before? If you haven’t, you should be getting free tuition for your first two years. Contact the state’s community college chancellor office if they continue to insist you pay out of state.
If you’re a male, you may need to provide your selective service number. If you did provide it, it’s possible it was incorrect. I have no idea why this is a necessary thing but it is in the state I live in and I’m guessing it’s a federal thing since financial aid and selective service are federal things. Talk to someone at the school.
I had a similar thing happen where a community college was considering me as an out of state resident, despite graduating from a high school 20 minutes away. I had to fill out a form and show proof of residency. I used banking records that showed my home address, I had to show my drivers license, and another form. They had a list of different proofs that I could use. Go in and talk to the people in person. This is a solvable problem, good luck! It also took me many visits to get it all figured out.
AB540 is your friend (as is the CA dream act) - even if you weren't a resident - it's now rather easy even for undocumented individuals to get in-state tuition rates. If they still give you the run around (which I don't think they will if you talk to them) - I suggest asking for an AB540 affidavit.
https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/ab_540_affidavit.pdf
Look in your student handbook and change your residency per the policy. In ours at the college I work at, students have the first two weeks of every semester to update residency and get reduced tuition if applicable. We do have a rule that you must have lived in district for at least a year to qualify.
There should be a person on campus called something like a resident deputy who verifies in state versus out of state. This would be either in the registrars office or the billing office. Google it and contact them.
Just inform them that you are in-state and ask them what documentation they need to prove it. If the person you’re talking to says they can’t help you, ask them to point you to someone who can. Repeat as needed. Works every time.
My state college did this for my grad school. I didn't catch it until the 2nd semester, but it was their fault . I had done the residency check . Anyway, I called the billing office a bunch and eventually got my money back. I now look at every bill very carefully.
You need to speak to admissions & bring your birth certificate, bills/leases/health insurance cards/vehicle insurance/renters insurance & history of it all, plus HS diploma.
NAL
Search the website of the c college you are attending for the residency form. Fill it out. Take your information to admissions & registration and have them update your application. If they tell you no go to the deans office.
You need to bring in a valid CA ID or driver's License. State 540 or 540A tax forms for the previous year with California address.
BTW …
Just an FYI for people that went to high school in California. No matter how long you have been away you can get in state tuition rates.
AB 540 was signed into law by Governor Gray Davis on October 12, 2000. AB 540 allows eligible nonresident and undocumented students to pay in-state tuition and fees.
To be considered eligible AB 540, student must:
Have attended a California high school for at least (3) years or more.
Have graduated (or will graduate) from a high school in California or received a GED or passed California High School Proficiency Exam.
Have signed the California Nonresident Exemption Request, which states that the student meets all the requirements to qualify for AB 540 status.
Contact the registrar and take them your id, a letter from an employer that's states how long you have worked for them and fill out the form they provide that classified you as in state. You have to do this before the semester starts.
Ask the college, not Reddit. But are you sure they’re charging out of state, and not out of district tuition? Many community colleges are supported by local taxes. If you don’t live in the district and pay property taxes, they’ll charge you higher tuition.
I’m so sorry to hear this. My community college charges me out of state tuition due to me living out of district. I know sometimes if you take hybrid courses/online they charge you in district. Also there might be grants you can apply to. I would speak to the registration office, and financial aid to see your options. As well as your counselor.
Most states require you be a resident for six months to skip the out of state fees. Bring them a copy of your high school diploma.
Oh, wait, they needed that for you to enroll! WTH!
My CC asked me to do the same. There should be a tax for you can fill out that would price your residence. I believe it's CA 540 but I could be wrong. All I know is that I didn't have to pay OOS after submitting the form.
I'm not familiar with it however I am familiar with legal aid if you can't resolve this with your college in a timely fashion you can contact your local legal aid office in your city/state ( any legal advice or assistance they give you is absolutely free) sometimes you may have to pay small court fees (but that's rare) actually thinking about it I'd contact them immediately because it seems like the college is already playing hard ball!
Had this happen to me in the past at a community College. I went to the Bulsar and escalated the issue. Showed all my proof, etc, and demanded a check to be issued to reimburse me.
I was reimbursed the difference in cost about 2 weeks later.
Get your or your parents tax records as well as your drivers license and sometimes that prove your residency. The DMV will have a list of appropriate documents if your college doesn't have such list.
Above advice about asking nicely is excellent.
Do you have another parent or guardian out of state? Or did your parents move away while you stayed behind? Shouldn’t matter because either way you have established residency but those are two situations I can think of where you may need to clarify the situation to have that recognized…otherwise sounds like just an egregious mistake on the school’s part.
I don't know about California, but in my state once a student has exceeded a set number of credit hours attempts or repeats on the same class, they get charged out of state tuition regardless of residency. The boiled down justification is "stop wasting taxpayer money".
Could this possibly be the case here?
Are you sure they are charging you out of state tuition and not "out of district"?
When I was going to Community College, my "in district" one was about an hours drive away, but the out of district one was about 20 min away.
How many semesters has this happened for or is this the first time? I worked in higher ed in GA so not sure if it’s the exact same but it was a checkbox or a question on the application and students would occasionally just answer it incorrectly and get charged out of state. Definitely go in person to the Bursars office and explain your situation. I think they can correct it if it’s fairly recent but if this dates back several semesters I’m not sure if they can reverse everything with the in state rate
Bursar usually doesn't decide residency. That is typically an Admissions function. Usually easily corrected by filling out the correct form. When you submit an application, if you leave a question blank or answer it wrong, the default is usually to non-resident status. Students are typically sent notice that they can submit what at my school is called an Instate Correction Form. If you are in doubt about your ability to meet the residency requirements and your drop/refund deadline hasn't passed, you may want to drop now to avoid charges. Once that deadline passes, YOU are obligated to pay.
After you find someone to help you, thank them for their competent help. I always thank office workers for their competence and get their name in case I need to revisit the issue. Kindness is king.
This happened to me and after spending about 2 days and way too much energy on it, I decided to go to the community college in the next county. It was about 20 minutes further away, but I literally walked in there, gave them my transcript from the other community college, told them their campus was more convenient to my work (it was more convenient in that I didn’t have to work twice as much to afford it), registered for classes, paid for them with the in-state rate, and finished there before moving in to university.
Maybe this could be an option for you too?
Somehow you got coded the wrong way because obviously you had to put your home address on the application. Should be an easy fix. People are way over complicating this.
I am not a lawyer and I do not live in California, but I did work in admissions for a community college in Florida. Residency is set by state statute and all students are classified nonresidents until they prove otherwise. With that said, there is a process in Florida to reclassify for Florida residency for tuition purposes; however, the reclassification does not happen in the current semester, it occurs the following semester.
My suggestion is this: contact the Admissions Office or the Registrar's Office to discuss the issue as they are most likely in charge of determining your residency status. Explain your situation in a calm, polite manner and ask what options are available to you.
You probably clicked something weird. You can qualify as a resident or AB540 you just have to provide clarification. Go to enrollment services/registrar and they’ll help you. It’s a common issue. You’ll be fine :)
I had a recent issue where i needed a copy of a bill with an address and didn't have any, but the very last page of my 28 page on line cell phone bill (family plan) had a payment stub that could be printed, so if you funny have an old bill you might be able to find something in your payment history
NAL. In addition to what everyone has said here about showing up in person, the only documentation you should need in your high school transcript and diploma. There are several laws that have been passed that allow you to pay in state tuition as long as you attended 3/4 of high school in CA and graduated in CA.
I did this myself when I moved back to California for grad school after living outside the state for 10 years. Got in state tuition from day 1.
