Program offers access to discounted out-of-state tuition

Students in participating areas have saved millions of dollars

The Western Undergraduate Exchange program is a multilateral, regional-agreementand-tuition-discounting program overseen by the Boulder, Colo.-based Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Under the WUE program, a resident of any of the 15 participating states may attend college in one of those same 15 states as well as the U.S. Territories of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam at a steep nonresident tuition discount.

According to the commission, in the 2017-18 school year, New Mexico sent 749 students to other states and those students saved almost $6.1 million or about $8,100 each versus out-of-state tuition. In 2017-18 New Mexico received 1,073 students through WUE.

Overall, more than 40,000 students participated in the 2018-19 academic year, saving $380.5 million.

There are more than 160 twoand four-year colleges across the participating states enrolled in the program, each of which has its own guidelines on criteria for accepting students into the program.

Students are urged to apply early, as some schools have a cap on the number of discounts given each year.

The commission also offers the Professional Student Exchange Program, with New Mexico students studying in two critical fields, dentistry and veterinary medicine. The Western Regional Graduate Program offers access to more than 400 programs at 60 schools in participating states. In 2017-18 New Mexico sent 95 students to out-of-state institutions, while receiving 33.

For information, go to the program website: wiche.edu/wue.