AURORA — Finance officials at the University of Colorado say the Boulder campus should bump full-time status from 10 class credits to 12, which could push students to graduate more quickly.

In-state CU students now pay $282 for each credit hour up to the first 10 credit hours. Then, tuition bills flatten out, and students pay $2,961 for their semester’s education. The reformed tuition structure would cancel out the tuition break that students taking between 10.5 and 12 credits a semester now receive, according to CU officials.

The university’s finance officials at a meeting Thursday updated the Board of Regents on financial data including enrollment numbers, debt load of students and how students pay for school. State funding figures remained bleak when compared with peer universities across the country, with the Boulder campus receiving 32 percent of the average.

Robert Moore, CU’s vice president for budget and finance, told the regents that federal financial aid programs, and most comparable universities nationwide, define “full-time” students as taking at least 12 credit hours. The board, which typically sets the university’s budget in the spring, is in its early rounds of tuition discussions.

CU graduates, on average, carried $19,848 in loan debt this year. That compares with $17,645 in 2002, according to university statistics.

Students at CU pay for their education differently than students nationwide, according to graphs compiled with information from the university and Sallie Mae.

“The loan amount is below the national average, but the share that students and parents pay is higher,” Moore said.

Loans make up 27 percent of how CU students pay for their college, compared with 40 percent nationally. The student and parent share of paying for school accounts for 41 percent at CU and 33 percent across the country. Colorado students receive slightly more in scholarships and grants than their peers nationwide, the figures show.

Bud Peterson, chancellor of CU’s Boulder campus, told the regents that families from the eastern part of the country view education as more of an investment and are more inclined to take out loans to finance higher education than families in the West or Midwest.

About 80 percent of scholarships that Colorado students receive from CU are need-based, said Ric Porreca, CU’s chief financial officer. The majority of those doled out to out-of-state students are merit-based, awarded on strong academic records, he said.