PORTLAND (AP) - Students are balking at plans to increase tuition at six of Oregon's seven public universities by an average of 12.7 percent next year.

The Oregon Board of Higher Education met Friday in Ashland to approve plans to boost tuition, just as many of the state's college students were gearing up for finals next week. Tuition at Oregon universities has climbed steadily over the last three years.

"(Tuition) is already outrageously high," said Jackson Cafazzo, 24, a junior studying English at Portland State University. "Not everybody is able to come up with $1,500 a term."

The plan approved Friday will raise $14.7 million by implementing tuition increases ranging from eight percent at Eastern Oregon University and Oregon State University, to 23 percent at the Oregon Institute of Technology.

Students at the University of Oregon will pay 12 percent more, while those at Portland State University and Southern Oregon University will see a 19-percent increase in tuition for the 2004-2005 school year.

Western Oregon University is the only school that will not boost tuition, said Di Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Oregon university system. That's because the Monmouth school expects to have 29 percent of its operating revenues still available when the fiscal year ends June 30.

Oregon's other six universities have ending fund balances of 5 to 15 percent of their total budget, said Nancy Heiligman, assistant vice chancellor for the OUS budget division.

But Saunders said there may be some help on the horizon.

The state higher education board is working with Gov. Ted Kulongoski to determine the best way to use $3 million of savings stemming from cuts made to the university system chancellor's office.

Combined with fund balances, that money will be set aside to deal with financial emergencies and help lighten the tuition load for some needy students, Heiligman said.

Friday's plan would raise an additional $8.8 million by switching the current tuition plateau system - which charges flat rates for 12, 15 or 18 credit hours - to a per-credit hour fee.

University officials say the change will distribute costs more fairly.

But critics say dropping the tuition plateau will place one more burden on college students already struggling to pay the bills.

"What you're doing is removing incentives for students to take more courses and graduate faster," said John Wykoff, executive director of the Oregon Student Association.

The change will hit people like 29-year-old Patricia Collins the hardest, the Portland State graduate student said.

Collins, who is studying for her master's degree in education, spent this year participating in an intensive, 15-credit graduate teaching program. She estimates she has amassed $25,000 worth of student loans.

"It's the people coming after me I worry about," said Collins, because they'll have to pay for each of those 15 credit hours individually.

Most students will probably continue to enroll in classes despite the tuition hikes, said Cafazzo, the Portland State student.

"Pretty much everybody I know has some sort of loan," he said.