Do Missouri Residents Get In-State Tuition in Pennsylvania? (Community College, 2026)
No — Missouri residents pay full non-resident community college tuition in Pennsylvania, about $12,500 a year at Pennsylvania community colleges against $6,300 for residents. There is no exchange program between Missouri and Pennsylvania; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Pennsylvania residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $12,500/yr
- Resident pays
- $6,300/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.
There is no agreement between these two states at community college level. The full non-resident rate applies: $12,500 at Pennsylvania community colleges, where a resident pays $6,300.
Missouri residents start from $4,400 a year, the in-state community college rate at Missouri community colleges. Measured against that, Pennsylvania costs $8,100 a year more than staying home. One other state offers Missouri residents a reduced community college rate, the lowest being Kentucky at about $4,700.
If the gap decides the question, price the alternative honestly — two years at a Missouri public institution followed by transfer is the route that most often closes a $6,200 annual difference.
Every route from Missouri to Pennsylvania
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at community college level, so the route table is empty.
Where Missouri residents pay less
Staying home, a Missouri resident pays $4,400 a year for in-state community college tuition at Missouri community colleges. The cheapest Pennsylvania option for you is $12,500 at Pennsylvania community colleges, which is $8,100 a year more than staying home, or $16,200 over 2 years.
Missouri belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at community college level, but one state offers Missouri residents a reduced rate through a state or campus agreement. It does take part in Midwest Student Exchange Program at undergraduate and graduate level.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Missouri to Kentucky | Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements · Kentucky Community and Technical College System | $4,700 |
Missouri's neighboring states, compared
What a Missouri resident pays for community college tuition in each state that borders Missouri, cheapest first:
- Nebraska$4,300/yr · non-resident
- Kentucky$4,700/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Kansas$5,100/yr · non-resident
- Arkansas$5,600/yr · non-resident
- Iowa$7,300/yr · non-resident
- Oklahoma$11,300/yr · non-resident
- Illinois$12,000/yr · non-resident
- Tennessee$19,300/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Missouri in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Pennsylvania residency, in brief
Pennsylvania grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (22 Pa. Code § 33.1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Pennsylvania to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Pennsylvania residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at Pennsylvania community colleges: $12,500 a year against $6,300 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: Pennsylvania requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Pennsylvania Department of 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 Missouri residents get in-state tuition in Pennsylvania?
No. Missouri residents pay the full non-resident rate of $12,500 at Pennsylvania community colleges. The only route to the $6,300 in-state rate is establishing Pennsylvania residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (22 Pa. Code § 33.1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would community college study in Pennsylvania actually cost a Missouri resident?
About $12,500 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at Pennsylvania community colleges, against $6,300 for a Pennsylvania resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Missouri residents get reduced community college tuition?
In 1 states at community college level. Outside Pennsylvania, the lowest are Kentucky ($4,700). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Pennsylvania cheaper than staying in Missouri?
No. Missouri's in-state community college rate is $4,400 a year at Missouri community colleges, and the cheapest Pennsylvania option for a Missouri resident is $12,500, so Pennsylvania costs about $8,100 more a year, or $16,200 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.
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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania Department of Education, 22 Pa. Code § 33.1. 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.