Do North Dakota Residents Get In-State Tuition in Rhode Island? (Graduate, 2026)
No — North Dakota residents pay full non-resident graduate tuition in Rhode Island, about $29,000 a year at URI Graduate School against $15,000 for residents. There is no exchange program between North Dakota and Rhode Island; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Rhode Island residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $29,000/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 Dakota and Rhode Island sit in different compact regions, so nothing connects them. A North Dakota resident at URI Graduate School pays $29,000 a year against $15,000 for a Rhode Island resident — a gap of $14,000.
The comparison that matters is with home: UND School of Graduate Studies charges a North Dakota resident $12,700 a year. 21 other states offer North Dakota 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 North Dakota to Rhode Island
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at graduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where North Dakota residents pay less
Staying home, a North Dakota resident pays $12,700 a year for in-state graduate tuition at UND School of Graduate Studies. The cheapest Rhode Island option for you is $29,000 at URI Graduate School, which is $16,300 a year more than staying home, or $32,600 over 2 years.
North Dakota belongs to Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) and Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP) at graduate level, so 21 of 50 states offer North Dakota graduate students a reduced rate. Rhode Island is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota to Wyoming | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Wyoming graduate programs | $7,000 |
| North Dakota to Montana | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Montana Graduate School | $8,000 |
| North Dakota to New Mexico | Western Regional Graduate Program · UNM Graduate Studies | $8,000 |
| North Dakota to Nevada | Western Regional Graduate Program · UNLV Graduate College | $9,000 |
| North Dakota to Utah | Western Regional Graduate Program · University of Utah Graduate School | $9,300 |
North Dakota's neighboring states, compared
What a North Dakota resident pays for graduate tuition in each state that borders North Dakota, cheapest first:
- Montana$8,000/yr · Western Regional Graduate Program
- South Dakota$10,300/yr · Western Regional Graduate Program
- Minnesota$20,000/yr · Minnesota-Dakotas Tuition Reciprocity
Compare all 50 states from North Dakota in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Rhode Island residency, in brief
Rhode Island grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (RIOPC residency regulations), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Rhode Island to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Rhode Island residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at URI Graduate School: $29,000 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: Rhode Island requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner 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 Dakota residents get in-state tuition in Rhode Island?
No. North Dakota residents pay the full non-resident rate of $29,000 at URI Graduate School. The only route to the $15,000 in-state rate is establishing Rhode Island residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Rhode Island?
Rhode Island requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (RIOPC residency regulations), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would graduate study in Rhode Island actually cost a North Dakota resident?
About $29,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at URI Graduate School, against $15,000 for a Rhode Island resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can North Dakota residents get reduced graduate tuition?
In 21 states at graduate level. Outside Rhode Island, the lowest are Wyoming ($7,000), Montana ($8,000), New Mexico ($8,000). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Rhode Island cheaper than staying in North Dakota?
No. North Dakota's in-state graduate rate is $12,700 a year at UND School of Graduate Studies, and the cheapest Rhode Island option for a North Dakota resident is $29,000, so Rhode Island costs about $16,300 more a year, or $32,600 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.
- Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- URI Graduate School — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- UND School of 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 URI 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, MHEC, NEBHE). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, RIOPC residency regulations. 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.