Environment,

Ya, it depends on the university policies and procedures, its not same across USA.

I repeat, most colleges offer resident tuition to spouse of a graduate student(MS,PhD) who holds Research Assistant or Graduate Assistant Position. Regarding the spouse of H1B, they are not allowed to work unless they change to a different visa status.But if you are a student already then you wont need to change to dependent status , just show some proof of relationship and you might end up paying resident tuition only.