Maysville, Mo. ? Northwest Missouri State University is trying to attract prospective students who live in some counties adjacent to Missouri.

The university’s governing board has approved a plan to cut out-of-state tuition for people in specific Kansas and Oklahoma counties who want to attend a collaborative graduate program at Missouri Southern State University and outreach programs at Northwest Missouri State’s campus in Liberty.

Currently, no students from the counties involved are enrolled at either program.

Northwest Missouri State’s governing board on Friday approved a tuition cut from $495.30 a credit hour to $274.25 for students from Atchison, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, Wyandotte, Crawford and Cherokee counties in northeast Kansas. Delaware, Craig and Ottawa counties in Oklahoma, which are near Joplin, also are included in the tuition cut, effective in January.

“We’re hoping it will change the enrollment pattern,” said Frances Shipley, dean of Northwest Missouri State’s graduate school.

Northwest Missouri State is competing with Pittsburg State University in Kansas and the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Missouri State University, where similar graduate programs are offered, said Charles McAdams, dean of the college of arts and sciences at Northwest Missouri State.

About 250 students currently commute to the Liberty campus.