<p>I’m going to school next year in out of state in California. I was just wondering, how long does it take to get residency? What is required? and as for cell phones and banking, what do most students do? When should I change my phone service?</p>
<p>I assume you mean you are going to a public university in California because otherwise residency does not affect tuition cost. </p>
<p>You are presumed to be a resident where your parents reside. For you to become a California resident (when they reside elsewhere), you would need to become independent of them, meaning among other things that you work and pay your own college costs, and reside in California for at least one year (and time spent in college is not counted toward such residency). </p>
<p>As to cell phones, if you already have a provider that is nationwide and a plan that covers nationwide, you likely don’t have to make any changes. Banking: you can stay with what you have or switch to an account with a local bank.</p>
<p>But don’t I need a different area code?</p>
<p>^Nope. Everyone has different area codes within California. Just make sure when you add people to your phone you put 1-area code in front. It’s annoying, but you don’t have to switch (I’m in-state and I have a different area code from all my friends).</p>
<p>“But don’t I need a different area code?”</p>
<p>Only if you still have one of those cell-phone plans where it cost you more to call outside of your own area code (in which case you may need to change your service plan not your phone number). Major providers such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all have service areas in all major parts of the country and have plans where you pay a monthly fee for some maximum number of minutes and local and long distance calls are treated the same regardless from where you are calling and thus you don’t need a new area code just because you have moved from home to college.</p>