Do Kentucky Residents Get In-State Tuition in New Jersey? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — Kentucky residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in New Jersey, about $37,700 a year at Rutgers University-New Brunswick against $17,700 for residents. There is no exchange program between Kentucky and New Jersey; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing New Jersey residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $37,700/yr
- Resident pays
- $17,700/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. New Jersey charges Kentucky residents its full non-resident undergraduate rate of $37,700, and no regional program bridges the two states.
The comparison that matters is with home: University of Kentucky charges a Kentucky resident $13,700 a year. 16 other states offer Kentucky residents a reduced undergraduate rate, the lowest being Mississippi at about $9,900.
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 Kentucky to New Jersey
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at undergraduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Kentucky residents pay less
Staying home, a Kentucky resident pays $13,700 a year for in-state undergraduate tuition at University of Kentucky. The cheapest New Jersey option for you is $37,700 at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, which is $24,000 a year more than staying home, or $96,000 over 4 years.
Kentucky belongs to Academic Common Market (ACM) at undergraduate level, so 16 of 50 states offer Kentucky undergraduate students a reduced rate. New Jersey is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Kentucky to Mississippi | Academic Common Market · University of Mississippi | $9,900 |
| Kentucky to West Virginia | Academic Common Market · West Virginia University | $9,900 |
| Kentucky to Arkansas | Academic Common Market · University of Arkansas | $10,300 |
| Kentucky to Maryland | Academic Common Market · University of Maryland, College Park | $11,900 |
| Kentucky to Indiana | Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements · Indiana University Bloomington | $12,000 |
Kentucky's neighboring states, compared
What a Kentucky resident pays for undergraduate tuition in each state that borders Kentucky, cheapest first:
- West Virginia$9,900/yr · Academic Common Market
- Indiana$12,000/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Missouri$12,400/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Ohio$13,200/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Tennessee$14,100/yr · Academic Common Market
- Illinois$18,000/yr · Kentucky Regional Reciprocity Agreements
- Virginia$22,300/yr · Academic Common Market
Compare all 50 states from Kentucky in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
New Jersey residency, in brief
New Jersey grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (N.J.A.C. 9A:5-1.1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to New Jersey to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
New Jersey residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick: $37,700 a year against $17,700 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: New Jersey requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher 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 Kentucky residents get in-state tuition in New Jersey?
No. Kentucky residents pay the full non-resident rate of $37,700 at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. The only route to the $17,700 in-state rate is establishing New Jersey residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in New Jersey?
New Jersey requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (N.J.A.C. 9A:5-1.1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in New Jersey actually cost a Kentucky resident?
About $37,700 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, against $17,700 for a New Jersey resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Kentucky residents get reduced undergraduate tuition?
In 16 states at undergraduate level. Outside New Jersey, the lowest are Mississippi ($9,900), West Virginia ($9,900), Arkansas ($10,300). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in New Jersey cheaper than staying in Kentucky?
No. Kentucky's in-state undergraduate rate is $13,700 a year at University of Kentucky, and the cheapest New Jersey option for a Kentucky resident is $37,700, so New Jersey costs about $24,000 more a year, or $96,000 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.
- New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- Rutgers University-New Brunswick — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Kentucky — 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 Rutgers University-New Brunswick’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 (SREB). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, N.J.A.C. 9A:5-1.1. 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.