Regents approve A year ago, student protests defeated a proposal to raise tuition at the University of Hawaii.
tuition increase
A regents panel passes a
By Treena Shapiro
proposal that raises tuition
by nearly $200 per semester
Star-Bulletin
But hours of similar arguments today and last night failed to sway the Board of Regents, which voted unanimously this morning to increase tuition at all campuses for the next five years.
Undergraduate resident tuition at UH's Manoa, West Oahu and Hilo campuses will climb almost $500 over the next five years as a result of annual 3 percent increases. For the 2005-06 academic year, annual tuition will cost $3,504, up from $3,024 currently.
After the board voted this morning, five students testified against student regent Sat Khalsa, who they said did not represent students when he voted in favor of the increase.
"I think that its obvious that public testimony is not part of the process as far as decision-making is concerned," said Piilani Smith, former undergraduate student body president and a leader in protests today and last night when the regents' Budget Committee signed off on the tuition increase last night.
The new tuition plan means higher costs for community college students as well. Currently, full-time community college students pay for only the first 12 credits. Under the new plan, students will pay for each credit, which will be up $4 to $49 per credit by 2005. The tuition change for the community colleges will not go in effect for another two years however.
Troy Baker, student government president at Honolulu Community College, told the regents this morning that they "totally invalidated the testimony of all the students."
At HCC where several technical programs require students to take more than 12 credits each semester, many students will see a $5,000 increase this fall, Baker said. "That marks the end of their educational careers as they know it now."
Last night's committee vote was followed by angry shouts and curses from about 70 students and faculty, hoping to defeat the tuition increase as they had a year ago with an all-night protest.
Many said they were angry the board was considering a tuition increase again, particularly with a faculty strike looming and a new president taking over in July.
About 40 people testified before the Budget Committee in protest of the budget hike, including a handful of faculty members.
Those speaking were primarily students most likely to be hit hardest by the tuition increase -- those from low-income families, single parents and Hawaiians. Many students, some in tears, said they would not be able to continue their education if they had to pay for every credit.
Kapono Andermann, a member of the student senate at Kapiolani Community College and a single mother, pleaded with the committee to look at the tuition increases from a student's perspective.
"I'm already barely making it," she said. While the $150 tuition increase that community college students face per course may not seem like a lot to the committee members, she said, "What $1 means to us is different from what $1 means to you."
The most notable detractor from the protest was UH-Manoa undergraduate student body President Chris Garnier, who took what he called an "unpopular position," testifying in support of the increase.
Before making a motion to call a vote in favor of the tuition proposal, committee member Everett Dowling told those who testified, "I admire you and I support what you've gone through." He added, however, the students testifying did not represent the segment of the student population who could afford a tuition increase.
Colleen Sathre, UH vice president of planning and policy, said the university's financial aid offices would work to help those students facing hardship as a result of the tuition increase, helping them to get tuition waivers, scholarships, grants, loans and employment opportunities.
University of Hawaii
