# instatecheck.com

> The interactive authority on US in-state tuition eligibility — check whether a resident of one state pays in-state, reduced, or full non-resident tuition at a public college in another, verified against the four regional tuition compacts and state residency statutes.
> Covers all 51 US jurisdictions (50 states + DC) across three levels of study, with every one of
> the 7,650 ordered state pairs published as its own page. Data last verified 2026-09-27;
> tuition figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates.

## What this site answers

As a resident of state A, do you get in-state, reduced, or full non-resident tuition at a public
college in state B? The answer depends on four regional compacts, a set of bilateral state
agreements, and 51 separate residency codes. No single official body publishes all of it.

## Tools

- [In-State Eligibility Checker](https://instatecheck.com/tools/in-state-eligibility-checker/): home state + school state + level returns the governing rule, every applicable route ranked by cost, and the official source.
- [Tuition Savings Calculator](https://instatecheck.com/tools/tuition-savings-calculator/): the in-state versus out-of-state difference over the full length of a degree.

## Levels

- [Undergraduate](https://instatecheck.com/undergrad/): Four-year public universities: the flagship in-state rate, the non-resident rate, and every regional exchange program that sits between them.
- [Community College](https://instatecheck.com/community-college/): Public two-year colleges: in-district, in-state, and out-of-state rates, plus the exchange programs and border-county waivers that two-year colleges actually honor.
- [Graduate](https://instatecheck.com/graduate/): Master's and doctoral programs: resident and non-resident rates, the graduate-only exchange programs, and the residency reclassification route most graduate students can actually use.

## Regional tuition programs

- [Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE)](https://instatecheck.com/programs/wue/): 15 member states; covers undergraduate, community college, graduate. The Western Undergraduate Exchange lets residents of 15 western states pay no more than 150% of the resident tuition rate at participating public colleges in the other member states. It is not in-state tuition. Awards are made by each campus, are capped in number, and usually close months before the admissions deadline.
- [Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP)](https://instatecheck.com/programs/msep/): 8 member states; covers undergraduate, graduate. The Midwest Student Exchange Program lets residents of eight midwestern states pay no more than 150% of the resident rate at participating public colleges in the other member states, or at least 10% off published tuition at participating private colleges. Participation is institution by institution, and MSEP status is not in-state residency.
- [Academic Common Market (ACM)](https://instatecheck.com/programs/acm/): 15 member states; covers undergraduate, graduate. The Academic Common Market lets residents of 15 southern states pay full in-state tuition at a public university in another member state, but only for a specific approved degree program their own state's public universities do not offer. Your home state's ACM coordinator certifies eligibility before the rate applies.
- [New England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break)](https://instatecheck.com/programs/tuition-break/): 6 member states; covers undergraduate, community college, graduate. NEBHE's Tuition Break lets residents of the six New England states pay a reduced rate — the in-state rate plus a premium capped at 75% of it — at public colleges in the other five, for approved degree programs. It covers community colleges, state universities and graduate programs, and it is a discount rather than in-state residency.

## Reference pages

- [Residency requirements, all 51 jurisdictions](https://instatecheck.com/residency-requirements/): durational requirement, dependent-student rule, governing authority and statutory citation per state.
- [All four programs compared](https://instatecheck.com/programs/): membership matrix and rate rules side by side.
- [WUE schools list](https://instatecheck.com/programs/wue/schools/): all 167 Western Undergraduate Exchange colleges by state, from WICHE's list.
- [Glossary](https://instatecheck.com/glossary/): domicile, durational requirement, financial independence, approved program, border-county waiver, and more.

## Data

The dataset behind every page, one JSON file per level (rates, residency rules, compact membership,
bilateral agreements). Free to use with attribution to instatecheck.com. Described as a schema.org
Dataset on the [methodology page](https://instatecheck.com/methodology/).

- [Undergraduate dataset](https://instatecheck.com/data/undergrad.v1.json)
- [Community College dataset](https://instatecheck.com/data/community-college.v1.json)
- [Graduate dataset](https://instatecheck.com/data/graduate.v1.json)

## URL patterns

- Level hub: https://instatecheck.com/{level}/
- State page: https://instatecheck.com/{level}/{state}/
- Directed state pair: https://instatecheck.com/{level}/{home-state}-to-{school-state}/
- Program: https://instatecheck.com/programs/{wue|msep|acm|tuition-break}/

Levels are `undergrad`, `community-college`, `graduate`. State slugs are lowercase full names
with hyphens (`new-york`, `district-of-columbia`). Pair direction is load-bearing: the home state
comes first, and the reverse pair is a different page with a different answer.