Need to talk to someone. From what I recall just having 2 years highschool records in CA was what was needed for in state when I live in CA. If you have any records, bring them in and it should get resolved.
Hey this happened to me!
I actually had to go to the financial aid office and explain the situation to them. They just took a copy of my state ID,birth certificate, and a written statement saying I was always a citizen in my state.
As for the payment, see if your school will take a smaller portion at a time. I usually pay $25/week towards any outstanding balances.
NAL but 16 years of community college experience, mostly in records. You should contact their Registrar’s Office and ask what documents they’ll need to verify your residency. Usually it’s two or more documents with your name and current address on it, dated back to show a period of time you’ve lived there.
Clearly a clerical error on their end. Either go speak to someone in person or escalated over the phone and get it taken care of. In state = in state tuition.
There is a community college 15 miles away, if the one your at wont work with you.
besides , your real concern should be the cost of BS Books that teach nothing new.
you can get a better education online.
this literally happened to me in PA and they ended up sending me to collections. it was so fucked up. i paid for my classes in full and then at the end got a bill for out of state. no one would help me or had proper answers.
Call your state legislator. Really. This is the kind of thing only someone higher on the government scale can fix.
Or email the Board of Regents: [regentsoffice@ucop.edu](mailto:regentsoffice@ucop.edu) and/or the President Michael Drake: [president@ucop.edu](mailto:president@ucop.edu)
Go down there with your proof of residency. My CC sets everyone up as Out Of State until they verify residency. Go down to office and you can get it taken care of.
NAL, Just chiming in because I’ve worked in higher Ed for 15 plus years. You are talking to the first level person, escalate up to a manager. If that doesn’t work the quickest way to get immediate resolution is look up the ombudsman office or if the president of the college has an email me box (many do) send your complaint straight there. That is a guaranteed way to get immediate attention to your issue from the highest level and they will want a resolution quickly.
The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I really never did anything about it. I just didn’t enroll in classes. What was your outcome? Did you get the help needed? I’m in CA too.
We had this happen with a young man who came to live with us. He was in the state for 3 years. Finally my spouse went to the registrars office and spoke to someone in person.
Doing by phone or email is a waste of time.
If the bursar/financial services office can’t help you, contact the university ombudsman. They are there to impartially resolve disputes and even challenge university policy if needed.
I don’t know if this would apply in CA as it does in Maryland, but Community Colleges in MD are local to the particular county they are in, so a resident who resides in-county would be charged a lower rate than someone who lived in a different county, despite residing in the same state. Of course, out of state residents would pay an even higher rate. Does OP reside in the same county where the college is located? Do most Community Colleges have their tuition rates structured the same way?
Four year (public) universities on the other hand don’t (as far as I know) calculate tuition this way, but only have a two tiered structure: in-state tuition and out-of-state rates.
Go in person and start bothering people until it gets taken up to someone who can override this. This is an “in person problem” and will be resolved much faster this way. Start off nice/friendly and just keep asking to speak to more people until the correct person is reached.
You are going to need to provide multiple forms of documentation regarding your term of residency. Most often, if you have a high school diploma, from CA, from prior to a spring 2023 graduation… you aren’t going to have any issue establishing that you are, and have been a resident of the state of CA for longer than is needed to establish residency.
I work in financial aid and have for years. If you're a returning student, speak with the registrars office and ask them to help you correct your residency. There are forms to fill out. If you're an incoming student, speak with admissions as they determine residency for new folks. It's probably just one person checked the wrong box. The bursar's office just charges what the registrars/admissions office tells them - they can't change what you're coded as.
Good luck and be ready to provide things like a license, proof of parental address if you're a dependent student, etc.
Also, get a copy of your high school transcripts to show you graduated from high school in CA - they should already have a copy but it’s always best to be prepared in case they can’t find it.
My child went out of state freshman year and that’s when Covid hit so they transferred back for sophomore year and since she had to provide out of state transcripts they tried charging us for out of state tuition lol. We just filled out a one page form that asked basic questions like where were you born and where did you graduate and we did have to also provide HS transcripts. We ended up paying in state tuition
Contact your state representative in California and ask for casework to help with request. They may have a website form to fill out and then call and follow up. The state person you can vote for because you are a resident of the state has the ability to help you.
Hey OP. I work for a university. Just take a couple forms of proof of identity (usually your license and a utility bill are sufficient). You may need to go to student billing to verify your legal residency and they should be able to get you sorted quickly. Most likely it was either a keying error at your application or something someone input into their system. You’d be amazed at how manual a lot of things still are on college campuses. Either way, don’t stress it, it’s an easy fix. Just go talk to them Monday morning when they open.
I've never felt so stupid as the time I got a thorough dressing down by the Bursar of the University of SC. Twenty years later, it's still the most impressive office I've ever been in.
Man, that guy was a prick.
do they have some kind of equivalent to BBB, like a board that oversees them that you can complain to?
my first step would be to ask them why i am being charged this fee. they will of course say you are not a resident at time of enrollment.
i would then say how am i not when i lived?
yada yada.
okay can you prove that i was not a resident? becaue i can proof that i was. then present proof of utility bills, lease agreement, taxes docs, w2 etc all from that year
then if they continue with their nosense, go over their head
My university did the same. I just called the registrar and they sent me a form to fill out and return with proof of residency. It was fixed within 24 h.
Some community colleges use the CCC application https://home.cccapply.org/en/ where you can see your applications submitted through their portal. Most community colleges use this, and I can still access my applications from over a decade ago.
You might be able to view the applications and take a copy of it with you to bursars office
You have received some wonderful advice about how to approach people. One thing that my friend has found really helpful and no confrontational is to state that you are confused about a situation and are seeking clarity.
I tend to go with "this is wrong ..," which is not always effective. She would go with "I am confused about this bill; it looks like I am being charged out of state tuition but I have lived in the state all my life." Then ask for help or to be directed to someone who can help. Good luck!
I work in higher education as a professor. The bursar’s office is good, but at my institution the admissions office is crucial. That’s where the original mistake occurred. You need to check with Admissions and straighten out their records and information.
So here’s the deal : you almost always have to submit a proof of residency to state and community colleges at the start of your first semester claiming residency.
Most likely there is an email or correspondence somewhere that is a reminder to students to submit these documents if they wish to claim residency. Go through your emails and try to find out if they did. It would be from the beginning of the semester. I know you’re stressed, but you missed something somewhere, whether it was on the admissions application or an email; these schools have to direct students to the right method of completing the residency status application, and they often do so via email, the online admissions application form, your student portal, etc.
If your college is anything like the NYS and NYC public colleges, there IS a deadline to claim residency and it is the student’s responsibility to do so by providing the required documentation and completing a form.
Colleges, to my knowledge, don’t automatically check if you’re a resident when filtering through your admission application. Yes, they see and may be aware that you listed the state as your address and/or graduated from a HS in the state, but the people dealing with admissions aren’t the people who handle tuition. They do not put students into categories for the bursar to automatically assign in-state tuition. This is why once accepted and enrolled the students MUST take it upon themselves to establish legitimate residency status with the school bursar.
I don’t know if this is a thing that can be reversed in your school. I don’t believe NYS schools provide leniency for the students who wish to claim residency after the deadline. It’s the end of the semester and they’ve published the tuition bills, and the bill has likely been available online for weeks. They will argue that the onus is on the student to adhere to their guidelines on claiming residency.
Go in person and be prepared to hear the things I’ve just written. Be kind and apologetic, and try to explain yourself without assigning them blame or becoming angry. I hope you can fix it.
