Do North Carolina Residents Get In-State Tuition in South Carolina? (Graduate, 2026)
No — North Carolina residents pay full non-resident graduate tuition in South Carolina, about $33,000 a year at University of South Carolina Graduate School against $15,000 for residents. There is no exchange program between North Carolina and South Carolina; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing South Carolina residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $33,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $15,000/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.
North Carolina and South Carolina sit in different compact regions, so nothing connects them. A North Carolina resident at University of South Carolina Graduate School pays $33,000 a year against $15,000 for a South Carolina resident — a gap of $18,000.
Seen from North Carolina, this is one option among 50. No compact or state agreement in our data reaches North Carolina residents at graduate level in any state, against $12,000 for in-state study at UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School.
One more angle: some public universities charge non-resident rates that are lower than another state's in-state rate. Comparing South Carolina's $33,000 against your home options on absolute cost, rather than on residency status, occasionally changes the answer.
Every route from North Carolina to South Carolina
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at graduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where North Carolina residents pay less
Staying home, a North Carolina resident pays $12,000 a year for in-state graduate tuition at UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School. The cheapest South Carolina option for you is $33,000 at University of South Carolina Graduate School, which is $21,000 a year more than staying home, or $42,000 over 2 years.
North Carolina belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at graduate level, and no state or campus agreement in our data reaches North Carolina residents at this level.
| State | Reference campus | Non-resident, per year |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina to South Dakota | USD Graduate School | $13,000 |
| North Carolina to District of Columbia | UDC graduate programs | $19,000 |
| North Carolina to North Dakota | UND School of Graduate Studies | $19,000 |
| North Carolina to Wyoming | University of Wyoming graduate programs | $19,000 |
| North Carolina to Arkansas | University of Arkansas Graduate School | $23,000 |
North Carolina's neighboring states, compared
What a North Carolina resident pays for graduate tuition in each state that borders North Carolina, cheapest first:
- Georgia$31,000/yr · non-resident
- South Carolina$33,000/yr · non-resident
- Tennessee$33,000/yr · non-resident
- Virginia$33,000/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from North Carolina 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 University of South Carolina Graduate School: $33,000 a year against $15,000 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: 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 North Carolina residents get in-state tuition in South Carolina?
No. North Carolina residents pay the full non-resident rate of $33,000 at University of South Carolina Graduate School. The only route to the $15,000 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 graduate study in South Carolina actually cost a North Carolina resident?
About $33,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at University of South Carolina Graduate School, against $15,000 for a South Carolina resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can North Carolina residents get reduced graduate tuition?
Nowhere through a compact or state agreement: none reaches North Carolina residents at graduate level in our data. The lowest published non-resident rates are in South Dakota ($13,000), District of Columbia ($19,000), North Dakota ($19,000), and campus scholarships remain worth checking.
›Is studying in South Carolina cheaper than staying in North Carolina?
No. North Carolina's in-state graduate rate is $12,000 a year at UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School, and the cheapest South Carolina option for a North Carolina resident is $33,000, so South Carolina costs about $21,000 more a year, or $42,000 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 Carolina Commission on Higher Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of South Carolina Graduate School — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- UNC-Chapel Hill 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 University of South Carolina 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 (SREB). 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.