UH should expand options for learning

Higher education beyond the high school diploma has rarely seemed more important than it does now. The jobs of the future will have tougher requirements, even those considered blue-collar trade positions. And with stubbornly high unemployment seemingly a feature of the economic landscape for the foreseeable future, today’s students need to make sure they have the required skills.

At the same time, recovery from the economic downturn has not been robust, so it would be unrealistic to expect state tax coffers to be so flush with cash that the state could tap the general fund at increasing levels for the University of Hawaii.

So with an eye toward building a university system that is more self-sustaining, the UH administration and the Board of Regents acted responsibly in forging and approving a five-year schedule of tuition increases. This plan, adopted last week, covers the state’s flagship Manoa campus as well as the two baccalaureate-level branches at West Oahu and Hilo and the fleet of community colleges.

It was undoubtedly a tougher decision than the 9-3 vote might indicate. State budget cuts, regents said, made it necessary to boost UH-Manoa undergraduate tuition by 35 percent five years from now, resulting in a tuition of $11,376 by the 2016-2017 year. All campuses are affected, with the pain being meted out gradually: Annual increases range from 3 to 8 percent.

Students and their families are understandably unhappy with the prospect, so the university owes it to them to make sure fiscal decisions are made that will insulate them from even heavier burdens.

For example, the university is making strides — belatedly — toward increasing enrollment revenues through distance-education options. Campuses have been ramping up in recent months to expand delivery of coursework through virtual classroom technology. Increasing enrollments in the state university system — the economy has deterred many students from pursuing mainland studies — have averted even deeper cuts from being made. Given that the cost of constructing new classroom space is not one that many campuses can afford right now, out-of-the-box thinking is to be encouraged.

The Associated Students of the University of Hawaii, whose members will be bearing the brunt of the increases, is right to demand further investigations for alternative ways of generating revenue. And the administration also must be sensitive to the call from some students for greater transparency about budgetary matters.

What’s also important is that the UH maintain the community college system as an affordable entry point into higher education. The online-education option needs to be accelerated there so that more students may have a lower-cost alternative for earning their freshman- and sophomore-level credits. Transferring to UH-Manoa for the last two years may be one means of making a four-year degree affordable.

And for students not pursuing a bachelor’s degree, a well-equipped community college system is an even more critical stepping stone to a livable wage.

The bottom line is that the state needs an adequately financed university system to serve its population. For many families, leaving Hawaii for college is simply not an option, so the homegrown product should be a good choice. Increasing tuition was the only viable means of making that happen — but there must be constant vigilance to maintain both quality and affordability.