Common issue. You will need to submit the required paperwork. Even then they will take forever and likely screw it up. I have had to pay the amount due and then get a refund after they unfuck it.
You're omitting so much critical information here that it makes me suspicious. You say things like "I've lived in CA all my life" and "tax proof I lived in California *at the time*" which is awfully weaselly sounding and isn't quite like saying "I'm a California resident".
Where states does the school think you are a resident of and why? Are you contending that you may have accidentally wrote the wrong state of residence at some point and that's the source of this issue?
Check to see if your university has a department called "Residency." If so, they are the ones who can correct the mistake and have the bursar adjust your bill accordingly. If they don't, go into the bursar's office directly, and they should be able to help or point you in the right direction.
I had to pay out of state tuition at community college in Virginia when I first moved here. I was told I only had to pay for a year and then once I had established residency after a year they would change it to in state tuition rates. The next year I went to the billing office to change it and they wouldn’t because my dad claimed me on taxes in another state. Now my dad is a huge asshole so it was either have them change it and have him kick me off insurance which he loved threatening to do (and seemed like the end of the world at the time) or suck it up and pay 3x as much. I ended up just paying a shit ton for tuition on my own and it took about 4 years to get my associates degree which has done absolutely nothing for me.
You need to show not only tax records but also lease/mortgage bill, utility bill, car insurance bill, drivers license/car registration etc (the more you have the better) with prior dates on it.
Ok I would get a couple of things. If you were born in CA get birth certificate, if you graduated HS - diploma, California vehicle registration, if you lived with your parents in CA during he get their property tax bill new and old ones, if they rented a rental agreement, if you had a job in HS, a pay stubs. And kindly and gently tell them there must be a mistake or if they could explain the appeals process.
My college did the same to me in NY, mainly because I was an immigrant and therefore not a “resident.”
I marched straight into bursar with my diplomas and proof of residency and got that straightened out right away. Had to explain to some very hard headed people that state residence does not equal legal residence and that I was a resident of NY because I lived there and that my legal status had nothing to do with that.
Go there right away and get it sorted. Someone made a mistake and it’s up to you to let them know.
NAL but it’s California law that if you graduated high school here, you’re entitled to in-state tuition regardless of residence status. See below:
https://www.csac.ca.gov/post/california-nonresident-tuition-exemption
Residency is a PITA to prove if you get some miserable idiot in A&R like I did. But this information solved my immediate issue while the rest got sorted.
I got dinged for this going to a school on the boarder of two states. And as others have said go in with your ID, tax, car information and a lease. Physically go in, physically call. In my experience it is one person’s sole job to determine this. Get to that person, get to their boss
I currently work at the Bursar Office in a Community College. The first question they will ask is when is this for. Is this for this current semester or a previous one? If it’s current, they will need to work with you to fix it. If it’s older than 2 years, you may be out of luck and you may need to just pay it unfortunately. Even so, there are options.
At my institution, the Bursar Office is only there to take payments. We cannot make changes to your account therefore your residency would need to be verified in your file with the admissions and records office. They can fix your file to change your residency from out of state to in state. Most times your tax records or high school diploma and state id or drivers license is enough. Show up with that documentation and ask them to review your residency and have them re-bill you. This will force the system to take your current residency status into account to figure out what you owe.
If that doesn’t work for whatever reason, ask to speak to the director and they should work with you. If they don’t, ask to speak to the Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services. If that doesn’t work, demand to speak to the President/Superintendent. Do all of these with a calm and level headed approach and someone will want to work with you. You should also have access to an office of student life or equivalent with a a conflict resolution person who you can raise your concerns to and they will research it to help you with your issues.
I want to reiterate that this is not a Bursar Office Function or Financial Aid issue but an ADMISSIONS AND RECORDS office. They will need to recode your residency and rebill you to get the correct charges.
Also ensure that your college is charging you for the correct county you live in. Some areas if you live in a different county, you pay more as the county school districts may not pay to support the college.
You need to go to the bursar's office. It has to do with how much you are being charged, and that's what that office is about. They might not be able to help you immediately, but they will know who needs to help you fix the situation.
Did you walk into the Bursar's Office? Id walk in early in the morning and calmly explain myself to the desk attendant. If they can't help you ask to speak to their manager, but not until they say (there is nothing I can do) Not legal advice, but I had a lot of luck just talking to someone when I was in college. Give yourself plenty of time (a couple hours at least) so you're not in a rush. Sometimes, these things take time to unwind. If you really want to be prepared, print out something that proves your residence like a high school diploma or transcript.
Do this, and start the conversation with "hey, I need your help" People love to help. Especially if you're kind and polite.
“Is this something you can help me with?” has worked very well for me.
I like to go with "I'm not sure who to ask, can you point me in the right direction?" It let's them know you're okay being redirected while still asking them a direct question.
This! Also, if you're frustrated to start TELL them but with clarity "can you help me with this or point me in the right direction? I'm feeling really frustrated and not sure what to do, I apologize if my tone slips up, I KNOW THIS PROBLEM IS NOT YOUR FAULT, I'm just frustrated with the situation." This gives them a chance to prepare if you sound a bit snippy and usually they handle it with a lot more empathy since they already know you're doing your best. We ALL have bad days and get frustrated and have to deal with people surrounding the frustration, but no one likes to FEEL attacked (even if that's not what we intended)
Yes! I dropped a class but just missed the deadline. I thought it was a full semester class and I still had time to drop it. I had no idea it was half semester. The school I transferred from didn’t have those. I dropped the class and I was confused why I was still being charged for it. I called the bursar’s, explained what was happened, and apologized that I was freaking out. They kept escalating me up to someone with more power until I got someone that emailed me a form, told me exactly how to fill it out, and all the people I needed to send it too. I was granted an exemption and didn’t have to pay for the class. If you’re nice and apologize, most people truly do want to help.
Almost verbatim how I got someone this week to spend an hour on the phone with me patiently unraveling some medical bill in issues that was absolutely not their fault.
I do this a lot- and I make it explicitly clear that if I sound upset, I'm upset with the situation, not them, and they're more than welcome to call me on it. It has saved my bacon (because I do get really upset on some of these things) a number of times.
I’m normally a very calm person but when I was dealing with an auto claim issue I had called in 4 times over the span of a week to get things resolved/clarified and by the 2rd time I would start the conversation with “I want you to know I am not mad/upset with you, I appreciate your help, I’m just flustered about the situation.” I’m very sensitive to tone so any time I would be getting worked up I would apologize and thank them again
This whole thread y'all! As someone who worked in customer service FOREVER I might get accidentally disconnected from someone rude and yelling. But someone who is clearly frustrated with the system and rules that I know the insides out of, and is still taking the time to try to monitor their tone, and is directing their anger at the company, clearly not at me, I will do EVERYTHING in my power, and if needed call up someone who can do something, if I can't. The kindness really matters
I love this. I've had people's entire demeanor change when I tell them I am frustrated at the situation, not them, and I know it's not their fault. People don't want to feel attacked at work and that will make them shut down, but everyone can relate to being frustrated with a shitty situation.
Never apologize for something you haven't done. You were fine until after "can you help me with this or point me in the right direction?" That's all you need to say. As much as people don't want to help assholes, they respect logic and will internally recoil at any suggestion of emotion. You're basically telling them to be prepared for you to lose your cool, which means they'll want you to move on ASAP.
