Eugene - Universities across Oregon could be changing the way students pay for college. Today a committee of students and financial aid officials proposed replacing some fees, with a tuition hike. But students wouldn't actually pay more.

Oregon University students who plan for tuition, often get a shock when they get the final bill. But there is a new effort to get rid of some hidden fees.

"Resource fees? Uh, I do not know, sorry," says UO Freshman Sander Cole. To be exact, their programmatic resource fees. You know, that cost over and above tuition that most U of O students have to pay?

"Your parents just get the bill," explains student Helen Metts. And when they do, often there are extra fees, of up to $700. "Some of our academic programs charge an additional fee for students who are in that particular major or program," says Elizabeth Bickford with the University's Financial Aid program.

But some students say that isn't always clear. "It's not as transparent as tuition, in that they kind of happen after the fact and they're tacked on when someone signs up for a class or someone registers for a program," says Tom Hojem with the O.S.A.

Students say one of the problems with the resource fee is that their not added into the final tuition bill so it can make it really difficult when they're trying to determine what they'll need for financial aid.

"The problem is they aren't predictable so when someone is trying to forecast their finances for the year or next 4 years they aren't able to take into account the resource fees that are less predictable than tuition," says Hojem.

To keep costs predictable, a new plan would eliminate the fees, and shift them into to tuition. So tuition would go up as much as 10 percent, but Bickford explains: "we're not increasing tuition, all we're doing is rolling current existing fees into tuition and everything would be called tuition.

So students can easily see the bottom line. "Well because it's your money you should be informed on why you're spending it and what kinds of things your spending it on," says Metts.

The plan also allows universities to charge students in certain majors more tuition. The board will vote on this early next year, and wouldn't be implemented until fall 2008.