Affordable Colleges in New Hampshire: Tuition and Financial Aid

Colleges to explore

New Hampshire’s public system runs one university, a group of residential state colleges and a community-college system, and what you pay depends heavily on whether you are studying online, part-time or on campus. The rows below cover a community college, three four-year campuses and an online college inside the university.

Start with who administers the aid, then compare the billing unit

New Hampshire’s own pages explain who administers state aid and where to look for grants rather than publishing award amounts, so start with the agency. The five institutions below are not a ranking — one is a community college, three are residential campuses and one is an online college inside a university — but the unit you are billed in is the part worth comparing.

New Hampshire state aid: know who runs it first

The New Hampshire Department of Education’s postsecondary page states that the Division of Educator Support and Higher Education provides administrative support to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), and the Division does not provide financial aid — it relies upon its partners for this support.

The state page then points students to Higher Education Partners (including financial aid resources and NC-SARA) and to Grants and Scholarships - Financial Resources rather than publishing award amounts itself.

The Higher Education Commission page confirms where the authority sits: the Commissioner regulates institutions of higher education in the state, including private postsecondary career schools, and administers state financial aid programs, among other duties, citing New Hampshire RSA 21-N, which requires the Commissioner to administer financial aid programs as provided in state and federal law for students attending higher education institutions, except as otherwise provided by law.

So if you are looking for a New Hampshire state grant, start with the Higher Education Commission and its named partners. This page does not quote a New Hampshire award amount, because the state’s own pages publish none; use the Commission and the partners it names for the amounts that apply to you.

What each school adds on top of its headline price

• Nashua Community College. The Community College System of New Hampshire publishes three per-credit rates for 2026-27: in-state $238; New England Regional $357; out-of-state/international $523. The catch is in the policy beneath those numbers. Nashua’s regional policy states: “all matriculated New England students will be charged the New England Regional Student tuition rate for day courses. Students living within a 50 mile radius of NCC will be charged in-state tuition rates for day courses.” Out-of-state students pay out-of-state rates for day courses, and “ALL students will be charged in-state tuition rates for evening, weekend, and online courses.” So an online student at Nashua is billed at the in-state rate wherever they live, which makes the online comparison different from the campus one. Required fees are not per credit: Academic Instruction Fee $110 / lab hour and Comprehensive Fee $25 / credit, plus program charges such as $125/course for Information Technology/Cybersecurity and Electronic Engineering Technology (all courses), and $500/semester for Nursing Clinical. No separate graduate rate is published on the page (Nashua tuition and fees, read on 2026-10-13).
• Keene State College. The 2026-2027 catalog schedule lists full-time tuition of $6,174 per semester in-state, $12,508 out-of-state and $9,878 regional, with mandatory fees in their own column at $1,592 per semester or $3,184 a year. Part-time matriculated students pay $514 (in-state) or $1,042 (out-of-state) per credit plus $129.12 per credit in fees, so the per-credit and per-semester units are not interchangeable. Pre-licensure nursing students pay a $551 tuition differential in each of their four clinical semesters.
• Plymouth State University. The published amounts are an estimate for a combined tuition-and-mandatory-fee figure, and the page says rates “will not be finalized until after the June 2026 board meeting”, so treat them as the best available figure rather than a final price. The full-time rate covers 12-18 credits per term (fall and spring, excluding early spring); each credit over 18 is billed separately at $520 per credit for NH residents and $1000 per credit for out-of-state students. Nursing students pay a program fee of $550/semester, and the RN-BSN option carries a $1,100 annual program fee plus a new $450 flat fee (Plymouth State tuition and fees).
• University of New Hampshire (Durham). Tuition is billed on the basis of full-time registration, which covers 12-20 credits; fewer than 12 credits is billed per credit hour and carries a $50 part-time registration fee, and new undergraduates pay a one-time $400 administration fee. Mandatory fees for 12-20 credits are $1,813 per semester ($3,626 a year), with the technology fee charged separately at $121 per semester, so $1,934 per semester together. Students registered for four credits or fewer are not charged the mandatory fees and instead pay a $30.25 per-term technology fee. Your major can change the bill: tuition differentials are charged per semester for CEPS engineering and computer science ($752), the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics ($726), pre-licensure Nursing ($900) and Music ($450). The page publishes no single all-in cost, so add tuition, fees and any differential yourself (UNH Durham tuition and fees).
• UNH College of Professional Studies. The tuition and fees page publishes 2026/2027 rates per credit hour: NH Resident $345.00; Out-of-State Resident $345.00; Post-Baccalaureate $345.00; Graduate $640.00, and states that effective Fall 2025, the UNH CPS tuition rate is set regardless of state of residency. For an online student at this institution, moving to New Hampshire does not change the tuition. Graduate study is priced separately again: the graduate rate for the M.S. National Security Intelligence Analysis and Data Science certificate is $800. It does change the fees. The same page lists charges per semester, not per credit: Academic Services Fee $50.00; Registration Fee $50.00; and Career & Professional Success (CAPS) Fee, Undergraduate only $13.00. Other charges are narrower still — Clinical Course Mentoring Fee – $75 per credit hour only for EDC classes that require oversight of a Clinical Placement faculty; a Prior Learning Assessment Fee – $350; and a Materials Fee – Variable. Do not convert any of these into a per-credit number.

Two practical readings follow. First, the online comparison is not the same as the campus comparison: at Nashua an online student is billed in-state wherever they live, and at UNH CPS tuition does not change with residence at all, while UNH Durham, Keene State and Plymouth State all price by campus residence and credit load. Second, fees are billed per semester or per lab hour, not per credit, so do not fold them into a per-credit figure — UNH Durham, Keene State and Plymouth State all publish fee totals whose billing unit differs from their tuition unit.

What to do next in New Hampshire

1. For state aid, go through the Higher Education Commission and the partners it names, rather than any list of dollar amounts.
2. Decide whether you are comparing campus or online study, then compare on the same basis — Nashua’s rates differ by course type, UNH CPS’s do not differ by state, and the three residential campuses add per-semester mandatory fees.
3. If you are coming from another New England state, ask about the New England Regional Student Program rate, which the three residential campuses publish and which requires an eligible program.
4. Ask each college for its fee schedule in full, and for the differential or program fees your major attracts — engineering, business, nursing and music all carry extra charges at UNH Durham, and nursing programs add fees at Keene State and Plymouth State.
5. At Plymouth State, check again after the board meeting finalises the year, because the published amounts are estimates.