Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Columbus (IUPUC) has announced changes to its rate structure. In the Fall of 2016, full-time undergraduates students enrolled in on-campus degree programs at IUPUC will transition to banded tuition.

Belinda Allen, IUPUC Marketing Specialist, says banded tuition, also called “flat-rate” tuition, charges a single-tuition amount for credits within a defined range. She says it is designed to help undergraduate students graduate in four years and minimize education-related debt. Banded tuition is already in place at a number of state-run universities.

Allen says the advantages of this tuition program is realized when a student takes between 12 and 18 credits, rather than pay a per-credit rate. She stresses that students taking fewer than 12 credits in a semester will continue to pay the per-credit rate, while students enrolled in 19 or more credit hours will pay the banded tuition rate up to 18 credit hours plus the per-credit tuition rate for each credit over 18.

Allen says that the banded tuition rate will be set at the equivalent of 15 credit hours under the per credit system. She adds that the banded tuition rate will be different for in-state and out-of-state residents.