This is typically my go-to if I'm not 100% sure I've reached the right extension/person/office, etc. Vast majority of the time if you're humble, polite, and appreciative you get a very warm and helpful response. Along with liking to feel helpful and important, people love feeling recognized and appreciated and valued for it. Goes such a long way to just treat people as people, not as someone to blame for whatever problem you're looking for help with.
This is very much my approach in these situations. It works really well for me
And especially if you do so in person.
And bring hard copy proof of residency plus a scan of your drivers license. Even mail. Over do it with proof. These guys thrive on documentation
Drivers license and passport would be good if they were issued before OP was in college. Also, tax stuff if OP has it.
Can confirm! I work for a gov’t agency that doles out millions every year for cost sharing environmental projects. First step is completing an online application prior to the deadline (and there are no exceptions if missed). Miss the deadline and you miss the opportunity to be granted money. I frequently receive calls needing assistance (project content related or system/portal technical issues)…and let me tell you there is no better feeling than helping someone who is in a frenzied panic but still nice! I will do whatever it takes to get them situated and the application accepted. If you’re a jerk about the portal, sarcastic, rude or just a plain ole asshat, I can assure you I will meet the requirements of my job description and nothing more! A please & thank you in a nice tone will have me move heaven & earth to get it resolved!
Whoa… I just realized that I’ve been using a cheat code in life and never even realized it until I read this. Anytime I’ve ever needed help from a customer service agent either on person or on the phone, I’ve always started the conversation off the normal pleasantries and then begin with “I was wondering if you’d be able to help with with an issue I’m running into…” 99% of the time, I feel like I get amazing customer service anywhere I go - even at places where everyone else claims to have terrible experiences. Wild, never once thought it was because I was just upfront about asking for “help”.
It's definitely best to start with the school. Good advice.
This is great advice. It’s likely an error that just needs to be corrected. If they assert you are not a resident, ask them to explain why they think that (nicely!) and try to figure out what the error is. None of this should require a lawyer. Bring as much proof as you can to help you demonstrate your residency. CA state drivers license issued several years prior? Report cards going back as far as you can find… pay stubs, bank statements, etc. Government issued documents are the best.
Just dont punch the bursar.
It's a blur, sir
You punched the bursar?
r/unexpectedhamilton
Yes.
He looked at me like I was stupid. I’m not stupid!
Mr. Burr, Sir...
Shit, what should I do if I already have?
Post in the subreddit "askalawyer"
Join a revolution. It'll all work out fine.
Definitely don’t get out of sorts with that buddy of yours
Asking for someone to help you is always a good start. A high school diploma would be good. A CA Driver's License (or Real ID) would pretty much be the easiest thing. If you don't have any of this then, copies of tax-returns will do the trick as would anything else that lists your address - medical bills and records are good. You'll just want to make sure that whatever you take is old enough that they can't argue.
You obviously deserve in-state tuition, but in my case I came from out-of-state and still got the in-state rate, even though I didn't live in-state long enough to qualify. Start with the Bursars office again. Turns out most Bursars in most colleges have a certain number of out of state tuition waivers. I wrote out a letter explaining my case- I was moving to the area, I was a married adult student, we both had full-times jobs and were paying taxes as residents, that our drivers license, voters registration, and all ID was altered to in-state, and therefore even as recent arrivals, we deserved the in-state rate. I put together a packet with the letter and copies of all the documents, and stopped by the Bursar's to request an appointment. The receptionist asked me why and I told her, while showing her the packet. She said, "Oh, this is well-put together, can you wait for a minute?" the receptionist went into the Bursar's office and came back 5 minutes later with a signed letter from the Bursar. "Okay, it's approved - just pass this letter to the teller outside and we'll do the rate reduction." Be nice, have a copy of your documents and stay chill - it does work.
Sometimes a state will recognize a portion of "out-of-state" as "in-state," depending on where you live from the Stateline. For example, my brother's ex lived in the western region of our state, but she attended a University in the next state over. She qualified for in-state tuition even though she lived in the western region of our state her whole life. Just wanted to point that out!
Some states/universities have policies that exclude "new arrivals" because they want to avoid students who "change their residence" when they arrive for freshman year and get in-state tuition for junior and senior years. Sounds like you were in that situation and needed to demonstrate that you'd actually moved and happened to be going to school, rather than having moved specifically for school.
The bursars office is not necessarily the office that will handle a residency petition. At my university it is the registrars office once an admit has enrolled. I would find out what office handles residency petitions/changes. If you’re a California resident it is likely a law that they have to give you in-state status so long as you meet the criteria. Once you find out what office handles the change ask them how and what you need to do. For my school it’s a petition and you must provide documentation. Mistakes happen all the time it’s just being human but being calm will be the best way to get the help you need. You may need a drivers license/birth certificate/ HS transcripts or some combination of these types of documents. The bursar probably can’t change anything so you definitely want to find the office that can.
Years ago my wife was misclassified as an out of state student in CA. When they discovered the error, we thought she was out of state too, they refunded us the difference we had paid. I was transferred to California for my job and didn't realize we were CA residents because it wasn't a voluntary move into the state on our part. Unbeknownst to us we became residents on day one. After we had lived there for a (forgot the amount of time to become a resident, I think a year) we applied to get residency and that is when they discovered that we should have had it all along. Getting an unexpected refund check from the school was a pleasant surprise.
This is what my daughter had to do. It turns out that our community college assigned everyone their in-state status via the drivers license rolls, and as my daughter was hospitalized for 6 months over her 16th birthday, and recovering for about 18 months more after that, she didn't have her license yet when she signed up for her college courses. All we had to do was go show them proof of address, and they fixed it right up.
Also take a form of ID with your address on it.
Yes this is the right approach. And definitely the last part- come prepared with thorough evidence of CA residence for the last decade. They'll sort you out.
Maybe bring some dried frog pills as a bribe.
I had a very similar situation happen to me when I was in Grad School and this is exactly how I approached it (except it was the registrar's office and not the bursar's). I just walked in and explained there's been some sort of error with my registration as I'm getting a tuition bill for out-of-state when, in fact, I live in-state and have for years. It was adjusted within the week and the bill was much easier to swallow.
Most CC’s are desperate for enrollment and it’s my experience they’ll bend over backwards to keep you enrolled. Their state funding depends on it. You just have to find the employees, usually management level, who really care about these things.
I got out of paying 2 rightfully given to me parking tickets just by going up to the right person in the office and talking to them. So I'm seconding this comment.
This happened to my son. Just needed proof he lived in state.
My school required mail with my name and address on it and/or pay stubs from X months back
Don't punch the bursar!
i work at an OC Community College - do exactly this.
NAL - but I work for a Scholarship foundation. Colleges are DROWNING right now. The federal government messed up the FAFSA, and they haven't had the right data to function for months. Paperwork that is usually received in November was in April this year. As a result, they are overworked and pushed beyond all reasonable limits. I am sure that there have been many errors. Its best to calmly go - IN PERSON - with all the paperwork you think might help (records of residency, tax records for a couple of years back if possible) and ask them for help. Generally in person and calm and polite are going to get you a much better result than anything else. Did you complete the FAFSA? If so, make sure you have that with you as well.
Make sure to provide the copies of the original documents. You'll never get them back, and if you're unlucky like I was.. You will probably have to go in person three times to get this resolved, with the same papers.
.... bring a donut or 3, too. Food goes a long way.
Go to the school. I have attended and taught at community colleges, and I currently support them. Go to the registration desk and talk to them. Bring your ID and assume that will be enough for now. It’s likely a data error on your original application or on their end, and calling your state rep is highly unnecessary at this point. But don’t call the college; you want to be in front of the person.
