Tuition waivers
for Hawaiians to be
sought by OHA

Some want free tuition
tied with a ceded-land
revenue settlement

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

Regent Wayne Panoke was listening to University of Hawaii officials talk about autonomy last May when he learned UH can now freely sell or develop land it controls, even ceded lands that are supposed to benefit native Hawaiians.

It was then Panoke decided Hawaiians need to have free tuition in the UH system.

"So at that moment I decided that it was time to bring this issue up because certainly, if they were thinking about selling ceded lands, it's not their land to do with anyhow," Panoke told the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

"Of course, it was not really received in a positive spirit by all. But it did wake them up."

OHA's Legislative and Government Affairs Committee yesterday voted to draft a resolution that supports tuition waivers for Hawaiians at the 10-campus public university system.

But trustees stopped short of agreeing to use the ongoing negotiations over ceded-land revenue as leverage to force the state to give free tuition.

The idea was pushed by the recently formed Native Hawaiian Advisory Council, a group made up of Hawaiian faculty members at UH-Manoa. Member Lilikala Kameeleihiwa, director of the UH Center for Hawaiian Studies, asked OHA to consider not settling the ceded-lands issue with the state until UH agrees to give free tuition to all Hawaiians.

"I know that that's kind of an interesting add-on to that issue, but I think the whole problem of getting the administration at the university to agree to free tuition for Hawaiians could be solved very quickly if OHA were to take this stand," she said.

OHA and the state are working toward a Dec. 1 deadline to settle past-due revenues from uses of ceded land. The negotiations stem from a court ruling two years ago that said OHA could sue for ceded-land revenue generated from housing sales and rentals, Hilo Hospital patient services, off-site Duty Free Shoppers and interest income.

Estimates of the money owed range from $500 million to $1.2 billion.

Ku'umealoha Gomes, director of UH Kua'ana Student Services, which provides services to Hawaiian students, said there are always more applicants than tuition waivers to go around. For instance, there were 259 applicants for 110 tuition waivers this academic year.

She believes even more Hawaiian students would apply if not for two reasons: They don't know waivers are available, or they don't want to submit detailed personal information required on the applications.

There were 6,172 native Hawaiians enrolled in the system in fall 1997.

But OHA trustees were cautious yesterday about including free tuition as part of any ceded-land revenue settlement. Trustee Hannah Springer said she's concerned about tying it to the negotiations because it may expose OHA more than necessary.

Committee Chairman Herbert Campos, a member of OHA's negotiation team, said he believes free tuition for Hawaiians is important, but did not say if it was part of the talks.

Jalna Keala, OHA government affairs officer, said a 1986 legislative auditor's report listed 1,700 acres under UH control. Keala said the Manoa campus sits on more than 300 acres of ceded lands.