Students worried about how to get their tuition paid by the end of today have a new option: For the first time, the UA Bursar's Office is offering a tuition payment plan.

Under the plan, students pay a $75 enrollment fee per semester and then pay their tuition in three interest-free installments.

The first installment for the fall semester is due today, and the next two installments are due Oct. 6 and Nov. 10, respectively.

Friday was originally the last day to register for the plan without being assessed a $50 late fee, but glitches in the computer system have prompted the university to delay charging any late fees until tomorrow, said Bursar Suellyn Hull.

Although financial aid recipients are eligible to enroll for the plan, the intended users are those students who do not receive aid, Hull said.

"The tuition payment plan is really designed for those people that don't have a way of paying, the small percentage of the student population that gets no aid or chooses not to take aid," she said.

Financial aid recipients are already protected from late fees, so for them to pay $75 to participate in this plan "is not in their best interest," she said.

Only about 150 students have registered for the plan so far, Hull said. She guessed part of the reason is that students already have so many methods of payment available to them, such as credit cards.

"We have not had a huge response to this. It's just another option," she said.

The idea for implementing a tuition payment plan arose last spring at an Arizona Board of Regents meeting. Then-student regent Matt Meaker, who attended the UA, noted that Northern Arizona University had been successfully administering such a system for several years.

The idea was well-received, said UA Provost George Davis.

"The University of Arizona was quick to set up that kind of arrangement," he said, adding that all three of Arizona's state universities now have some kind of payment plan option.

Payment installment plans have become common across the country, said UA President Peter Likins.

"It's just an offering for students to have another way to pay," he said. "I approve because it gives a lot of students more options."

Spring Tuition Payment Plan registration dates and deadlines have not yet been set.