Do Tennessee Residents Get In-State Tuition in Pennsylvania? (Undergraduate, 2026)
No — Tennessee residents pay full non-resident undergraduate tuition in Pennsylvania, about $40,000 a year at Penn State University Park against $20,000 for residents. There is no exchange program between Tennessee and Pennsylvania; the only route to the in-state rate is establishing Pennsylvania residency, which takes 12 months.
- You would pay
- $40,000/yr
- Resident pays
- $20,000/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.
The two states belong to different regional systems, and the regional systems do not interoperate. Expect the published non-resident rate at Penn State University Park: $40,000.
Tennessee residents start from $14,100 a year, the in-state undergraduate rate at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Measured against that, Pennsylvania costs $25,900 a year more than staying home. 12 other states offer Tennessee residents a reduced undergraduate rate, the lowest being Mississippi at about $9,900.
If the gap decides the question, price the alternative honestly — two years at a Tennessee public institution followed by transfer is the route that most often closes a $20,000 annual difference.
Every route from Tennessee to Pennsylvania
No exchange program or bilateral agreement connects these two states at undergraduate level, so the route table is empty.
Where Tennessee residents pay less
Staying home, a Tennessee resident pays $14,100 a year for in-state undergraduate tuition at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The cheapest Pennsylvania option for you is $40,000 at Penn State University Park, which is $25,900 a year more than staying home, or $103,600 over 4 years.
Tennessee belongs to Academic Common Market (ACM) at undergraduate level, so 12 of 50 states offer Tennessee undergraduate students a reduced rate. Pennsylvania is not one of them.
| State | Route | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Tennessee to Mississippi | Academic Common Market · University of Mississippi | $9,900 |
| Tennessee to West Virginia | Academic Common Market · West Virginia University | $9,900 |
| Tennessee to Arkansas | Academic Common Market · University of Arkansas | $10,300 |
| Tennessee to Maryland | Academic Common Market · University of Maryland, College Park | $11,900 |
| Tennessee to Louisiana | Academic Common Market · Louisiana State University | $12,000 |
Tennessee's neighboring states, compared
What a Tennessee resident pays for undergraduate tuition in each state that borders Tennessee, cheapest first:
- Mississippi$9,900/yr · Academic Common Market
- Arkansas$10,300/yr · Academic Common Market
- Georgia$12,100/yr · Academic Common Market
- Alabama$13,700/yr · Academic Common Market
- Kentucky$13,700/yr · Academic Common Market
- Virginia$22,300/yr · Academic Common Market
- Missouri$31,600/yr · non-resident
- North Carolina$39,300/yr · non-resident
Compare all 50 states from Tennessee in the checker. Each figure is one reference campus per state, not a state average.
Pennsylvania residency, in brief
Pennsylvania grants in-state tuition after 12 months of domicile before the term begins (22 Pa. Code § 33.1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile. Moving to Pennsylvania to enroll does not by itself start the clock.
Pennsylvania residency requirements in full · how long every state requires
Step by step
- Budget for the non-resident rate at Penn State University Park: $40,000 a year against $20,000 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: Pennsylvania requires 12 months of domicile, and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile, so the family would need to move.
- Read the Pennsylvania Department of 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 Tennessee residents get in-state tuition in Pennsylvania?
No. Tennessee residents pay the full non-resident rate of $40,000 at Penn State University Park. The only route to the $20,000 in-state rate is establishing Pennsylvania residency.
›How long does it take to get in-state tuition in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania requires 12 months of domicile before the term begins (22 Pa. Code § 33.1), and a financially dependent student takes the parents' domicile.
›How much would undergraduate study in Pennsylvania actually cost a Tennessee resident?
About $40,000 a year in tuition and mandatory fees at Penn State University Park, against $20,000 for a Pennsylvania resident. Figures are compiled 2025–26 published rates and exclude housing, books and course-specific differentials.
›Where can Tennessee residents get reduced undergraduate tuition?
In 12 states at undergraduate level. Outside Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania cheaper than staying in Tennessee?
No. Tennessee's in-state undergraduate rate is $14,100 a year at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the cheapest Pennsylvania option for a Tennessee resident is $40,000, so Pennsylvania costs about $25,900 more a year, or $103,600 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.
- Pennsylvania Department of Education — residency for tuition purposes ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- Penn State University Park — tuition and fees ↗Accessed 2026-08-07
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville — 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 Penn State University Park’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 Pennsylvania Department of Education, 22 Pa. Code § 33.1. 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.