Do Illinois Residents Get In-State Tuition in Tennessee? (Community College, 2026)
No — Illinois residents pay full non-resident community college tuition in Tennessee, about $19,300 a year at Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges against $4,700 for residents. There is no exchange program between Illinois and Tennessee; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Tennessee residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $19,300/yr
- Resident pays
- $4,700/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.
Neither a regional compact nor a bilateral agreement links Illinois and Tennessee. That leaves two routes to a lower rate: an institutional scholarship from the campus itself, or 12 months of Tennessee domicile.
One other state offers Illinois residents a reduced community college rate, the lowest being Kentucky at about $4,700. At home, in-state community college tuition is $4,600 at Illinois Community College Board institutions, so Tennessee works out at $14,700 a year more than staying home.
Worth checking before you accept the non-resident rate: whether the campus offers a border-county waiver, a legacy or alumni rate, or a merit award pegged to the residency gap. These are institutional decisions and they are not published centrally.
Every route from Illinois to Tennessee
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at community college level, so the route table is empty.
Where Illinois residents pay less
Staying home, an Illinois resident pays $4,600 a year for in-state community college tuition at Illinois Community College Board institutions. The cheapest Tennessee option for you is $19,300 at Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges, which is $14,700 a year more than staying home, or $29,400 over 2 years.
Illinois belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at community college level, but one state offers Illinois residents a reduced rate through a state or campus agreement.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois to Kentucky | Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements · Kentucky Community and Technical College System | $4,700 |
Illinois's neighboring states, compared
What an Illinois resident pays for community college tuition in each state that borders Illinois, cheapest first:
- Kentucky$4,700/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Iowa$7,300/yr · non-resident
- Missouri$7,300/yr · non-resident
- Wisconsin$8,300/yr · non-resident
- Indiana$9,300/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Illinois in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Tennessee residency, in brief
Tennessee grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0240-02-02), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Tennessee to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Tennessee residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges: $19,300 a year against $4,700 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: Tennessee requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Tennessee Higher Education Commission 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 Illinois residents get in-state tuition in Tennessee?
No. Illinois residents pay the full non-resident rate of $19,300 at Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges. The only route to the $4,700 in-state rate is establishing Tennessee residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Tennessee?
Tennessee requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0240-02-02), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would community college study in Tennessee actually cost an Illinois resident?
About $19,300 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges, against $4,700 for a Tennessee resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Illinois residents get reduced community college tuition?
In 1 states at community college level. Outside Tennessee, the lowest are Kentucky ($4,700). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Tennessee cheaper than staying in Illinois?
No. Illinois's in-state community college rate is $4,600 a year at Illinois Community College Board institutions, and the cheapest Tennessee option for an Illinois resident is $19,300, so Tennessee costs about $14,700 more a year, or $29,400 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.
- Tennessee Higher Education Commission — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- Tennessee Board of Regents community colleges — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- Illinois Community College Board institutions — 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 Tennessee Board of Regents community 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, MHEC, SREB and NEBHE). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against Tennessee Higher Education Commission, Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0240-02-02. 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.