Do Pennsylvania Residents Get In-State Tuition in Arkansas? (Graduate, 2026)
No — Pennsylvania residents pay full non-resident graduate tuition in Arkansas, about $23,000 a year at University of Arkansas Graduate School against $9,500 for residents. There is no exchange program between Pennsylvania and Arkansas; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Arkansas residency, which takes 6 months.
- You would pay
- $23,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $9,500/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.
Pennsylvania and Arkansas sit in different compact regions, so nothing connects them. A Pennsylvania resident at University of Arkansas Graduate School pays $23,000 a year against $9,500 for an Arkansas resident — a gap of $13,500.
Seen from Pennsylvania, this is one option among 50. One other state offers Pennsylvania residents a reduced graduate rate, the lowest being Ohio at about $14,700, against $24,000 for in-state study at Penn State Graduate School.
One more angle: some public universities charge non-resident rates that are lower than another state's in-state rate. Comparing Arkansas's $23,000 against your home options on absolute cost, rather than on residency status, occasionally changes the answer.
Every route from Pennsylvania to Arkansas
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at graduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Pennsylvania residents pay less
Staying home, a Pennsylvania resident pays $24,000 a year for in-state graduate tuition at Penn State Graduate School. The cheapest Arkansas option for you is $23,000 at University of Arkansas Graduate School, which is $1,000 a year less than Pennsylvania's own in-state rate at Penn State Graduate School.
Pennsylvania belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at graduate level, but one state offers Pennsylvania residents a reduced rate through a state or campus agreement.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania to Ohio | Ohio Reciprocity Agreements · Ohio State Graduate School | $14,700 |
Pennsylvania's neighboring states, compared
What a Pennsylvania resident pays for graduate tuition in each state that borders Pennsylvania, cheapest first:
- Ohio$14,700/yr · Ohio Reciprocity Agreements
- New York$25,000/yr · non-resident
- West Virginia$27,000/yr · non-resident
- New Jersey$33,000/yr · non-resident
- Maryland$34,600/yr · non-resident
- Delaware$37,000/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Pennsylvania in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Arkansas residency, in brief
Arkansas grants in-state tuition after 6 months of domicile before the term begins (Ark. Code Ann. § 6-60-204), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Arkansas to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Arkansas residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at University of Arkansas Graduate School: $23,000 a year against $9,500 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: Arkansas requires 6 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Arkansas Division of 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 Pennsylvania residents get in-state tuition in Arkansas?
No. Pennsylvania residents pay the full non-resident rate of $23,000 at University of Arkansas Graduate School. The only route to the $9,500 in-state rate is establishing Arkansas residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Arkansas?
Arkansas requires 6 months of domicile before the term begins (Ark. Code Ann. § 6-60-204), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would graduate study in Arkansas actually cost a Pennsylvania resident?
About $23,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at University of Arkansas Graduate School, against $9,500 for an Arkansas resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Pennsylvania residents get reduced graduate tuition?
In 1 states at graduate level. Outside Arkansas, the lowest are Ohio ($14,700). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Arkansas cheaper than staying in Pennsylvania?
On tuition, yes. The cheapest Arkansas option for a Pennsylvania resident is $23,000 a year, which is $1,000 below Pennsylvania's own in-state rate of $24,000 at Penn State Graduate School. Housing and travel are not included.
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.
- Arkansas Division of Higher Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Arkansas Graduate School — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- Penn State 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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas Division of Higher Education, Ark. Code Ann. § 6-60-204. 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.