Do Montana Residents Get In-State Tuition in Alabama? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — Montana residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in Alabama, about $34,900 a year at The University of Alabama against $13,700 for residents. There is no exchange program between Montana and Alabama; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Alabama residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $34,900/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.
Montana and Alabama sit in different compact regions, so nothing connects them. A Montana resident at The University of Alabama pays $34,900 a year against $13,700 for an Alabama resident — a gap of $21,200.
The comparison that matters is with home: University of Montana charges a Montana resident $8,000 a year. 14 other states offer Montana 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 Montana to Alabama
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at undergraduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Montana residents pay less
Staying home, a Montana resident pays $8,000 a year for in-state undergraduate tuition at University of Montana. The cheapest Alabama option for you is $34,900 at The University of Alabama, which is $26,900 a year more than staying home, or $107,600 over 4 years.
Montana belongs to Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) at undergraduate level, so 14 of 50 states offer Montana undergraduate students a reduced rate. Alabama is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Montana to Wyoming | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of Wyoming | $10,050 |
| Montana to Nevada | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of Nevada, Las Vegas | $13,350 |
| Montana to New Mexico | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of New Mexico | $13,350 |
| Montana to South Dakota | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of South Dakota | $13,600 |
| Montana to Alaska | Western Undergraduate Exchange · University of Alaska Fairbanks | $13,950 |
Montana's neighboring states, compared
What a Montana resident pays for undergraduate tuition in each state that borders Montana, cheapest first:
- Wyoming$10,050/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- South Dakota$13,600/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- Idaho$14,100/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
- North Dakota$16,650/yr · Western Undergraduate Exchange
Compare all 50 states from Montana in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Alabama residency, in brief
Alabama grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Ala. Admin. Code r. 300-4-1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Alabama to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Alabama residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at The University of Alabama: $34,900 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: Alabama requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Alabama Commission on 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 Montana residents get in-state tuition in Alabama?
No. Montana residents pay the full non-resident rate of $34,900 at The University of Alabama. The only route to the $13,700 in-state rate is establishing Alabama residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Alabama?
Alabama requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Ala. Admin. Code r. 300-4-1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in Alabama actually cost a Montana resident?
About $34,900 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at The University of Alabama, against $13,700 for an Alabama resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Montana residents get reduced undergraduate tuition?
In 14 states at undergraduate level. Outside Alabama, the lowest are Wyoming ($10,050), Nevada ($13,350), New Mexico ($13,350). Each figure is one reference campus, and awards are made campus by campus.
›Is studying in Alabama cheaper than staying in Montana?
No. Montana's in-state undergraduate rate is $8,000 a year at University of Montana, and the cheapest Alabama option for a Montana resident is $34,900, so Alabama costs about $26,900 more a year, or $107,600 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.
- Alabama Commission on Higher Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- The University of Alabama — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Montana — 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 The University of Alabama’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 Alabama Commission on Higher Education, Ala. Admin. Code r. 300-4-1. 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.