Do Hawaii Residents Get In-State Tuition in South Carolina? (Community College, 2026)
No — Hawaii residents pay full non-resident community college tuition in South Carolina, about $11,300 a year at South Carolina technical colleges against $5,600 for residents. There is no exchange program between Hawaii and South Carolina; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing South Carolina residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $11,300/yr
- Resident pays
- $5,600/yr
- Over 2 yrs
- No saving available
Tuition and mandatory fees only, compiled from published rates and rounded. Excludes housing, books and course differentials. Eligibility is decided by the institution, not by this page.
Open this pair in the checker to switch level, compare other states, or copy a link to the result.
Hawaii and South Carolina sit in different compact regions, so nothing connects them. A Hawaii resident at South Carolina technical colleges pays $11,300 a year against $5,600 for a South Carolina resident — a gap of $5,700.
Seen from Hawaii, this is one option among 50. 14 other states offer Hawaii residents a reduced community college rate, the lowest being California at about $2,100, against $3,500 for in-state study at University of Hawai'i Community Colleges.
One more angle: some public universities charge non-resident rates that are lower than another state's in-state rate. Comparing South Carolina's $11,300 against your home options on absolute cost, rather than on residency status, occasionally changes the answer.
Every route from Hawaii to South Carolina
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at community college level, so the route table is empty.
Where Hawaii residents pay less
Staying home, a Hawaii resident pays $3,500 a year for in-state community college tuition at University of Hawai'i Community Colleges. The cheapest South Carolina option for you is $11,300 at South Carolina technical colleges, which is $7,800 a year more than staying home, or $15,600 over 2 years.
Hawaii belongs to Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) at community college level, so 14 of 50 states offer Hawaii community college students a reduced rate. South Carolina is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii to California | Western Undergraduate Exchange · California Community Colleges | $2,100 |
| Hawaii to New Mexico | Western Undergraduate Exchange · New Mexico community colleges | $3,450 |
| Hawaii to Arizona | Western Undergraduate Exchange · Maricopa County Community Colleges | $4,200 |
| Hawaii to Nevada | Western Undergraduate Exchange · Nevada community colleges (NSHE) | $5,400 |
| Hawaii to Wyoming | Western Undergraduate Exchange · Wyoming community colleges | $6,000 |
Compare all 50 states from Hawaii in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
South Carolina residency, in brief
South Carolina grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (S.C. Code Ann. § 59-112-20), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to South Carolina to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
South Carolina residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at South Carolina technical colleges: $11,300 a year against $5,600 for residents.
- Check whether the specific campus you want offers its own non-resident scholarship or a border-county waiver — those are institutional, sit outside the state agreements, and are the most commonly missed discount.
- If you plan to stay, price the residency route: South Carolina requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education rules in full before you enroll — classification is decided once, and re-classification later in a degree is the hardest version of this problem.
Official links
Related
Asked and answered
›Do Hawaii residents get in-state tuition in South Carolina?
No. Hawaii residents pay the full non-resident rate of $11,300 at South Carolina technical colleges. The only route to the $5,600 in-state rate is establishing South Carolina residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in South Carolina?
South Carolina requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (S.C. Code Ann. § 59-112-20), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would community college study in South Carolina actually cost a Hawaii resident?
About $11,300 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at South Carolina technical colleges, against $5,600 for a South Carolina resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Hawaii residents get reduced community college tuition?
In 14 states at community college level. Outside South Carolina, the lowest are California ($2,100), New Mexico ($3,450), Arizona ($4,200). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in South Carolina cheaper than staying in Hawaii?
No. Hawaii's in-state community college rate is $3,500 a year at University of Hawai'i Community Colleges, and the cheapest South Carolina option for a Hawaii resident is $11,300, so South Carolina costs about $7,800 more a year, or $15,600 over 2 years, in tuition and fees alone.
Sources
Every eligibility rule on this page is checked against the operating compact commission or the state's own residency authority. Last verified 2026-08-07.
Tuition figures on this page are compiled 2025–26 published rates (basis: published compiled), rounded to the nearest $100 and refreshed each June. Eligibility rules are checked against the cited compact commission or residency authority.
- South Carolina Commission on Higher Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- South Carolina technical colleges — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Hawai'i Community Colleges — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
How this page was made
Compiled and checked by Billy Reiner, editor of In-State Check. Last verified 2026-08-07.
- Compiled from published rate pages
- The in-state and non-resident figures are tuition and mandatory fees for one full-time year, read from South Carolina technical colleges’s own 2025–26 rate page and rounded to the nearest $100. Housing, books, travel and course-specific differentials are not included in them.
- Checked against the administering body
- Compact membership at this level was checked against the commission that runs the program (WICHE). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, S.C. Code Ann. § 59-112-20. Nothing here is taken from another comparison site.
Not advice. In-State Check is independent of every college, compact and state agency named here. Residency classification and award decisions are made by the institution you apply to. Found an error? Send the page URL and the source that contradicts it to [email protected], and the page is corrected and re-dated. Full methodology.