New England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break): Member States, Rules and What It Actually Saves (2026)
Operated by New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) · New England · 6 member states · verified 2026-08-07
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.
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.
Does Tuition Break apply to your state pair?The checker runs your two states against all four compacts and every bilateral agreement at once.The rule, exactly
New England Regional Student Program (Tuition Break)
Undergraduate · Community College · GraduateA Tuition Break student pays the receiving institution's in-state rate plus a premium capped at 75% of that rate — well below the published non-resident rate at every participating campus. Eligibility runs through an approved-program list: the degree must either be unavailable at your home state's public institutions, or be one the participating campus has opened regionally.
What it is worth, state by state
The Tuition Break 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 Tuition Break | Non-resident | Saving/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | University of Maine | $12,600 | $22,050 | $34,500 | $12,450 |
| Vermont | University of Vermont | $20,700 | $36,225 | $46,900 | $10,675 |
| Massachusetts | University of Massachusetts Amherst | $17,400 | $30,450 | $40,100 | $9,650 |
| Connecticut | University of Connecticut | $20,400 | $35,700 | $45,100 | $9,400 |
| Rhode Island | University of Rhode Island | $16,800 | $29,400 | $37,700 | $8,300 |
| New Hampshire | University of New Hampshire | $19,000 | $33,250 | $38,000 | $4,750 |
Illustrative: the rule applied to a published rate. Individual campuses set their own award terms and several charge less than the ceiling.
Member states
Not members (45)
Every Tuition Break state pair, undergraduate level
Each link opens the pair page with the route, the estimated rate and the official source.
Into Connecticut (5 states)
Into Maine (5 states)
Into Massachusetts (5 states)
Into New Hampshire (5 states)
Into Rhode Island (5 states)
What goes wrong
- Eligibility is by approved degree program, not by campus. Enrolling at a participating college in an unapproved major means the ordinary non-resident rate.
- The approved list is published per academic year and per home state, and programs are added and removed annually.
- The rate is the in-state rate plus a premium, not the in-state rate. On a high-tuition campus that premium is still a substantial sum.
- Some campuses apply a lower premium than the 75% ceiling; the published cap is a maximum, not the rate you will actually be quoted.
- Changing to an unapproved major ends the discount from the following term.
- New York and New Jersey are geographically close but are not New England states and do not participate.
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.
ACM
South · 15 states
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.
Asked and answered
›Which states are in Tuition Break?
6 states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont. NEBHE operates the program. Membership is a state-level commitment — each campus then decides whether to participate and which programs it opens.
›Does Tuition Break give you in-state tuition?
Tuition Break charges the resident rate plus a premium capped at 75%. 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 Tuition Break?
Eligibility is by approved degree program, not by campus. Enrolling at a participating college in an unapproved major means the ordinary non-resident rate. The approved list is published per academic year and per home state, and programs are added and removed annually. The rate is the in-state rate plus a premium, not the in-state rate. On a high-tuition campus that premium is still a substantial sum.
›Which levels does Tuition Break cover?
Undergraduate, Community College, Graduate. Every member state participates at every level the program covers.
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.
- NEBHE — Tuition Break (New England Regional Student Program) ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- NEBHE — Tuition Break approved program search ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- NEBHE — About the New England Board of Higher Education ↗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.