Do Alabama Residents Get In-State Tuition in South Dakota? (Graduate, 2026)
No — Alabama residents pay full non-resident graduate tuition in South Dakota, about $13,000 a year at USD Graduate School against $10,300 for residents. There is no exchange program between Alabama and South Dakota; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing South Dakota residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $13,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $10,300/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.
Neither a regional compact nor a bilateral agreement links Alabama and South Dakota. That leaves two routes to a lower rate: an institutional scholarship from the campus itself, or 12 months of South Dakota domicile.
14 other states offer Alabama residents a reduced graduate rate, the lowest being Arkansas at about $9,500. At home, in-state graduate tuition is $12,500 at The University of Alabama Graduate School, so South Dakota works out at $500 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 Alabama to South Dakota
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at graduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Alabama residents pay less
Staying home, an Alabama resident pays $12,500 a year for in-state graduate tuition at The University of Alabama Graduate School. The cheapest South Dakota option for you is $13,000 at USD Graduate School, which is $500 a year more than staying home, or $1,000 over 2 years.
Alabama belongs to Academic Common Market (ACM) at graduate level, so 14 of 50 states offer Alabama graduate students a reduced rate. South Dakota is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama to Arkansas | Academic Common Market · University of Arkansas Graduate School | $9,500 |
| Alabama to Mississippi | Academic Common Market · University of Mississippi Graduate School | $9,800 |
| Alabama to Louisiana | Academic Common Market · LSU Graduate School | $10,300 |
| Alabama to Oklahoma | Academic Common Market · OU Graduate College | $10,300 |
| Alabama to Texas | Academic Common Market · UT Austin Graduate School | $12,000 |
Alabama's neighboring states, compared
What an Alabama resident pays for graduate tuition in each state that borders Alabama, cheapest first:
- Mississippi$9,800/yr · Academic Common Market
- Georgia$12,100/yr · Academic Common Market
- Florida$12,700/yr · Academic Common Market
- Tennessee$14,000/yr · Academic Common Market
Compare all 50 states from Alabama in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
South Dakota residency, in brief
South Dakota grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (SDBOR Policy 3:5), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to South Dakota to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
South Dakota residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at USD Graduate School: $13,000 a year against $10,300 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: South Dakota requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the South Dakota Board of Regents 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 Alabama residents get in-state tuition in South Dakota?
No. Alabama residents pay the full non-resident rate of $13,000 at USD Graduate School. The only route to the $10,300 in-state rate is establishing South Dakota residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in South Dakota?
South Dakota requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (SDBOR Policy 3:5), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would graduate study in South Dakota actually cost an Alabama resident?
About $13,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at USD Graduate School, against $10,300 for a South Dakota resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Alabama residents get reduced graduate tuition?
In 14 states at graduate level. Outside South Dakota, the lowest are Arkansas ($9,500), Mississippi ($9,800), Louisiana ($10,300). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in South Dakota cheaper than staying in Alabama?
No. Alabama's in-state graduate rate is $12,500 a year at The University of Alabama Graduate School, and the cheapest South Dakota option for an Alabama resident is $13,000, so South Dakota costs about $500 more a year, or $1,000 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 Dakota Board of Regents — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- USD Graduate School — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- The University of Alabama Graduate School — 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 USD Graduate School’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, SREB). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against South Dakota Board of Regents, SDBOR Policy 3:5. 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.