Do Montana Residents Get In-State Tuition in Texas? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — Montana residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in Texas, about $42,000 a year at The University of Texas at Austin against $11,700 for residents. There is no exchange program between Montana and Texas; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Texas residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $42,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $11,700/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 residents get no exchange-program discount in Texas. At The University of Texas at Austin that means $42,000 a year rather than $11,700 — $30,300 a year, every year you are enrolled.
Seen from Montana, this is one option among 50. 14 other states offer Montana residents a reduced undergraduate rate, the lowest being Wyoming at about $10,050, against $8,000 for in-state study at University of Montana.
One more angle: some public universities charge non-resident rates that are lower than another state's in-state rate. Comparing Texas's $42,000 against your home options on absolute cost, rather than on residency status, occasionally changes the answer.
Every route from Montana to Texas
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 Texas option for you is $42,000 at The University of Texas at Austin, which is $34,000 a year more than staying home, or $136,000 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. Texas 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.
Texas residency, in brief
Texas grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Tex. Educ. Code § 54.052), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Texas to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Texas residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at The University of Texas at Austin: $42,000 a year against $11,700 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: Texas requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 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 Texas?
No. Montana residents pay the full non-resident rate of $42,000 at The University of Texas at Austin. The only route to the $11,700 in-state rate is establishing Texas residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Texas?
Texas requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (Tex. Educ. Code § 54.052), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in Texas actually cost a Montana resident?
About $42,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at The University of Texas at Austin, against $11,700 for a Texas 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 Texas, 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 Texas cheaper than staying in Montana?
No. Montana's in-state undergraduate rate is $8,000 a year at University of Montana, and the cheapest Texas option for a Montana resident is $42,000, so Texas costs about $34,000 more a year, or $136,000 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.
- Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- The University of Texas at Austin — 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 Texas at Austin’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). The residency test — the durational requirement, the domicile evidence and the dependent-student rule — was checked against Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Tex. Educ. Code § 54.052. 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.