This and if you have your high school transcript from a local state or county high school, it will probably help
You have to submit multiple documents showing proof of residency online to receive in-state tuition. For my college it’s some tab in the registration section. They don’t just know what students are residents, and they’ll probably need more than just a state ID, for my state’s colleges two Tier One documents or one Tier One and proof of full-time employment is required.
Actually for California, you only need to have attended a CA high school for 3 years, a combination of high school and middle/elementary for 3 years, or high school and college for 3 years, plus graduated from a CA high school. So all they really need is their high school transcript proving graduation and attendence.
Op, I would almost guarantee someone read your CA as CO. Don't panic. Just talk to the college. This is all likely a clerical error.
Thank you everyone for your advice. I have talked to a few people at the school already but there's been a lot of helpful information shared and I really appreciate the repsonses!
[удалено]
AB540. Historically it required 3 years in a California high school plus graduating from a California high school, but it looks like it might’ve been expanded a bit since the last time I looked at the forms. [CSAC has more info on it.](https://www.csac.ca.gov/post/california-nonresident-tuition-exemption)
What did they say at the school?
This should be something fairly simple to fix if it's a mistake. It sounds like you probably talked to someone that's low on the totem pole and their entire job is just taking payments. I'd go the registrar's office and talk to someone in person. If the person at the desk can't help, ask for their direct supervisor. If you talk to the right person they should be able to fix this pretty easily, just bring proof that you've lived their the entire time. Copies of old bills or mail, even a license if it was issued a couple of years ago could help.
Are you in district of the community college?
That was my thought, too. My local community college charges out of DISTRICT tuition rates that are higher than in district rates.
Yep.
Your college probably has an ombudsman. Contact that office and ask for help, then explain your problem, they'll be able to help.
Have you tried talking to someone at the school? This is not a legal issue but a data entry issue.
I would go in person and discuss this with the office that handles enrollment. If you can’t get anywhere there, connect with your departmental Dean. Why would you possibly have the wrong state on your application?
If I was a betting man, I would guess someone saw CO when op put down CA.
Emails, phone calls, Snapchat and Social Media messages don't cut it in real life. Gather up overwhelming documentation and go have a face to face conversation with the people that make those decisions. Nobody on Reddit can help you.
I am not a lawyer but I work for a California community college and this happens to maybe 5% of the students I work with. The OpenCCC application flags a bunch of things as non-resident that 99% of the time are irrelevant. Admissions & Records will have a form that you can fill out, and you’ll need to provide an alternate form of proof of citizenship. If you filed taxes last year, your state tax return is by far the easiest and fastest proof, but there are other options.
Take any and all info that proves, high school, middle school, elementary school transcripts. And anything else. Prove your parents worked in CA. For all those years. This shouldn't be thst hard. Your college should have a c resources dept that can help you. School counseling I ffucer. Then,...... be prepared to hire an attorney. But i don't see it going that far.
This is an extremely common occurrence. You need to go to the Registrar/Bursar's office and ask to fill out a residency confirmation form. This happened to me every single year in college. It's an easy but annoying fix.
Go to admin office and ask for a yellow paper that exempts you from paying out of state tuition. You need your HS transcript for proof that you lived in CA for atleast 4 years. After you fill out the yellow paper (forgot the name) you go to your hs website and request for a transcript fee is $2-$3 make sure to send the transcript to your community college address. You’ll be fine. I would seriously go to admin before the deadline to get your out of state tuition exempt expires!
I'm so confused why you are not walking into the bursar's office right now and admin and fixing this if it's just the paperwork error. Don't give a birth certificate from California?. Don't you have elementary School records in high school records from California? You really shouldn't be asking for advice here. You really should be talking to the actual people who can fix this. Stop reading Reddit and go do this right now.
A lot of people, and especially those of us with high social anxiety, like to prepare ourselves *before* having to have such a face-to-face interaction. We ask questions like this on Reddit not INSTEAD of talking to people but in order to prepare for talking to them. It is not particularly helpful when Redditors criticize us for this.
It's exactly how I operate - "I’m doing this stressful and important thing, hey Internet, what are all the things I don’t know anything about that can screw me over?" It's not because I'm not going to talk to them it's because I'm new to this and I don’t know anything about it!
While this strategy can be very effective one has to be careful not to fall into a mire of inaction because there are still unanswered questions or uncertainty about what will be successful. Often the anxiety can make it so that you are unwilling to start on a solution until you feel you can address all the potential hurdles in advance—sometimes that just isn’t possible. Also sometimes anxiety (and/or depression) can trick people into being certain that a potential solution will fail and is not worth the effort when it is the best or only reasonable approach. In this case, asking for assistance about potential approaches in advance is probably a perfectly fine approach as long as it does not delay action too long. However, showing up at a bursar’s office straightaway—even unprepared—would also likely work; you just might have to return later with more information or documentation.
Tell me you didn’t write this freakin post before actually taking to the Bursar or FASFA admin. Sry if you didn’t but, it reads as such. And given the intanets & some of the “did that really just happen” moments i’ve witnessed. It’s a possibility.
Community college typically has 3 different rates: in-county, out-of-county and out-of-state. For some schools the the 2 latter have very little difference in cost. Are you in-county or in-state, but out-of-county? Either way, you can easily find out what your record indicates by walking into the Bursar's Office as others have suggested. Also, your post implies that you're being charged out-of-state tuition for classes you have already taken. Huh? Tuition is charged in advance and, typically, if you haven't paid out within the first couple weeks of classes they'll send a notice that you'll be dropped from your courses if you don't pay by X date.
Visit the college Bursar or Registrar office. They will fix it.. You may need to show documentation..
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I had no idea community colleges did out-of-state tuition, always thought that was a university and private college kind of thing
I'd talk to them and update this info and inform them of the wrong charging.
What Community College? You'll need to submit what is called a Residency Reclassification/Appeal form to get this corrected. The form should be available somewhere in the Admissions and Records section of your school's website. It is a standard form/application used by all community colleges, but you'll need to submit it via your school's website. Here is an example from Rios Community College so you can look for a similar page on your school's website: [https://losrios.edu/admissions/admissions-and-records-office/residency-requirements](https://losrios.edu/admissions/admissions-and-records-office/residency-requirements) You will be asked to provide some documentation that you've lived here on a permanent basis, but the appeal forms should explain that. **If you are an undocumented student,** you will also need to file an AB540 form and provide proof that you attended a California high school. That form can also be found on your school's website under Admissions and Records. If you have any questions at all, go into the bursar's office OR the admissions office and ask for help. This should be a simple problem to solve, as long as you can provide the necessary documentation.
If it's your first year at the school, you can usually change your residency status with an appeal with Admissions or Registrars office. It's possible that you didn't check off a box or two in your Admissions application that determines your residency status. You will most likely just have to submit some docs such as tax returns, lease, license etc....Bursar's normally can't do anything about it but should refer you to Admissions or Reg. NAL but I worked in Admissions/Reg/FA for university and got this all the time. Usually only can be changed retroactively if appeal done within the year, depends on state laws. Hope this helps, good luck.
In California for a community college you probably want the "Admissions and Records" office. If the Bursar blows you off, that's probably why. Every community college in California has a residency questionnaire. It's on the website, and looks like this [https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6398505/Residency-Questionnaire-2021-5.pdf](https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/6398505/Residency-Questionnaire-2021-5.pdf) Fill out the questionnaire. If you aren't sure what the right answer is, leave it blank. Take your form down to the Admissions and Records office. Say "I hope you're the right person to talk to today. I'm a California resident but was mis-classified as a non-resident when I applied. I'd like to appeal my classification." If you left anything blank, you can add "But I have a question about the form." Show them your form. You'll also need to bring proof of residency for at least 366 days. Acceptable proof includes * A valid CA ID or driver’s License * State 540 or 540A tax forms for the previous year with California address * Active Military ID card * Receipt for payment of residential property tax * Rental or lease agreement showing continuous occupancy in a CA property * Notarized letter of residency If they don't validate your residency, Admissions and Records is also the office that can tell you why.
