The Four US Tuition Exchange Programs Compared (2026)
Verified 2026-09-27 · 2025–26 rates
Four regional agreements cover the United States: WUE in the west, MSEP in the midwest, the Academic Common Market in the south, and NEBHE Tuition Break in New England. They do not interoperate, they set different rates by different mechanisms, and only one of them pays the receiving state's full in-state rate.
Side by side
| Program | Operator | States | Rate it sets | Levels | Gated on major? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WUE | WICHE | 15 | 150% of resident rate / In-state rate | Undergraduate, Community College, Graduate | Yes |
| MSEP | MHEC | 8 | 150% of resident rate | Undergraduate, Graduate | No |
| ACM | SREB | 15 | In-state rate | Undergraduate, Graduate | Yes |
| Tuition Break | NEBHE | 6 | Resident rate +75% max | Undergraduate, Community College, Graduate | Yes |
Each one in detail
WUE
WestWestern Undergraduate Exchange
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.
Members, rules and worked examples →
MSEP
MidwestMidwest Student Exchange Program
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.
Members, rules and worked examples →
ACM
SouthAcademic Common Market
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.
Members, rules and worked examples →
Tuition Break
New EnglandNew England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break)
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.
Members, rules and worked examples →
Which states belong to what
| State | WUE | MSEP | ACM | Tuition Break |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | – | – | ● | – |
| Alaska | ● | – | – | – |
| Arizona | ● | – | – | – |
| Arkansas | – | – | ● | – |
| 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 | ● | – | – | – |
8 jurisdictions belong to none of the four: District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. Their residents rely on bilateral agreements, institutional scholarships, or a genuine move.
Start from your level
Asked and answered
›Can you use more than one tuition exchange program?
Not simultaneously. The four compacts are geographically separate and do not stack, and a campus applies whichever single rate you qualify for. North Dakota is the one state that belongs to two of them — WICHE and MHEC — so a North Dakota student genuinely has both WUE and MSEP available, and takes whichever produces the lower rate for the specific campus.
›Which tuition exchange program is the most generous?
The Academic Common Market, and it is not close: an approved student pays the receiving state's full in-state rate rather than a multiple of it. The graduate-level WRGP does the same. Both pay for that generosity with the narrowest eligibility gate — the degree has to be one your home state does not offer.
›Do these programs cover private colleges?
Only MSEP, and on a different mechanism. Participating private institutions in the Midwest Student Exchange Program discount their own published tuition by at least 10% rather than capping it at a multiple of a resident rate. On a high private sticker price, 10% off can still exceed a public non-resident rate.
›What if my state belongs to none of them?
8 jurisdictions belong to no regional compact: District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. For residents of those states the routes are a bilateral agreement with a specific neighbor, an institutional non-resident scholarship, a border-county waiver, or establishing residency. The state pages list whichever of those exist.
How this page was made
Compiled and checked by Billy Reiner, editor of In-State Check. Last verified 2026-09-27.
- Compiled from published rate pages
- Every dollar figure on this site is tuition and mandatory fees for one full-time year, read from the named reference institution’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 is checked against the commission that runs each program (WICHE, MHEC, SREB and NEBHE), and every residency rule against the issuing state authority or statute. 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.