The New England Board of Higher Education’s Regional Student Program provides New England residents with a tuition break when they study certain majors – not available at public colleges in their home state – at public colleges and universities in other New England states.
All 78 public colleges and universities in New England participate in the Regional Student Program. Together, these two-year and four-year higher education institutions offer more than 700 academic programs at reduced tuition to out-of-state New England residents.
Programs are available through the RSP at all academic levels: associate, bachelor’s, master’s, certificate or advanced graduate study, doctoral and first-professional. These majors are approved each year by the participating institutions and listed in the annual RSP catalog.
The RSP tuition break
Students pay in-state tuition when they attend a public college or university in their home state.
Students pay out-of-state tuition when they attend a public college in another state.
Students pay RSP tuition when studying a major that is not offered by a public college in their home state, but is offered by a public college in another New England state through the RSP.
The RSP tuition rate reflects a significant break on a college’s out-of-state tuition rate. (RSP tuition is usually 150 percent of the college’s in-state tuition.)
In academic year 2002-2003, nearly 8,100 New England students saved an average of $5,800 each on their annual tuition bills through the RSP, for a total one-year saving of more than $37 million.
Applying for RSP status
You must be a resident of a New England state – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont.
You must enroll as a certificate or degree student at a participating college and study a major that is offered by that college to residents of your state through the RSP.
No additional application is required. A participating college’s application form usually includes a question regarding the RSP. If not, you should write clearly on the application that you are applying through the New England Regional Student Program and declare an RSP program as your intended major. Applicants who are accepted into eligible programs will be notified by the institution where they applied for admission whether they have been granted RSP status.
Eligibility for the RSP tuition break is not based on financial need. The RSP is a tuition-reduction program, not a financial assistance or scholarship program. A student accepted through the RSP is still eligible to apply for financial aid from other sources.
Students also eligible when out-of-state college is closer
When a degree program is offered through the RSP at both an in-state and out-of-state two-year public college, and the out-of-state college is closer to the student’s legal residence, the student may apply for RSP status at that college. The Nearer-to-Legal-Residence Option also applies to residents and four-year state colleges in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It does not apply to the state universities – University of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Not every unique program
Each participating public university or college has the right to determine which programs it will make available to out-of-state students through the RSP. For example, a college may decide not to make available through the RSP a program which is already highly competitive. Also, programs offered through the RSP must be full majors, not concentrations within majors. The participating institutions add new majors to the RSP every year.
Programs are available through the RSP at all academic levels: associate, bachelor’s, master’s, certificate of advanced graduate study, master’s, doctoral and first-professional. The majors are approved each year by the participating institutions and listed in the annual RSP catalog (The Apple Book) which is available free online.
For more information, contact New England Regional Student Program, New England Board of Higher Education, 45 Temple Place, Boston, MA 02111, call 617-357-9620, e-mail rsp@nebhe.org, or visit www.nebhe.org
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