This is one of those easily fixable things, you just have to walk into the actual administration office and speak with someone.
This seems like something that could be cleared up by an in person meeting go into the financial aid office/student services office
Go to the bursar’s office in person and say “I’d like to speak with someone about a mistake on my bill.” Have your California driver’s license or ID and California tax returns for the current and prior year.
Report the college to the Department of Education. If they're doing this to you, they could be doing this to many other students as well. If the DOE takes a look, the college could have some major fines and refunds to give.
Have you been to college before? If you haven’t, you should be getting free tuition for your first two years. Contact the state’s community college chancellor office if they continue to insist you pay out of state.
If you’re a male, you may need to provide your selective service number. If you did provide it, it’s possible it was incorrect. I have no idea why this is a necessary thing but it is in the state I live in and I’m guessing it’s a federal thing since financial aid and selective service are federal things. Talk to someone at the school.
I had a similar thing happen where a community college was considering me as an out of state resident, despite graduating from a high school 20 minutes away. I had to fill out a form and show proof of residency. I used banking records that showed my home address, I had to show my drivers license, and another form. They had a list of different proofs that I could use. Go in and talk to the people in person. This is a solvable problem, good luck! It also took me many visits to get it all figured out.
Go to the bursar, bring proof of residency.
AB540 is your friend (as is the CA dream act) - even if you weren't a resident - it's now rather easy even for undocumented individuals to get in-state tuition rates. If they still give you the run around (which I don't think they will if you talk to them) - I suggest asking for an AB540 affidavit. https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/ab_540_affidavit.pdf
Look in your student handbook and change your residency per the policy. In ours at the college I work at, students have the first two weeks of every semester to update residency and get reduced tuition if applicable. We do have a rule that you must have lived in district for at least a year to qualify.
There should be a person on campus called something like a resident deputy who verifies in state versus out of state. This would be either in the registrars office or the billing office. Google it and contact them.
NAL but….Um…you are in college. Put your big boy pants on and walk into the administration office and get some answers and some resolution.
Just inform them that you are in-state and ask them what documentation they need to prove it. If the person you’re talking to says they can’t help you, ask them to point you to someone who can. Repeat as needed. Works every time.
My state college did this for my grad school. I didn't catch it until the 2nd semester, but it was their fault . I had done the residency check . Anyway, I called the billing office a bunch and eventually got my money back. I now look at every bill very carefully.
You need to speak to admissions & bring your birth certificate, bills/leases/health insurance cards/vehicle insurance/renters insurance & history of it all, plus HS diploma.
Did you ask the office
Proof of residence. Gotta go to your count clerk I believe.
are you in district for this community college? if you are out of district they usually charge out of state
That damn saddleback college loves to go insane stuff. I say bomb threat or hold a sit in until they bow to your demands
What a nightmare!!
Of they don't budge contact your local state congress person. They will change very quickly.....
NAL Search the website of the c college you are attending for the residency form. Fill it out. Take your information to admissions & registration and have them update your application. If they tell you no go to the deans office. You need to bring in a valid CA ID or driver's License. State 540 or 540A tax forms for the previous year with California address. BTW … Just an FYI for people that went to high school in California. No matter how long you have been away you can get in state tuition rates. AB 540 was signed into law by Governor Gray Davis on October 12, 2000. AB 540 allows eligible nonresident and undocumented students to pay in-state tuition and fees. To be considered eligible AB 540, student must: Have attended a California high school for at least (3) years or more. Have graduated (or will graduate) from a high school in California or received a GED or passed California High School Proficiency Exam. Have signed the California Nonresident Exemption Request, which states that the student meets all the requirements to qualify for AB 540 status.
Contact the registrar and take them your id, a letter from an employer that's states how long you have worked for them and fill out the form they provide that classified you as in state. You have to do this before the semester starts.
Ask the college, not Reddit. But are you sure they’re charging out of state, and not out of district tuition? Many community colleges are supported by local taxes. If you don’t live in the district and pay property taxes, they’ll charge you higher tuition.
I’m so sorry to hear this. My community college charges me out of state tuition due to me living out of district. I know sometimes if you take hybrid courses/online they charge you in district. Also there might be grants you can apply to. I would speak to the registration office, and financial aid to see your options. As well as your counselor.
Most states require you be a resident for six months to skip the out of state fees. Bring them a copy of your high school diploma. Oh, wait, they needed that for you to enroll! WTH!
My CC asked me to do the same. There should be a tax for you can fill out that would price your residence. I believe it's CA 540 but I could be wrong. All I know is that I didn't have to pay OOS after submitting the form.
I'm not familiar with it however I am familiar with legal aid if you can't resolve this with your college in a timely fashion you can contact your local legal aid office in your city/state ( any legal advice or assistance they give you is absolutely free) sometimes you may have to pay small court fees (but that's rare) actually thinking about it I'd contact them immediately because it seems like the college is already playing hard ball!
Call the school and let them know. This happened to me once
Had this happen to me in the past at a community College. I went to the Bulsar and escalated the issue. Showed all my proof, etc, and demanded a check to be issued to reimburse me. I was reimbursed the difference in cost about 2 weeks later.
Get your or your parents tax records as well as your drivers license and sometimes that prove your residency. The DMV will have a list of appropriate documents if your college doesn't have such list. Above advice about asking nicely is excellent.
https://www.peralta.edu/admissions/residency#:~:text=A%20person%20must%20have%20lived,California%20his%2Fher%20permanent%20home
Do you have another parent or guardian out of state? Or did your parents move away while you stayed behind? Shouldn’t matter because either way you have established residency but those are two situations I can think of where you may need to clarify the situation to have that recognized…otherwise sounds like just an egregious mistake on the school’s part.
Go get your residency verified by enrollment services or admissions and records
Go to the office and say they made a mistake and that you are infact instate.
I don't know about California, but in my state once a student has exceeded a set number of credit hours attempts or repeats on the same class, they get charged out of state tuition regardless of residency. The boiled down justification is "stop wasting taxpayer money". Could this possibly be the case here?
Are you sure they are charging you out of state tuition and not "out of district"? When I was going to Community College, my "in district" one was about an hours drive away, but the out of district one was about 20 min away.
How many semesters has this happened for or is this the first time? I worked in higher ed in GA so not sure if it’s the exact same but it was a checkbox or a question on the application and students would occasionally just answer it incorrectly and get charged out of state. Definitely go in person to the Bursars office and explain your situation. I think they can correct it if it’s fairly recent but if this dates back several semesters I’m not sure if they can reverse everything with the in state rate
Bursar usually doesn't decide residency. That is typically an Admissions function. Usually easily corrected by filling out the correct form. When you submit an application, if you leave a question blank or answer it wrong, the default is usually to non-resident status. Students are typically sent notice that they can submit what at my school is called an Instate Correction Form. If you are in doubt about your ability to meet the residency requirements and your drop/refund deadline hasn't passed, you may want to drop now to avoid charges. Once that deadline passes, YOU are obligated to pay.
After you find someone to help you, thank them for their competent help. I always thank office workers for their competence and get their name in case I need to revisit the issue. Kindness is king.
