To build its numbers, Northern Kentucky University is opening its doors wider to some out-of-state students.

        Effective with the 2001-02 school year, eligible men and women will pay the same tuition — $2,460 a year — as full-time, in-state undergraduates. That's less than half of NKU's regular out-of-state tuition — $6,708 — or University of Cincinnati's anticipated tuition of $5,600 for Ohio undergraduates on its main campus.

HOW TO QUALIFY

To be eligible for the break on non-resident undergraduate tuition at Northern Kentucky University, transfer students must have: <   • A minimum of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours from accredited colleges or universities. <   • At least a C- in each course — not a C- average — for which they want transfer credit. Successful applicants will get credit for most or all of those courses toward graduation. <   Transfer students must take at least 25 percent of their total credits at NKU to earn a degree.

        Eligible students also will receive liberal credit for courses taken elsewhere, easing a problem common in transfers.

        NKU hopes this will attract 100 students a year. It has about 12,000 students.

        Unlike some other lowered-tuition programs around the country, NKU's is limited to students who come in as juniors or seniors.

        “No one has heard of this version before,” said Stephanie Weix, spokeswoman for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in Washington, D.C.

        Gregory Stewart, associate vice president for enroll ment management, said NKU's target audience is the more than 100,000 Ohio and Indiana residents within commuting distance who have at least two years of college and might complete a four-year degree if the price was right.

        “If (NKU) is right, they're really mining a rich market,”

        said Travis Reindl, director of state policy for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. “They need to put butts in seats.”

        Mr. Reindl called NKU's approach to adults with some college a wrinkle he hadn't seen before and praised it as a retreat from the historic fear that states might subsidize the education “of the dreaded non-resident students.”

        The non-resident tuition offer is part of NKU's larger effort to add 1,000 students by the 2004-05 school year but it isn't trying to poach neighbors' students, Mr. Stewart said.

        Mr. Stewart said NKU has room for many more juniors and seniors, so every new student is, in a way, a bonus financially, even at the lower tuition.

        “It's not our goal to take (others schools')baccalaureate students,” he said.

        Dixie L. Leather, assistant director of admissions for transfer services, said NKU's new program especially suits adults who have a variety of credits and finally have decided what they want to study.

        While NKU's primary responsibility is enrolling ever-greater numbers of Kentuckians, the state rewards public universities for rising head counts and retention and graduation rates, Mr. Stewart said. It doesn't matter where those students live.

        Another incentive comes from businesses or federal agencies in Kentucky that NKU hopes to sell training programs. Those firms will shun the school if it charges their non-resident employees full out-of-state tuition, Mr. Stewart said.

        Given those realities, he added, “It makes no sense in some cases to hold to our traditional geographic boundaries.”

        At UC, James D. Williams, director of undergraduate enrollment services, said NKU's program was “an indication of the competitive nature of the higher ed marketplace.”

        If all of the credits don't transfer or fit NKU's graduation requirements, Mr. Stewart said, graduation could take more than two years. That additional time probably will dissuade many juniors or seniors from leaving another college for NKU because there would be little or no financial advantage if transferring meant more time in school.

        Ms. Leather said few studentstransfer each year from Xavier University, the College of Mount St. Joseph or four-year programs at UC, but she would not guess whether lower tuition would increase the numbers.

        Instead, she said, Cincinnati State and UC are NKU's “top feeder schools,” especially UC's Clermont and Raymond Walters Colleges, when graduates with two-year degrees decide where to pursue their baccalaureates.

        These grads already get Kentucky in-state tuition if they come to NKU rather than UC's four-year colleges.

        At the Mount, spokeswoman Linda Liebau said fewer than 3 percent of the juniors or seniors drop out and money is rarely the reason, given the scholarships or emergency aid available.

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