This study examined how public higher education institutions in the U.S. determine international student residency classification for tuition purposes and the cost of international student fees. Using a non-experimental research design, the data were collected from 229 public colleges and universities in the U.S. awarding bachelor's degree or higher (40.2% response rate). The results indicated that 84% of institutions used non-resident (i.e. out-of-state) classification for their international students at an undergraduate level, while 82.3% followed this practice on the graduate level. Four institutions or 2.0% reported classifying their international students as resident (i.e. in-state) students for tuition purposes. The remaining 14% respondents on the undergraduate level or 16.2% on the graduate level classified international students as neither residents nor non-residents and used a different criteria for establishing their tuition classification ("the other"). The tuition differentials between "the other" and non-resident classification ranged from $436 per academic year for an institution in Ohio to $5,046 per academic year for a university in Illinois. Results further showed that 50.2% of respondents charged additional fees to their international undergraduate students, while 50.7% implemented such payments for students pursuing a graduate degree. The cost of international student fees ranged from $3 at an institution in Florida to $500 at a university in Pennsylvania per one semester or from $75 in Indiana to $750 in Massachusetts per one year. One time fees ranged from $40 in Mississippi to $300 in South Carolina.