Do North Carolina Residents Get In-State Tuition in South Carolina? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — North Carolina residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in South Carolina, about $36,300 a year at University of South Carolina against $13,700 for residents. There is no exchange program between North Carolina and South Carolina; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing South Carolina residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $36,300/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.
Neither a regional compact nor a bilateral agreement links North Carolina and South Carolina. That leaves two routes to a lower rate: an institutional scholarship from the campus itself, or 12 months of South Carolina domicile.
North Carolina residents start from $9,000 a year, the in-state undergraduate rate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Measured against that, South Carolina costs $27,300 a year more than staying home. No compact or state agreement in our data reaches North Carolina residents at undergraduate level in any state.
If the gap decides the question, price the alternative honestly — two years at a North Carolina public institution followed by transfer is the route that most often closes a $22,600 annual difference.
Every route from North Carolina to South Carolina
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at undergraduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where North Carolina residents pay less
Staying home, a North Carolina resident pays $9,000 a year for in-state undergraduate tuition at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The cheapest South Carolina option for you is $36,300 at University of South Carolina, which is $27,300 a year more than staying home, or $109,200 over 4 years.
North Carolina belongs to none of the four regional tuition compacts at undergraduate level, and no state or campus agreement in our data reaches North Carolina residents at this level.
| State | Reference campus | Non-resident, per year |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina to South Dakota | University of South Dakota | $13,600 |
| North Carolina to District of Columbia | University of the District of Columbia | $16,700 |
| North Carolina to North Dakota | University of North Dakota | $16,700 |
| North Carolina to Wyoming | University of Wyoming | $21,000 |
| North Carolina to Nevada | University of Nevada, Las Vegas | $26,000 |
North Carolina's neighboring states, compared
What a North Carolina resident pays for undergraduate tuition in each state that borders North Carolina, cheapest first:
- Georgia$32,000/yr · non-resident
- Tennessee$33,700/yr · non-resident
- South Carolina$36,300/yr · non-resident
- Virginia$60,000/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from North Carolina in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
South Carolina residency, in brief
South Carolina grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (S.C. Code Ann. § 59-112-20), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to South Carolina to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
South Carolina residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at University of South Carolina: $36,300 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: South Carolina requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the South Carolina 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 North Carolina residents get in-state tuition in South Carolina?
No. North Carolina residents pay the full non-resident rate of $36,300 at University of South Carolina. The only route to the $13,700 in-state rate is establishing South Carolina residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in South Carolina?
South Carolina requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (S.C. Code Ann. § 59-112-20), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in South Carolina actually cost a North Carolina resident?
About $36,300 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at University of South Carolina, against $13,700 for a South Carolina resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can North Carolina residents get reduced undergraduate tuition?
Nowhere through a compact or state agreement: none reaches North Carolina residents at undergraduate level in our data. The lowest published non-resident rates are in South Dakota ($13,600), District of Columbia ($16,700), North Dakota ($16,700), and campus scholarships remain worth checking.
›Is studying in South Carolina cheaper than staying in North Carolina?
No. North Carolina's in-state undergraduate rate is $9,000 a year at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the cheapest South Carolina option for a North Carolina resident is $36,300, so South Carolina costs about $27,300 more a year, or $109,200 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.
- South Carolina Commission on Higher Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of South Carolina — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — 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 South Carolina’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 South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, S.C. Code Ann. § 59-112-20. 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.