In-State vs Out-of-State Cost at U-M Ann Arbor, 2026–27

The difference between in-state and out-of-state pricing is the reason most nonresident families look twice at an offer from Ann Arbor. This page puts the two side by side for every undergraduate rate group, adds the full cost of attendance, and then looks at what happens after financial aid, where the difference often grows rather than shrinks. For the overall picture, start with our University of Michigan out-of-state tuition overview.

Why the two prices differ

The University of Michigan is a public institution, and its financial aid office explains that part of the cost of educating Michigan residents is subsidized by the state. Nonresidents do not receive that subsidy, so they pay a price much closer to the full cost of instruction. Which price you pay is decided by the university’s own residency guidelines, not by your tax filing or driver’s license; our guide to residency classification for tuition covers how that decision is made.

Tuition and fees side by side, by school

All figures are full-time (12 to 18 credits per term) tuition plus the required per-term fees, for the fall and winter terms of 2026–27.

Two patterns stand out. First, the gap is fairly stable at around $47,000 to $51,000 a year in most schools; Kinesiology is the outlier, at $51,392 and $55,050. Second, the premium-priced programs for residents (Engineering and Ross) are not dramatically more expensive for nonresidents in lower division. A nonresident Engineering first-year pays only $392 more than a nonresident LSA first-year. More detail is in our tuition by school and college breakdown.

Full cost of attendance compared

The Office of Financial Aid uses the same living-cost assumptions for residents and nonresidents: $17,220 for living expenses, $1,220 for books and supplies, $400 for transportation and $2,458 for personal costs. That means the total cost of attendance differs by exactly the tuition gap.

In practice, out-of-state students often spend more than the $400 transportation allowance, because getting home for breaks can mean flights rather than a drive. That is worth adding to your own budget even though the official figure does not.

After aid, the gap can widen

Sticker prices only tell half the story. Michigan residents have two commitments that nonresidents do not:

• The Go Blue Guarantee provides free tuition and mandatory fees to qualifying Michigan residents with family incomes of $125,000 or less and assets below $125,000.
• A full-need commitment. The financial aid office states that U-M meets the demonstrated financial need of Michigan resident undergraduates who meet all application deadlines.

The aid office’s own figures show the effect. Among 2025–26 in-state undergraduates, applicants with family income up to $125,000 had an average tuition after grants of $0, those between $125,000 and $150,000 averaged $967, and those between $150,000 and $180,000 averaged $2,377. The university’s June 2026 budget narrative adds that 34% of resident undergraduates pay no tuition after grants and scholarships.

Nonresidents can still receive need-based institutional aid, but the university does not publish a comparable guarantee or an average net-tuition table for them, and we could not find one. A family that would pay nothing as Michigan residents may face a large bill as nonresidents. The only reliable way to know your number is to run the university’s Net Price Calculator and apply. See financial aid for out-of-state students for the forms and deadlines.

The gap over four years

Pricing four years at 2026–27 rates, with two years in each division, gives a sense of scale. These are tuition-and-fee gaps only and assume no future increases.

The gap is growing each year

For 2026–27, the Regents raised resident undergraduate tuition and fees by 3.0% and nonresident rates by 4.9%. Because the nonresident base is so much larger, the dollar gap grows faster than the percentages suggest. In LSA lower division, the resident price rose by $550 for the year while the nonresident price rose by $3,134, so the gap widened from $45,616 in 2025–26 to $48,200 in 2026–27. Families planning four years ahead should expect the difference to keep moving in the same direction unless the policy changes.

Checklist before you decide

1. Confirm which rate group your intended program falls in, including whether you would move into the LSA computer science or Engineering upper-division rate.
2. Check whether any residency path realistically applies to you before counting on in-state tuition.
3. File the FAFSA and CSS Profile by the deadline so you are considered for need-based aid.
4. Add your real travel costs to the aid office’s budget.
5. Compare the net price on each aid offer, not the published tuition.