Regents explore raising UH tuition up to 46 percent

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents will hear details Thursday of three proposals that would raise tuition from about 16 percent to about 46 percent by 2016 for a typical undergraduate student at the Manoa campus.

The regents are not scheduled to make any decision on tuition increases across the entire 10-campus system when they meet at UH Maui College.

But they will hear details for the first time about how much tuition would go up each year on each campus from fall 2012 through the 2016-2017 school year.

Tuition was last increased in 2005 and was modified in January 2010 and again last January, which combined to raise a typical Manoa undergraduate’s tuition and fees to about $9,118 this year.

Under the priciest proposal going before the regents, a Manoa undergraduate’s tuition and fees would rise to $13,332 by the 2016-2017 school year. Out-of-state undergraduate students at Manoa would see annual tuition and fees increase from about $23,950 currently to $33,804.

Natda Luangkhot, a 17-year-old freshman from Kunia, began her first semester at UH-Manoa on Monday. After at least four more years, Luangkhot hopes to be accepted at UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine en route to becoming a doctor. She would pay higher tuition for each of the school years under consideration by the regents.

"I’m going to be in debt for the rest of my life," Luangkhot said Tuesday at UH-Manoa’s Campus Center.

Freshman Jessica Matsuura, 18, of Kaneohe knows that her tuition is already a burden for her parents, and wants to work to help. "But it’s hard to get a job in this economy," Matsu­ura said.

With higher tuitions potentially kicking in next year, she said, "I’ll probably have to get a couple of jobs so I don’t feel as bad."

The current tuition schedule ends next spring. UH President M.R.C. Greenwood originally promised to have the new schedule vetted at each campus and in place at least a year before the start of the fall 2012 semester to give students and their families a chance to prepare for higher costs.

UH officials did not respond to several requests for comment Tuesday on the proposals.

They previously briefed regents on three plans:

» Increase tuition in line with national and regional averages, which would result in the highest increases.

In addition to the 46 percent increase for Manoa undergraduate students, community college students would see annual average tuition and fees rise to $4,331 from about $2,940 by fall 2016.

» Raise resident tuitions by "zero to modest increases," which would mean about a 16 percent increase to $10,620 per year for a typical undergraduate student at Manoa beginning in fall 2016. Community college tuition and fees would increase to about $3,521 per year.

» "Differentiated increases based on strategic direction" for each campus, which would increase tuition about 3.5 percent in the first year for resident and nonresident students at the Manoa campus. Their tuitions would increase about 7 percent in each subsequent year.

With the one-time, 3.5 percent increase, a typical Manoa undergraduate’s annual tuition and fees would begin at about $9,437. They would increase to $10,098 with the first 7 percent increase.

UH officials have said that tuition increases would coincide with increased financial aid, more course offerings, smaller classes, hiring and retention of faculty, classroom improvements and increased security.

Without a tuition increase, officials have said, the Manoa campus faces accelerated loss of faculty, a moratorium on hiring for up to five years and closed buildings because of safety problems.