Do Maine Residents Get In-State Tuition in South Carolina? (Community College, 2026)
No — Maine 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 Maine 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.
Neither a regional compact nor a bilateral agreement links Maine and South Carolina. That leaves two routes to a lower rate: an institutional scholarship from the campus itself, or 12 months of South Carolina domicile.
Maine residents start from $4,000 a year, the in-state community college rate at Maine Community College System. Measured against that, South Carolina costs $7,300 a year more than staying home. 5 other states offer Maine residents a reduced community college rate, the lowest being Connecticut at about $8,575.
If the gap decides the question, price the alternative honestly — two years at a Maine public institution followed by transfer is the route that most often closes a $5,700 annual difference.
Every route from Maine to South Carolina
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at community college level, so the route table is empty.
Where Maine residents pay less
Staying home, a Maine resident pays $4,000 a year for in-state community college tuition at Maine Community College System. The cheapest South Carolina option for you is $11,300 at South Carolina technical colleges, which is $7,300 a year more than staying home, or $14,600 over 2 years.
Maine belongs to New England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break) (Tuition Break) at community college level, so 5 of 50 states offer Maine community college students a reduced rate. South Carolina is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Maine to Connecticut | New England Regional Student Program · Connecticut State Community College | $8,575 |
| Maine to Rhode Island | New England Regional Student Program · Community College of Rhode Island | $9,275 |
| Maine to Massachusetts | New England Regional Student Program · Massachusetts community colleges | $10,850 |
| Maine to New Hampshire | New England Regional Student Program · Community College System of New Hampshire | $13,825 |
| Maine to Vermont | New England Regional Student Program · Community College of Vermont | $14,350 |
Maine's neighboring states, compared
What a Maine resident pays for community college tuition in each state that borders Maine, cheapest first:
- New Hampshire$13,825/yr · New England Regional Student Program
Compare all 50 states from Maine 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 Maine residents get in-state tuition in South Carolina?
No. Maine 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 Maine 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 Maine residents get reduced community college tuition?
In 5 states at community college level. Outside South Carolina, the lowest are Connecticut ($8,575), Rhode Island ($9,275), Massachusetts ($10,850). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in South Carolina cheaper than staying in Maine?
No. Maine's in-state community college rate is $4,000 a year at Maine Community College System, and the cheapest South Carolina option for a Maine resident is $11,300, so South Carolina costs about $7,300 more a year, or $14,600 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
- Maine Community College System — 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 (NEBHE). 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.