University of Hawaii student Brenda Whitmarsh worries about tuition for her first semester at the Manoa campus.

A part-time student in the family resources program, she spent the summer looking for a job to no avail to help pay more than $2,000 in tuition because she received only $700 in financial aid.

"I’m really scared," Whitmarsh said Monday.

On the first day of the 2013-2014 academic year, several UH students, along with state Rep. John Mizuno, passed out copies of a proposed bill to dozens of students at the Campus Center.

The measure he plans to introduce during next year’s legislative session calls for a tuition freeze throughout the UH system for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Resident undergraduate students attending UH-Manoa full time pay $4,572 per semester, while nonresident undergraduates pay $13,356. Under a five-year schedule, tuition will increase 7.5 percent in each of the next three academic years.

In the last academic year of the tuition schedule, full-time resident undergraduate students at UH-Manoa will pay $5,688 per semester, while nonresident undergraduate students will pay $16,452.

Mizuno (D, Kamehameha Heights-Kalihi Valley) said a moratorium on increases will enable more students to enroll and provide a more affordable higher education. The tuition raises, he said, place a burden on students, some of whom have more than one job to cover tuition and housing costs.

"These tuition increases are not fair," said Mizuno. "It’s going to hurt our students."

Student Ian Ross, 22, first raised concerns about the increases with Mizuno.

"It’s only going to get worse from here," said Ross, a senior majoring in economics.

Linda Johnsrud, executive vice president of academic affairs and provost for the UH system, said increases are necessary to provide classes and programs of quality, classroom improvements, financial aid services, operating expenses and enhanced technology on campuses.

"I think that our tuition is affordable," she added, but said the administration plans to analyze the effects of the increases midway through the tuition schedule.

ACCORDING to a recent study by NerdScholar, the average student debt in Hawaii is the second-lowest in the nation. The state also has the lowest percentage of students graduating with debt, at 38 percent. NerdScholar is a website on higher education providing students and parents with financial information.

UH-Manoa freshman Maricar Daoang said the increase is reasonable.

"I don’t have anything against the tuition," said Daoang.

She said she thought about attending San Diego State University but decided against it because the tuition plus food and housing for a nonresident undergraduate was much higher than at UH. Nonresidents at San Diego State this pay $17,926 in tuition for the current academic year.