UH drops plan to give dorm priority to Oahu

The University of Hawaii at Manoa has backed off a proposal that could have left neighbor island, mainland and international students without housing in the dorms this fall.

The housing office had proposed moving out-of-state students from second on the priority list to ninth, below students on Oahu who live as close as Kailua and Aiea. Neighbor island students would have dropped from second to fifth.

However, when students were asked about the proposed changes, "there were no positive comments about it at all," UH-Manoa Chancellor Denise Konan said in a written statement.

As a result, the university has decided to establish housing priorities almost identical to this year's, except that students from Waialua to Hauula will move up to the third priority from fourth.

Freshmen from any location continue to have first priority for housing.

The deadline for nonfreshmen to apply for housing has been extended from Monday until May 22.

The university offers 3,085 beds in the dorms, far short of the demand for on-campus housing.

A new, privately built dorm on the site of the old Frear Hall is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2008, with an estimated 814 beds.