Do New Mexico Residents Get In-State Tuition in Tennessee? (Graduate, 2026)
No — New Mexico residents pay full non-resident graduate tuition in Tennessee, about $33,000 a year at UT Knoxville Graduate School against $14,000 for residents. There is no exchange program between New Mexico and Tennessee; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Tennessee residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $33,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $14,000/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.
New Mexico and Tennessee sit in different compact regions, so nothing connects them. A New Mexico resident at UT Knoxville Graduate School pays $33,000 a year against $14,000 for a Tennessee resident — a gap of $19,000.
The comparison that matters is with home: UNM Graduate Studies charges a New Mexico resident $8,000 a year. 15 other states offer New Mexico residents a reduced graduate rate, the lowest being Wyoming at about $7,000.
The discount most often missed here is institutional. Individual public universities run their own non-resident scholarships, and several effectively convert a strong out-of-state applicant to something near the in-state rate. Those sit outside every state agreement and are invisible on comparison sites.
Every route from New Mexico to Tennessee
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at graduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where New Mexico residents pay less
Staying home, a New Mexico resident pays $8,000 a year for in-state graduate tuition at UNM Graduate Studies. The cheapest Tennessee option for you is $33,000 at UT Knoxville Graduate School, which is $25,000 a year more than staying home, or $50,000 over 2 years.
New Mexico belongs to Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) at graduate level, so 15 of 50 states offer New Mexico graduate students a reduced rate. Tennessee is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| New Mexico to Wyoming | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Wyoming graduate programs | $7,000 |
| New Mexico to Montana | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Montana Graduate School | $8,000 |
| New Mexico to Nevada | Western Regional Graduate Program · UNLV Graduate College | $9,000 |
| New Mexico to Utah | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Utah Graduate School | $9,300 |
| New Mexico to Idaho | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Idaho College of Graduate Studies | $9,700 |
New Mexico's neighboring states, compared
What a New Mexico resident pays for graduate tuition in each state that borders New Mexico, cheapest first:
- Utah$9,300/yr · Western Regional Graduate Program
- Texas$12,000/yr · Texas Border-County Tuition Waiver
- Arizona$13,100/yr · Western Regional Graduate Program
- Colorado$15,700/yr · Western Regional Graduate Program
- Oklahoma$26,600/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from New Mexico 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 UT Knoxville Graduate School: $33,000 a year against $14,000 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 New Mexico residents get in-state tuition in Tennessee?
No. New Mexico residents pay the full non-resident rate of $33,000 at UT Knoxville Graduate School. The only route to the $14,000 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 graduate study in Tennessee actually cost a New Mexico resident?
About $33,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at UT Knoxville Graduate School, against $14,000 for a Tennessee resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can New Mexico residents get reduced graduate tuition?
In 15 states at graduate level. Outside Tennessee, the lowest are Wyoming ($7,000), Montana ($8,000), Nevada ($9,000). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Tennessee cheaper than staying in New Mexico?
No. New Mexico's in-state graduate rate is $8,000 a year at UNM Graduate Studies, and the cheapest Tennessee option for a New Mexico resident is $33,000, so Tennessee costs about $25,000 more a year, or $50,000 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.
- Tennessee Higher Education Commission — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- UT Knoxville Graduate School — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- UNM Graduate Studies — 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 UT Knoxville 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 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.