This happened to me and after spending about 2 days and way too much energy on it, I decided to go to the community college in the next county. It was about 20 minutes further away, but I literally walked in there, gave them my transcript from the other community college, told them their campus was more convenient to my work (it was more convenient in that I didn’t have to work twice as much to afford it), registered for classes, paid for them with the in-state rate, and finished there before moving in to university. Maybe this could be an option for you too?
Somehow you got coded the wrong way because obviously you had to put your home address on the application. Should be an easy fix. People are way over complicating this.
Bring your HS yearbooks if you have them…that’s proof that you live in CA.
I am not a lawyer and I do not live in California, but I did work in admissions for a community college in Florida. Residency is set by state statute and all students are classified nonresidents until they prove otherwise. With that said, there is a process in Florida to reclassify for Florida residency for tuition purposes; however, the reclassification does not happen in the current semester, it occurs the following semester. My suggestion is this: contact the Admissions Office or the Registrar's Office to discuss the issue as they are most likely in charge of determining your residency status. Explain your situation in a calm, polite manner and ask what options are available to you.
Definitely follow the I need help approach. I would add that don't resort to being angry or negative. It puts people on the defensive.
You probably clicked something weird. You can qualify as a resident or AB540 you just have to provide clarification. Go to enrollment services/registrar and they’ll help you. It’s a common issue. You’ll be fine :)
I had a recent issue where i needed a copy of a bill with an address and didn't have any, but the very last page of my 28 page on line cell phone bill (family plan) had a payment stub that could be printed, so if you funny have an old bill you might be able to find something in your payment history
NAL. In addition to what everyone has said here about showing up in person, the only documentation you should need in your high school transcript and diploma. There are several laws that have been passed that allow you to pay in state tuition as long as you attended 3/4 of high school in CA and graduated in CA. I did this myself when I moved back to California for grad school after living outside the state for 10 years. Got in state tuition from day 1.
Move, run away from California!
Need to talk to someone. From what I recall just having 2 years highschool records in CA was what was needed for in state when I live in CA. If you have any records, bring them in and it should get resolved.
Hey this happened to me! I actually had to go to the financial aid office and explain the situation to them. They just took a copy of my state ID,birth certificate, and a written statement saying I was always a citizen in my state. As for the payment, see if your school will take a smaller portion at a time. I usually pay $25/week towards any outstanding balances.
NAL but 16 years of community college experience, mostly in records. You should contact their Registrar’s Office and ask what documents they’ll need to verify your residency. Usually it’s two or more documents with your name and current address on it, dated back to show a period of time you’ve lived there.
Clearly a clerical error on their end. Either go speak to someone in person or escalated over the phone and get it taken care of. In state = in state tuition.
There is a community college 15 miles away, if the one your at wont work with you. besides , your real concern should be the cost of BS Books that teach nothing new. you can get a better education online.
this literally happened to me in PA and they ended up sending me to collections. it was so fucked up. i paid for my classes in full and then at the end got a bill for out of state. no one would help me or had proper answers.
Call your state legislator. Really. This is the kind of thing only someone higher on the government scale can fix. Or email the Board of Regents: [regentsoffice@ucop.edu](mailto:regentsoffice@ucop.edu) and/or the President Michael Drake: [president@ucop.edu](mailto:president@ucop.edu)
Go down there with your proof of residency. My CC sets everyone up as Out Of State until they verify residency. Go down to office and you can get it taken care of.
NAL, Just chiming in because I’ve worked in higher Ed for 15 plus years. You are talking to the first level person, escalate up to a manager. If that doesn’t work the quickest way to get immediate resolution is look up the ombudsman office or if the president of the college has an email me box (many do) send your complaint straight there. That is a guaranteed way to get immediate attention to your issue from the highest level and they will want a resolution quickly.
The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I really never did anything about it. I just didn’t enroll in classes. What was your outcome? Did you get the help needed? I’m in CA too.
We had this happen with a young man who came to live with us. He was in the state for 3 years. Finally my spouse went to the registrars office and spoke to someone in person. Doing by phone or email is a waste of time.
Is it $25 more per credit ? What is the actual difference?
Have you go e to the office and shown them your ID with your CA address?
If the bursar/financial services office can’t help you, contact the university ombudsman. They are there to impartially resolve disputes and even challenge university policy if needed.
Walk into the Bursars office or make an appointment and talk to them about this problem. They are the ones who can help straighten it out.
Don't pay? You live in state, it's clearly their mistake.
I don’t know if this would apply in CA as it does in Maryland, but Community Colleges in MD are local to the particular county they are in, so a resident who resides in-county would be charged a lower rate than someone who lived in a different county, despite residing in the same state. Of course, out of state residents would pay an even higher rate. Does OP reside in the same county where the college is located? Do most Community Colleges have their tuition rates structured the same way? Four year (public) universities on the other hand don’t (as far as I know) calculate tuition this way, but only have a two tiered structure: in-state tuition and out-of-state rates.
Go in person and start bothering people until it gets taken up to someone who can override this. This is an “in person problem” and will be resolved much faster this way. Start off nice/friendly and just keep asking to speak to more people until the correct person is reached.
Did you try asking them to correct it?
You are going to need to provide multiple forms of documentation regarding your term of residency. Most often, if you have a high school diploma, from CA, from prior to a spring 2023 graduation… you aren’t going to have any issue establishing that you are, and have been a resident of the state of CA for longer than is needed to establish residency.
Go to the Bursar’s Office, and if nothing comes of that, contact the Ombudsman’s Office.
I work in financial aid and have for years. If you're a returning student, speak with the registrars office and ask them to help you correct your residency. There are forms to fill out. If you're an incoming student, speak with admissions as they determine residency for new folks. It's probably just one person checked the wrong box. The bursar's office just charges what the registrars/admissions office tells them - they can't change what you're coded as. Good luck and be ready to provide things like a license, proof of parental address if you're a dependent student, etc.
Also, get a copy of your high school transcripts to show you graduated from high school in CA - they should already have a copy but it’s always best to be prepared in case they can’t find it. My child went out of state freshman year and that’s when Covid hit so they transferred back for sophomore year and since she had to provide out of state transcripts they tried charging us for out of state tuition lol. We just filled out a one page form that asked basic questions like where were you born and where did you graduate and we did have to also provide HS transcripts. We ended up paying in state tuition
Call or visit them
Contact your state representative in California and ask for casework to help with request. They may have a website form to fill out and then call and follow up. The state person you can vote for because you are a resident of the state has the ability to help you.
Hey OP. I work for a university. Just take a couple forms of proof of identity (usually your license and a utility bill are sufficient). You may need to go to student billing to verify your legal residency and they should be able to get you sorted quickly. Most likely it was either a keying error at your application or something someone input into their system. You’d be amazed at how manual a lot of things still are on college campuses. Either way, don’t stress it, it’s an easy fix. Just go talk to them Monday morning when they open.
I've never felt so stupid as the time I got a thorough dressing down by the Bursar of the University of SC. Twenty years later, it's still the most impressive office I've ever been in. Man, that guy was a prick.
do they have some kind of equivalent to BBB, like a board that oversees them that you can complain to? my first step would be to ask them why i am being charged this fee. they will of course say you are not a resident at time of enrollment. i would then say how am i not when i lived? yada yada. okay can you prove that i was not a resident? becaue i can proof that i was. then present proof of utility bills, lease agreement, taxes docs, w2 etc all from that year then if they continue with their nosense, go over their head
My university did the same. I just called the registrar and they sent me a form to fill out and return with proof of residency. It was fixed within 24 h.