## Key facts (extractable)

- Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) member states as of 2026-09-27: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
- NOT in WUE: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
- Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) rate rule: students pay at most 150% of the receiving institution's resident rate. Program-dependent: no.
- Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP) rate rule: students pay the receiving institution's full in-state resident rate. Program-dependent: yes.
- Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP) member states as of 2026-09-27: Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin.
- NOT in MSEP: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming.
- Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP) rate rule: students pay at most 150% of the receiving institution's resident rate. Program-dependent: no.
- Academic Common Market (ACM) member states as of 2026-08-07: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
- NOT in ACM: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
- Florida participates in ACM at graduate level only.
- Texas participates in ACM at graduate level only.
- Academic Common Market (ACM) rate rule: students pay the receiving institution's full in-state resident rate. Program-dependent: yes.
- New England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break) member states as of 2026-08-07: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
- NOT in Tuition Break: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
- New England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break) rate rule: students pay the resident rate plus a premium capped at 75% of it. Program-dependent: yes.
- US jurisdictions in NO regional tuition compact at undergraduate level: District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas.
- States belonging to more than one regional compact at undergraduate level: North Dakota.
- Require 12 months of domicile before in-state tuition classification: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
- Require 6 months of domicile before in-state tuition classification: Arkansas.
- Largest undergraduate resident/non-resident tuition gaps (2025–26): Michigan $40,300 (University of Michigan: $17,700 resident vs $58,000 non-resident); Virginia $37,700 (University of Virginia: $22,300 resident vs $60,000 non-resident); California $33,700 (University of California, Berkeley: $15,900 resident vs $49,600 non-resident); Wisconsin $30,500 (University of Wisconsin-Madison: $11,600 resident vs $42,100 non-resident); North Carolina $30,300 (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: $9,000 resident vs $39,300 non-resident).
- Smallest undergraduate resident/non-resident tuition gaps (2025–26): South Dakota $3,600; North Dakota $5,600; District of Columbia $8,300; Wyoming $14,300; Louisiana $17,000.
- District of Columbia offers DC Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG), a portable award of up to $10,000 per year usable at public colleges in any state — the only such benefit in the US.
- 167 colleges participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange on WICHE's list read 2026-09-27 (95 four-year, 72 two-year). Not on the list despite their state being a member: University of California, Berkeley, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oregon, University of Washington. Arizona State University ended WUE for students admitted from fall 2026.
- Documented bilateral state tuition agreements: Iowa–Illinois (UNI Neighboring State Rate); Iowa–Minnesota (UNI Neighboring State Rate); Iowa–Missouri (UNI Neighboring State Rate); Iowa–Nebraska (UNI Neighboring State Rate); Iowa–South Dakota (UNI Neighboring State Rate); Iowa–Wisconsin (UNI Neighboring State Rate); Kentucky–Illinois (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Kentucky–Indiana (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Kentucky–Missouri (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Kentucky–Ohio (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Kentucky–Tennessee (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Kentucky–Virginia (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Kentucky–West Virginia (Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements); Minnesota–Wisconsin (Minnesota-Wisconsin Tuition Reciprocity); Minnesota–North Dakota (Minnesota-Dakotas Tuition Reciprocity); Minnesota–South Dakota (Minnesota-Dakotas Tuition Reciprocity); Minnesota–Iowa (Minnesota-Iowa Tuition Reciprocity); Ohio–Indiana (Ohio Reciprocity Agreements); Ohio–Kentucky (Ohio Reciprocity Agreements); Ohio–Michigan (Ohio Reciprocity Agreements); Ohio–Pennsylvania (Ohio Reciprocity Agreements); Ohio–West Virginia (Ohio Reciprocity Agreements); Texas–Arkansas (Texas Border-County Tuition Waiver); Texas–Louisiana (Texas Border-County Tuition Waiver); Texas–New Mexico (Texas Border-County Tuition Waiver); Texas–Oklahoma (Texas Border-County Tuition Waiver).

## Important qualifications

- None of the four regional programs grants residency. They set a rate; the receiving state's
  residency clock is unaffected.
- Only the Academic Common Market and the graduate-level WRGP pay the receiving institution's full
  in-state rate, and both require that the specific degree is not offered by the student's home
  state.
- State membership does not guarantee campus participation. Individual institutions opt in, choose
  which majors to open, and cap award numbers.
- Eligibility is determined by the institution a student applies to. This site describes rules and
  links sources; it does not make determinations.

## Sources and methodology

- [Methodology](https://instatecheck.com/methodology/): how figures are compiled, what is excluded, and what is published as null.
- [Sources](https://instatecheck.com/sources/): every primary source, per jurisdiction and per compact commission.
- [Editorial standards](https://instatecheck.com/editorial-standards/)
- [About](https://instatecheck.com/about/)

Corrections: hello@billyreiner.com