Do Illinois Residents Get In-State Tuition in Wisconsin? (Graduate, 2026)
No — Illinois residents pay full non-resident graduate tuition in Wisconsin, about $26,000 a year at UW-Madison Graduate School against $12,400 for residents. There is no exchange program between Illinois and Wisconsin; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Wisconsin residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $26,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $12,400/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.
This is the common case, and the honest answer is no. Wisconsin charges Illinois residents its full non-resident graduate rate of $26,000, and no regional program bridges the two states.
Seen from Illinois, this is one option among 50. One other state offers Illinois residents a reduced graduate rate, the lowest being Kentucky at about $14,000, against $18,700 for in-state study at University of Illinois Graduate College.
One more angle: some public universities charge non-resident rates that are lower than another state's in-state rate. Comparing Wisconsin's $26,000 against your home options on absolute cost, rather than on residency status, occasionally changes the answer.
Every route from Illinois to Wisconsin
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at graduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Illinois residents pay less
Staying home, an Illinois resident pays $18,700 a year for in-state graduate tuition at University of Illinois Graduate College. The cheapest Wisconsin option for you is $26,000 at UW-Madison Graduate School, which is $7,300 a year more than staying home, or $14,600 over 2 years.
Illinois belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at graduate 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 · University of Kentucky Graduate School | $14,000 |
Illinois's neighboring states, compared
What an Illinois resident pays for graduate tuition in each state that borders Illinois, cheapest first:
- Kentucky$14,000/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Wisconsin$26,000/yr · non-resident
- Missouri$26,600/yr · non-resident
- Iowa$31,600/yr · non-resident
- Indiana$32,000/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Illinois in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Wisconsin residency, in brief
Wisconsin grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Wis. Stat. § 36.27), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Wisconsin to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Wisconsin residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at UW-Madison Graduate School: $26,000 a year against $12,400 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: Wisconsin requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Universities of Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin?
No. Illinois residents pay the full non-resident rate of $26,000 at UW-Madison Graduate School. The only route to the $12,400 in-state rate is establishing Wisconsin residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Wis. Stat. § 36.27), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would graduate study in Wisconsin actually cost an Illinois resident?
About $26,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at UW-Madison Graduate School, against $12,400 for a Wisconsin resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Illinois residents get reduced graduate tuition?
In 1 states at graduate level. Outside Wisconsin, the lowest are Kentucky ($14,000). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Wisconsin cheaper than staying in Illinois?
No. Illinois's in-state graduate rate is $18,700 a year at University of Illinois Graduate College, and the cheapest Wisconsin option for an Illinois resident is $26,000, so Wisconsin 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.
- Universities of Wisconsin — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- UW-Madison Graduate School — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Illinois Graduate College — 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 UW-Madison 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 (MHEC). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against Universities of Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. § 36.27. 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.