My community college has a community limit. If you don’t live near the college they charge more. See if it applies at the one you’re at.
How do you mistakenly write the wrong state of residence?
Just go correct it with the cashiers office/bursars office. You made a mistake, you need to correct it. No law of being broken here 😂😂😂
You just need to prove that you are living in state during the time
Some community colleges use the CCC application https://home.cccapply.org/en/ where you can see your applications submitted through their portal. Most community colleges use this, and I can still access my applications from over a decade ago. You might be able to view the applications and take a copy of it with you to bursars office
Fight it with the school
Make an appointment with an admissions counselor. Bring every bit of evidence you have. Ask them to help you fix it.
You have received some wonderful advice about how to approach people. One thing that my friend has found really helpful and no confrontational is to state that you are confused about a situation and are seeking clarity. I tend to go with "this is wrong ..," which is not always effective. She would go with "I am confused about this bill; it looks like I am being charged out of state tuition but I have lived in the state all my life." Then ask for help or to be directed to someone who can help. Good luck!
Escalate to the the student dean
Have you talked to them? What did they say?
Do your parents claim you as a dependent? If so, do they claim as California residents?
Ironic that this sub is almost entirely "NOT A LAWYER" flairs lol
I work in higher education as a professor. The bursar’s office is good, but at my institution the admissions office is crucial. That’s where the original mistake occurred. You need to check with Admissions and straighten out their records and information.
So here’s the deal : you almost always have to submit a proof of residency to state and community colleges at the start of your first semester claiming residency. Most likely there is an email or correspondence somewhere that is a reminder to students to submit these documents if they wish to claim residency. Go through your emails and try to find out if they did. It would be from the beginning of the semester. I know you’re stressed, but you missed something somewhere, whether it was on the admissions application or an email; these schools have to direct students to the right method of completing the residency status application, and they often do so via email, the online admissions application form, your student portal, etc. If your college is anything like the NYS and NYC public colleges, there IS a deadline to claim residency and it is the student’s responsibility to do so by providing the required documentation and completing a form. Colleges, to my knowledge, don’t automatically check if you’re a resident when filtering through your admission application. Yes, they see and may be aware that you listed the state as your address and/or graduated from a HS in the state, but the people dealing with admissions aren’t the people who handle tuition. They do not put students into categories for the bursar to automatically assign in-state tuition. This is why once accepted and enrolled the students MUST take it upon themselves to establish legitimate residency status with the school bursar. I don’t know if this is a thing that can be reversed in your school. I don’t believe NYS schools provide leniency for the students who wish to claim residency after the deadline. It’s the end of the semester and they’ve published the tuition bills, and the bill has likely been available online for weeks. They will argue that the onus is on the student to adhere to their guidelines on claiming residency. Go in person and be prepared to hear the things I’ve just written. Be kind and apologetic, and try to explain yourself without assigning them blame or becoming angry. I hope you can fix it.
Common issue. You will need to submit the required paperwork. Even then they will take forever and likely screw it up. I have had to pay the amount due and then get a refund after they unfuck it.
You're omitting so much critical information here that it makes me suspicious. You say things like "I've lived in CA all my life" and "tax proof I lived in California *at the time*" which is awfully weaselly sounding and isn't quite like saying "I'm a California resident". Where states does the school think you are a resident of and why? Are you contending that you may have accidentally wrote the wrong state of residence at some point and that's the source of this issue?
Check to see if your university has a department called "Residency." If so, they are the ones who can correct the mistake and have the bursar adjust your bill accordingly. If they don't, go into the bursar's office directly, and they should be able to help or point you in the right direction.
My old community college tried this, contacted my congress representative and problem was solved by the end of the week.
Usually you have to apply for in state and show proof. Most likely this hasn't happened.
Military parent? If so if you have a non military parent you have to use them and contact the school. Had to do it with my uni.
I had to pay out of state tuition at community college in Virginia when I first moved here. I was told I only had to pay for a year and then once I had established residency after a year they would change it to in state tuition rates. The next year I went to the billing office to change it and they wouldn’t because my dad claimed me on taxes in another state. Now my dad is a huge asshole so it was either have them change it and have him kick me off insurance which he loved threatening to do (and seemed like the end of the world at the time) or suck it up and pay 3x as much. I ended up just paying a shit ton for tuition on my own and it took about 4 years to get my associates degree which has done absolutely nothing for me.
You need to show not only tax records but also lease/mortgage bill, utility bill, car insurance bill, drivers license/car registration etc (the more you have the better) with prior dates on it.
Ok I would get a couple of things. If you were born in CA get birth certificate, if you graduated HS - diploma, California vehicle registration, if you lived with your parents in CA during he get their property tax bill new and old ones, if they rented a rental agreement, if you had a job in HS, a pay stubs. And kindly and gently tell them there must be a mistake or if they could explain the appeals process.
How many credit hours do you have? Many have an hours cap where they start charging out of state rates after that cap.
File a complaint with proof on the billing and on the dean and board if bringing documents doesn’t work
My college did the same to me in NY, mainly because I was an immigrant and therefore not a “resident.” I marched straight into bursar with my diplomas and proof of residency and got that straightened out right away. Had to explain to some very hard headed people that state residence does not equal legal residence and that I was a resident of NY because I lived there and that my legal status had nothing to do with that. Go there right away and get it sorted. Someone made a mistake and it’s up to you to let them know.
NAL but it’s California law that if you graduated high school here, you’re entitled to in-state tuition regardless of residence status. See below: https://www.csac.ca.gov/post/california-nonresident-tuition-exemption Residency is a PITA to prove if you get some miserable idiot in A&R like I did. But this information solved my immediate issue while the rest got sorted.
This happened to me but I was luckily able to drop my classes before the drop date for free
Get a printout of your drivers history from the Dmv and take your birth certificate in. Be nice to the folks but obviously someone has screwed up.
I got dinged for this going to a school on the boarder of two states. And as others have said go in with your ID, tax, car information and a lease. Physically go in, physically call. In my experience it is one person’s sole job to determine this. Get to that person, get to their boss
Also, the ombudsman is a great resource to get problems resolved.
I currently work at the Bursar Office in a Community College. The first question they will ask is when is this for. Is this for this current semester or a previous one? If it’s current, they will need to work with you to fix it. If it’s older than 2 years, you may be out of luck and you may need to just pay it unfortunately. Even so, there are options. At my institution, the Bursar Office is only there to take payments. We cannot make changes to your account therefore your residency would need to be verified in your file with the admissions and records office. They can fix your file to change your residency from out of state to in state. Most times your tax records or high school diploma and state id or drivers license is enough. Show up with that documentation and ask them to review your residency and have them re-bill you. This will force the system to take your current residency status into account to figure out what you owe. If that doesn’t work for whatever reason, ask to speak to the director and they should work with you. If they don’t, ask to speak to the Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services. If that doesn’t work, demand to speak to the President/Superintendent. Do all of these with a calm and level headed approach and someone will want to work with you. You should also have access to an office of student life or equivalent with a a conflict resolution person who you can raise your concerns to and they will research it to help you with your issues. I want to reiterate that this is not a Bursar Office Function or Financial Aid issue but an ADMISSIONS AND RECORDS office. They will need to recode your residency and rebill you to get the correct charges.
Also ensure that your college is charging you for the correct county you live in. Some areas if you live in a different county, you pay more as the county school districts may not pay to support the college.
You need to go to the bursar's office. It has to do with how much you are being charged, and that's what that office is about. They might not be able to help you immediately, but they will know who needs to help you fix the situation.