Yes, if you have H1, and your wife is H4 (H1's dependent),  she can pay resident fee. She has to be in H4 for a year (atleast in California, it might be different w/ different states. Check with her academic adviser) to be able to claim resident fee. Once, she's been in H4 for the required time, all your wife has to do is go to her school's website, find a form that says something like "Change in Visa status" or " Request to change status for residential fee", fill it out and submit it to her international adviser. It has to be been before the term she's trying to be a resident though, and different school have different due dates.