UH tuition
proposals stir worries
on campus

Students and faculty fear the
5-year hikes will knock
back enrollment

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Students and faculty members are worried that a proposed five-year tuition increase may further decrease the number of students in the University of Hawaii system.

But they acknowledge the university needs the money.

"If the state is unwilling to pay for it, the students and their parents must pay for it," said Chris Measures, an oceanography professor at UH-Manoa.

"It's really a sad state of affairs."

Assuming enrollment stays the same, the proposed tuition increase will generate from $2 million to $3 million each year across the system.

Measures found a direct correlation last year between dropping student enrollment and increasing tuition.

Enrollment systemwide dropped 0.9 percent this year to 44,858, according to preliminary figures released in September, although UH officials said they believe the numbers are starting to stabilize after bigger drops between 1995 and 1997.

"People need to have a debate in this state about what it means to have a university in the state," Measures said.

"I'm biased, of course, because I work for the university, but educating the next generation is one of the most valuable investments anyone can make," he said.

The proposed tuition increase, which the Board of Regents will address in the spring, didn't come as a surprise, said Mary Tiles, chairwoman of the UH-Manoa Faculty Senate.

"We're in financial difficulties. To their credit, they are not putting tuition through the roof," Tiles said.

It's not quite the increase of several years ago when UH had a huge tuition jump, she said.

Tiles fears students won't want to pay more while getting less for their money.

"We're way behind in repairs and maintenance, our technological infrastructure is behind, our faculty has been cut," she said.

Supporting the tuition increase requires careful examination, she said.

"We have to be competitive," Tiles said.

"We also have to think about what kinds of packages they can get at mainland universities.

"Nine hundred students a year from Hawaii leave for the mainland," Tiles said.

Students may want to consider going to a more economical community college first before switching over to a four-year institution to finish their degrees, said Stanford Togashi, former UH-Manoa undergraduate student president and now a senior majoring in management information systems.

"Unless they're going to increase services, it's hard to say the cost is justified," said Togashi, who has two part-time jobs to pay his way.

"But UH is in a bind. It's just to maintain services."

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