LA GRANDE, Ore. – Beginning with fall term 2008, Eastern Oregon University returned to a tuition plateau.

Offered for on-campus courses only, the plateau gives a 50 percent discount per credit to students taking 16 or more credits.

“It is important for students to know about this because it gives them a financial advantage,” said Dixie Lund, EOU president. “But the plateau also promotes on-campus learning.”

In 2003-2004, the majority of Oregon universities began eliminating or reducing the tuition plateau programs under statewide legislative budget constraints.

Prior to changes in the program, students at many universities could take anywhere between 12 and 18 credits for the same flat fee.

Many students across the Oregon University System now pay per-credit tuition. While the reintroduction of the plateau at EOU is a more modest version, it can still save students money.

The program is especially appealing to on-campus students who want to take the extra credits in order to fulfill graduation requirements more quickly, but could otherwise not afford them. For students taking 15 regular tuition on-campus credits at the regular tuition rate, the 16th credit and beyond will cost $53 per credit.

“We don’t want to see students, especially freshmen, taking on too heavy of a load and getting in over their heads just to save money,” Lund said. “But we hope that other students will take advantage of the discounted fees.”

The Oregon University System also announced that enrollment rose for fall term. At Eastern, the growth was the highest percentage in the system, at 6.8 percent, much of it in online programs.

“We recently saw an increase in online enrollments,” said Virginia Key, vice president for finance and administration at EOU. “While we are pleased with that, we are working to improve on-campus enrollments as well.”

Last year, the public institutions in Oregon were given permission to increase tuition for the 2008-2009 school year by 3.6 percent.

However, EOU administration chose to limit the tuition hike to 1.9 percent.