RANKING · THE OUT-OF-STATE TAX · NY

New York out-of-state tuition: what non-residents really pay.

Same New York public university, same degree. The only thing that changes is whether your driver’s license matches the state — and at University at Buffalo that one fact swings your 30-year payoff by $674K. All 28 qualifying public universities in New York, ranked by the penalty. Every school below still pays off both ways. The tax isn’t the school — it’s the residency line.

IPEDS 2023 tuition · FREOPP 2021 earnings · BEA 2023 cost-of-living · resident vs non-resident, all else held equal · New York public four-year only · every school shown is NPV-positive both ways.

New York in-state and out-of-state tuition, in dollars

Median annual tuition · out-of-state
$16,954
Median annual tuition · New York resident
$8,558
Median non-resident premium, per year
$8,396

Sticker tuition before aid, across the 28 qualifying New York public universities below. Non-resident rates run from $12,480 to $30,572 a year (IPEDS 2023). The 30-year figures in the ranking compound that annual gap against what graduates actually earn.

  1. 1 University at Buffalo tuition $10,782 in-state → $30,572 out-of-state / yr −$674K
  2. 2 Stony Brook University tuition $10,560 in-state → $30,350 out-of-state / yr −$674K
  3. 3 Binghamton University tuition $10,363 in-state → $29,453 out-of-state / yr −$650K
  4. 4 Fashion Institute of Technology tuition $8,050 in-state → $22,572 out-of-state / yr −$494K
  5. 5 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry tuition $9,206 in-state → $21,036 out-of-state / yr −$403K
  6. 6 SUNY Polytechnic Institute tuition $8,578 in-state → $20,228 out-of-state / yr −$397K
  7. 7 SUNY Morrisville tuition $8,769 in-state → $19,189 out-of-state / yr −$355K
  8. 8 SUNY Oneonta tuition $8,812 in-state → $19,232 out-of-state / yr −$355K
  9. 9 Empire State University tuition $7,630 in-state → $17,540 out-of-state / yr −$337K
  10. 10 SUNY College at Plattsburgh tuition $8,881 in-state → $18,791 out-of-state / yr −$337K
  11. 11 Farmingdale State College tuition $8,576 in-state → $18,486 out-of-state / yr −$337K
  12. 12 SUNY Maritime College tuition $8,540 in-state → $18,450 out-of-state / yr −$337K
  13. 13 SUNY Old Westbury tuition $8,379 in-state → $18,289 out-of-state / yr −$337K
  14. 14 State University of New York at Cortland tuition $8,815 in-state → $18,725 out-of-state / yr −$337K
  15. 15 College of Staten Island CUNY tuition $7,490 in-state → $15,440 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  16. 16 CUNY Bernard M Baruch College tuition $7,464 in-state → $15,414 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  17. 17 CUNY City College tuition $7,340 in-state → $15,290 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  18. 18 CUNY Hunter College tuition $7,382 in-state → $15,332 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  19. 19 CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice tuition $7,470 in-state → $15,420 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  20. 20 CUNY Lehman College tuition $7,410 in-state → $15,360 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  21. 21 CUNY Medgar Evers College tuition $7,352 in-state → $15,302 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  22. 22 CUNY New York City College of Technology tuition $7,332 in-state → $15,282 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  23. 23 CUNY Queens College tuition $7,538 in-state → $15,488 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  24. 24 CUNY York College tuition $7,358 in-state → $15,308 out-of-state / yr −$271K
  25. 25 SUNY College of Technology at Alfred tuition $8,862 in-state → $16,367 out-of-state / yr −$255K
  26. 26 SUNY Brockport tuition $8,678 in-state → $15,748 out-of-state / yr −$241K
  27. 27 SUNY College of Technology at Canton tuition $8,689 in-state → $15,173 out-of-state / yr −$221K
  28. 28 SUNY College of Technology at Delhi tuition $8,710 in-state → $12,480 out-of-state / yr −$128K
How this is computed (and what it isn’t)

For each New York public four-year university we run the /worth-it calculator twice with everything identical except the tuition line: once at the school’s resident rate, once at its published non-resident rate. The gap is the “out-of-state tax” — the extra cost of non-residency, compounded over a 30-year net-present-value horizon. Both numbers use the same earnings and the same cost-of-living, so the difference is purely residency tuition.

We only list schools that stay NPV-positive both ways — the point isn’t that any school is a bad bet, it’s that the residency line, an accident of which state you grew up in, is worth more than most scholarships. The fix is usually mechanical: in-state status, a reciprocity agreement, or a transfer pathway.

↓ Download the data (CSV) · The full national dataset — filter the state column to NY for this page’s rows. Free to cite with attribution. · Methodology

Cite this:

LE TEEN (2026). “The out-of-state tax in New York: public universities ranked by the non-resident tuition penalty.” Data: IPEDS 2023 · FREOPP 2021 · BEA 2023. https://le-teen.com/rankings/out-of-state-tax/ny

Questions

How much is out-of-state tuition in New York?
Across the 28 New York public universities we can honestly score, median annual non-resident sticker tuition is $16,954, ranging from $12,480 to $30,572 — before financial aid. That is $8,396 a year more than the $8,558 median New York residents pay at the same schools (IPEDS 2023).
How much is in-state tuition in New York?
Median annual resident sticker tuition across those same 28 New York public universities is $8,558, before financial aid. The residency line is worth $8,396 a year at the median, and up to $674K over a 30-year horizon at University at Buffalo (IPEDS 2023 tuition, FREOPP 2021 earnings, BEA 2023 cost-of-living).
How much more does out-of-state tuition cost in New York?
At University at Buffalo, paying non-resident tuition instead of resident costs $674K over a 30-year horizon — same school, same degree, the only difference is residency. That is the largest out-of-state penalty among the 28 New York public universities we can honestly score (IPEDS 2023 tuition, FREOPP 2021 earnings, BEA 2023 cost-of-living).
Is paying out-of-state tuition in New York worth it?
Every New York school in this ranking stays NPV-positive both ways — the resident and non-resident paths each still pay off — so the honest question isn’t “worth it or not,” it’s how large a cost the residency line adds. At the top of the list that cost is $674K over 30 years.
How do out-of-state students avoid non-resident tuition in New York?
The gap is a pricing line, not a difference in what you receive, so the fix is usually mechanical: establishing in-state residency, a regional reciprocity or tuition-exchange agreement, or a transfer pathway. The size of the prize is the number in this table — up to $674K over 30 years at University at Buffalo.