Academic Common Market (ACM): Member States, Rules and What It Actually Saves (2026)
Operated by Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) · South · 15 member states · verified 2026-08-07
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.
The Academic Common Market is the southern agreement, and the most valuable of the four when it applies: an approved student pays the receiving state's full in-state rate, not a multiple of it. The trade is a narrow gate — the degree has to be one your home state does not offer.
Does ACM apply to your state pair?The checker runs your two states against all four compacts and every bilateral agreement at once.The rule, exactly
Academic Common Market (ACM)
Undergraduate · GraduateAn approved ACM student pays the receiving institution's full in-state tuition rate. The gate is availability at home: the program must appear on SREB's approved inventory for your state, which in practice means your own state's public universities do not offer that specific degree. You are certified as ACM-eligible by your home state's ACM coordinator before the receiving institution will apply the rate.
What it is worth, state by state
The ACM rule applied to each member state's reference public four-year university at undergraduate level, 2025–26 rates. Ranked by saving.
| Member state | Reference institution | Resident | Under ACM | Non-resident | Saving/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | University of Virginia | $22,300 | $22,300 | $60,000 | $37,700 |
| Texas | The University of Texas at Austin | $11,700 | $11,700 | $42,000 | $30,300 |
| Maryland | University of Maryland, College Park | $11,900 | $11,900 | $42,000 | $30,100 |
| Delaware | University of Delaware | $15,900 | $15,900 | $40,600 | $24,700 |
| South Carolina | University of South Carolina | $13,700 | $13,700 | $36,300 | $22,600 |
| Florida | University of Florida | $6,400 | $6,400 | $28,700 | $22,300 |
| Alabama | The University of Alabama | $13,700 | $13,700 | $34,900 | $21,200 |
| Kentucky | University of Kentucky | $13,700 | $13,700 | $34,200 | $20,500 |
| Georgia | University of Georgia | $12,100 | $12,100 | $32,000 | $19,900 |
| Tennessee | University of Tennessee, Knoxville | $14,100 | $14,100 | $33,700 | $19,600 |
| Arkansas | University of Arkansas | $10,300 | $10,300 | $29,700 | $19,400 |
| Mississippi | University of Mississippi | $9,900 | $9,900 | $28,000 | $18,100 |
| Oklahoma | University of Oklahoma | $12,000 | $12,000 | $29,800 | $17,800 |
| West Virginia | West Virginia University | $9,900 | $9,900 | $27,300 | $17,400 |
| Louisiana | Louisiana State University | $12,000 | $12,000 | $29,000 | $17,000 |
Illustrative: the rule applied to a published rate. Individual campuses set their own award terms and several charge less than the ceiling.
Members that participate at only some levels
- Florida — ACM applies at graduate level only. An undergraduate cannot use ACM to reach Florida.
- Texas — ACM applies at graduate level only. An undergraduate cannot use ACM to reach Texas.
Member states
Not members (36)
Every ACM state pair, undergraduate level
Each link opens the pair page with the route, the estimated rate and the official source.
Into Alabama (12 states)
Into Arkansas (12 states)
Into Delaware (12 states)
Into Georgia (12 states)
Into Kentucky (12 states)
Into Louisiana (12 states)
Into Maryland (12 states)
Into Mississippi (12 states)
Into Oklahoma (12 states)
Into South Carolina (12 states)
Into Tennessee (12 states)
Into Virginia (12 states)
Into West Virginia (12 states)
What goes wrong
- North Carolina is a Southern Regional Education Board member but does not participate in the Academic Common Market. Treating SREB membership as ACM participation is the most common error in third-party coverage.
- Florida and Texas participate only at the graduate level. An undergraduate cannot use ACM to reach a Florida or Texas public university.
- The approved-program inventory is specific to your home state and is revised annually. A degree approved for Georgia residents may not be approved for Alabama residents at the same university.
- Approval is per degree program, not per field. "Marine biology" being approved does not make a general biology degree at the same campus eligible.
- You must be certified by your home state's ACM coordinator, and most states require that certification before the term begins. Retroactive approval is generally not available.
- Changing your major after enrollment normally ends ACM eligibility, at which point the non-resident rate applies.
The other three
WUE
West · 15 states
WICHE's student exchange is the largest of the four regional agreements and the only one that reaches community colleges at scale. Fifteen western states take part. Undergraduates pay at most 150% of the resident rate under WUE; graduate students on an approved program pay the resident rate outright under WRGP.
MSEP
Midwest · 8 states
MSEP is the midwestern tuition exchange, run by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact. Eight states participate. It is the only one of the four regional agreements that includes private colleges, which enter on a percentage-discount basis rather than a rate cap.
Tuition Break
New England · 6 states
Tuition Break is the New England agreement, covering all six states and all three levels — the only one of the four that formally includes community colleges, four-year universities and graduate programs under a single rule.
Asked and answered
›Which states are in ACM?
15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia. SREB operates the program. Membership is a state-level commitment — each campus then decides whether to participate and which programs it opens.
›Does ACM give you in-state tuition?
ACM pays the receiving institution's full in-state rate. In no case does it make you a resident of the receiving state, and it does not shorten that state's residency clock.
›What are the catches with ACM?
North Carolina is a Southern Regional Education Board member but does not participate in the Academic Common Market. Treating SREB membership as ACM participation is the most common error in third-party coverage. Florida and Texas participate only at the graduate level. An undergraduate cannot use ACM to reach a Florida or Texas public university. The approved-program inventory is specific to your home state and is revised annually. A degree approved for Georgia residents may not be approved for Alabama residents at the same university.
›Which levels does ACM cover?
Undergraduate, Graduate. Some members participate at fewer levels than others: Florida at graduate level only; Texas at graduate level only.
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.
- SREB — Academic Common Market ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- SREB — Academic Common Market program inventory ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- SREB — State ACM coordinators ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- SREB — Member states ↗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
- 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.