Do Colorado Residents Get In-State Tuition in Kentucky? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — Colorado residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in Kentucky, about $34,200 a year at University of Kentucky against $13,700 for residents. There is no exchange program between Colorado and Kentucky; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Kentucky residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $34,200/yr
- Resident pays
- $13,700/yr
- Over 4 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.
This is the common case, and the honest answer is no. Kentucky charges Colorado residents its full non-resident undergraduate rate of $34,200, and no regional program bridges the two states.
The comparison that matters is with home: University of Colorado Boulder charges a Colorado resident $14,000 a year. 14 other states offer Colorado residents a reduced undergraduate rate, the lowest being Wyoming at about $10,050.
The discount most often missed here is institutional. Individual public universities run their own non-resident scholarships, and several effectively convert a strong out-of-state applicant to something near the in-state rate. Those sit outside every state agreement and are invisible on comparison sites.
Every route from Colorado to Kentucky
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at undergraduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Colorado residents pay less
Staying home, a Colorado resident pays $14,000 a year for in-state undergraduate tuition at University of Colorado Boulder. The cheapest Kentucky option for you is $34,200 at University of Kentucky, which is $20,200 a year more than staying home, or $80,800 over 4 years.
Colorado belongs to Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) at undergraduate level, so 14 of 50 states offer Colorado undergraduate students a reduced rate. Kentucky is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado to Wyoming | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of Wyoming | $10,050 |
| Colorado to Montana | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of Montana | $12,000 |
| Colorado to Nevada | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of Nevada, Las Vegas | $13,350 |
| Colorado to New Mexico | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of New Mexico | $13,350 |
| Colorado to South Dakota | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of South Dakota | $13,600 |
Colorado's neighboring states, compared
What a Colorado resident pays for undergraduate tuition in each state that borders Colorado, cheapest first:
- Wyoming$10,050/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- New Mexico$13,350/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- Utah$15,000/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- Arizona$20,400/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- Nebraska$28,700/yr · non-resident
- Oklahoma$29,800/yr · non-resident
- Kansas$30,600/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Colorado in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Kentucky residency, in brief
Kentucky grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (13 KAR 2:045), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Kentucky to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Kentucky residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at University of Kentucky: $34,200 a year against $13,700 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: Kentucky requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary 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 Colorado residents get in-state tuition in Kentucky?
No. Colorado residents pay the full non-resident rate of $34,200 at University of Kentucky. The only route to the $13,700 in-state rate is establishing Kentucky residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Kentucky?
Kentucky requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (13 KAR 2:045), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in Kentucky actually cost a Colorado resident?
About $34,200 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at University of Kentucky, against $13,700 for a Kentucky resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Colorado residents get reduced undergraduate tuition?
In 14 states at undergraduate level. Outside Kentucky, the lowest are Wyoming ($10,050), Montana ($12,000), Nevada ($13,350). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Kentucky cheaper than staying in Colorado?
No. Colorado's in-state undergraduate rate is $14,000 a year at University of Colorado Boulder, and the cheapest Kentucky option for a Colorado resident is $34,200, so Kentucky costs about $20,200 more a year, or $80,800 over 4 years, in tuition and fees alone.
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.
- Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Kentucky — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Colorado Boulder — 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 Kentucky’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 (WICHE, SREB). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, 13 KAR 2:045. 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.