Do Illinois Residents Get In-State Tuition in Wisconsin? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — Illinois residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in Wisconsin, about $42,100 a year at University of Wisconsin-Madison against $11,600 for residents. There is no exchange program between Illinois and Wisconsin; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Wisconsin residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $42,100/yr
- Resident pays
- $11,600/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.
Neither a regional compact nor a bilateral agreement links Illinois and Wisconsin. That leaves two routes to a lower rate: an institutional scholarship from the campus itself, or 12 months of Wisconsin domicile.
Illinois residents start from $18,000 a year, the in-state undergraduate rate at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Measured against that, Wisconsin costs $24,100 a year more than staying home. 2 other states offer Illinois residents a reduced undergraduate rate, the lowest being Iowa at about $10,201.
If the gap decides the question, price the alternative honestly — two years at an Illinois public institution followed by transfer is the route that most often closes a $30,500 annual difference.
Every route from Illinois to Wisconsin
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at undergraduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Illinois residents pay less
Staying home, an Illinois resident pays $18,000 a year for in-state undergraduate tuition at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The cheapest Wisconsin option for you is $42,100 at University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is $24,100 a year more than staying home, or $96,400 over 4 years.
Illinois belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at undergraduate level, but 2 states offer Illinois residents a reduced rate through a state or campus agreement.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois to Iowa | UNI Neighboring State Rate · University of Northern Iowa | $10,201 |
| Illinois to Kentucky | Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements · University of Kentucky | $13,700 |
Illinois's neighboring states, compared
What an Illinois resident pays for undergraduate tuition in each state that borders Illinois, cheapest first:
- Iowa$10,201/yr · UNI Neighboring State Rate
- Kentucky$13,700/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Missouri$31,600/yr · non-resident
- Indiana$41,700/yr · non-resident
- Wisconsin$42,100/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Illinois in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Wisconsin residency, in brief
Wisconsin grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Wis. Stat. § 36.27), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Wisconsin to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Wisconsin residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at University of Wisconsin-Madison: $42,100 a year against $11,600 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: Wisconsin requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Universities of Wisconsin 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 Illinois residents get in-state tuition in Wisconsin?
No. Illinois residents pay the full non-resident rate of $42,100 at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The only route to the $11,600 in-state rate is establishing Wisconsin residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Wis. Stat. § 36.27), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in Wisconsin actually cost an Illinois resident?
About $42,100 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at University of Wisconsin-Madison, against $11,600 for a Wisconsin resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Illinois residents get reduced undergraduate tuition?
In 2 states at undergraduate level. Outside Wisconsin, the lowest are Iowa ($10,201), Kentucky ($13,700). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Wisconsin cheaper than staying in Illinois?
No. Illinois's in-state undergraduate rate is $18,000 a year at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the cheapest Wisconsin option for an Illinois resident is $42,100, so Wisconsin costs about $24,100 more a year, or $96,400 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.
- Universities of Wisconsin — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Wisconsin-Madison — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — 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 Wisconsin-Madison’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 (MHEC). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against Universities of Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. § 36.27. 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.