HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - At least one university is dangling tuition-free professional graduate degrees as a way to entice applicants at a time of lean budgets and intense competition.

The University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut, made the pitch this week. It announced that undergraduates studying business management and accounting will be able to qualify for a fifth-year master's degree with no additional tuition.

University President Rhona Free says officials hope whatever they lose in graduate tuition they will more than make up for by attracting more undergraduate students.

At Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 20 percent of graduating seniors take advantage of tuition-free fifth-year master's degrees in areas including finance, management and public administration.