UH tuition might
rise by 123%

A proposal would increase UH-Manoa's
residents' tuition to $3,912 by 2011

Undergraduate tuition at the University of Hawaii's four-year campuses would more than double by 2011, while resident community college students would pay 81 percent more, under a proposal presented to the Board of Regents yesterday.

The proposed tuition schedule, which also includes increases for graduate and professional programs, would make up for declining state support by roughly doubling the university's annual tuition revenues to about $198 million, said Linda Johnsrud, UH interim associate vice president for planning and policy.

It would also bring UH-Manoa's undergraduate tuition up to the national average for similar institutions, she added.

"We are committed to maintaining access," Johnsrud told the regents at their monthly meeting yesterday at Kapiolani Community College. "At the same time, we recognize the need for students and their families to bear a greater percentage of costs."

The increases are larger -- by as much as 22 percentage points -- than those under the school's previous five-year tuition schedule. Under that plan, which ends in the 2005-06 school year, tuition was increased by 3 percent a year for UH-Manoa resident undergraduates.

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Johnsrud said UH-Manoa's peer institutions increased tuition by an average of 9.3 percent in 2004.

Administrators say UH has been lax in raising tuition and needs to catch up. For the current school year, for example, resident undergraduates at UH-Manoa paid the seventh-lowest tuition in the nation, Johnsrud said.

UH interim President David McClain added that there has been a surge in enrollment during the last three years but no "complimentary increase" in funds.

"We are clearly underpriced in relation to our peers," he said. "We do think that this is something that is reasonable."

Some students say the increase is too much, too fast.

"I don't think that's fair," said Holly Gyure, a premedical student at UH-Manoa.

Others, like prospective UH-Manoa student Jon Peralto, said he would expect a better education and more state-of-the-art classrooms with the increased tuition.

"I'd sacrifice if it's benefiting us," he said.

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UH-Manoa sophomore Chrystie Harada said her parents -- a teacher and a high school counselor -- would likely be unable to afford the proposed tuition hikes. "It's not like they're raking in the dough," she said. "It's a lot already, I thought."

She said she expects strong opposition to the proposal.

UH officials are assuring students that with the tuition increases will come more tuition waivers, which could eventually be converted into scholarships. Also, students will be able to pay for their tuition in installments, rather than all at once.

Under the tuition proposal:

» Full-time resident undergraduates at UH-Manoa would have $432 increases each semester through spring 2011. Tuition would rise 123 percent to $3,912 a semester in 2010-11, compared with $1,752 in 2005-06. In the first year of the proposed schedule, an additional $432 amounts to a 25 percent increase over the 2005-06 tuition.

» Nonresidents at UH-Manoa would see similar percentage increases, with per-semester tuition for undergraduates reaching $10,932 by 2010, up 119 percent from $4,992 in 2005-06.

» Tuition for graduate and professional programs would also rise. For example, resident medical students would pay $13,560 a semester by 2010-11, up $5,520, or 69 percent, from $8,040 in 2005-06.

» At UH-Hilo the increase would be $288 a semester for full-time resident undergraduates, a 23 percent hike in the first year. Per-semester tuition would rise to $2,676 in 2010-11, up 116 percent from $1,236 in 2005-06.

» At UH-West Oahu, resident undergraduates would pay $264 more each semester through 2010-11. Tuition would rise to $2,448 a semester in 2010-11, up 117 percent from $1,128 in 2005-06.

» Community colleges would see the smallest tuition hikes, with residents getting a 16 percent increase in the first year. But over the course of the schedule, tuition for full-time residents at community colleges would go up 81 percent, to $1,335 a semester from $735 in 2005-06.

» Nonresident tuition at community colleges would vary depending on the campus but could increase as much as $600 a semester.

The tuition schedule still needs board approval. Regents are expected to vote on the proposal by June.

Public hearings on the proposal are scheduled for February and March, though no dates have been set.

Johnsrud said that by the end of the tuition schedule, UH-Manoa resident undergraduates are expected to cover about 47 percent of the instructional costs for their education. In 2003 their tuition paid for about 29 percent, she said.

The increase in revenues is expected to meet "core needs," Johnsrud said.