Save on College with Reciprocity Agreements

If your college-bound child has theirheart set on studying entomology, but yourstate college does not offer the program,don't be bugged that you may have to paythe high costs of out-of-state tuition inorder to fulfill your child's dream. Instead,see if your state has reciprocity agreementswith interstate institutions of higherlearning. The Academic Common Market, areciprocity agreement among the 16 statesthat comprise the Southern RegionalEducation Board (www.sreb.org), offersstudents the opportunity to study one of1400 undergraduate or graduate programsthat their state may not offer. Institutionsgrant an out-of-state waiver annually forstudents who qualify and are acceptedinto a school's program. The MidwestHigher Exchange Compact (www.mhec.org) offers a Midwest Student ExchangeProgram for six of its 11 participatingstates. Public colleges and universitiesoffer out-of-state students no more than150% of the in-state resident tuition ratefor specific programs. For example, publiccollege X offers instate students a tuitionof $10,000 and out-of-state students atuition of $30,000. This program wouldensure that out-of-state students eligiblefor the program would pay a tuition nohigher than $15,000. For private institutions,a 10% reduction is offered. Similarprograms exist for other states, includingthe New England Regional Student Programoffered by the New England Board ofHigher Education (www.nebhe.org), and theWestern Interstate Commission for HigherEducation (www.wiche.edu) offers threeprograms: the Western UndergraduateExchange, the Western Regional GraduateProgram, and the Professional StudentExchange Program. The only states that donot offer reciprocity agreements? SouthDakota, Rhode Island, Delaware, NewJersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.