FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A week after proposing tuition increases, Colorado State University is asking students to help the school save money by warming up to cold water.

The university's new effort is aimed at getting campus residents to wash their clothes in cold water instead of doing a hot load, which costs the school 17 cents. The savings mean extra profit because students would still pay a dollar at CSU's coin-operated laundry facilities.

CSU estimates its "Take the Plunge" program could save about $30,000 annually if the 5,500 students living in CSU's dorms and family housing switch one load a week from hot to cold during the 32-week school year.

CSU's Housing and Dining Services floated the idea of cold-water washing after seeing a new product unveiled by Tide in February, according to the Coloradoan.

The detergent company said its formula gets white loads clean without using hot water.

As part of the Take the Plunge program, Tide passed out about 5,000 samples of its new cold-water detergent on CSU's campus in the past week.