Three former Hawaii Community College student government officers say they were voted off the Hilo school’s student council after trying to account for an estimated $1.8 million in student fees that have been collected over the past five years.
The former officers say students are being charged fees for programs and services that no longer exist.
The actual revenue collected is unclear because the students — two of them former treasurers for the student council — say they have been unsuccessful with repeated requests for financial records detailing revenue and expenditures of student fees.
Hawaii Community College students each semester are charged a $19 news publication fee, a $7 Campus Center fee and a $5 fee for recreation, services HCC students stopped receiving last spring.
Because Hawaii Community College shares a portion of the University of Hawaii-Hilo campus, student fees for both campuses previously were combined and jointly operated.
The news fee, for example, used to provide HCC students with a bimonthly campus magazine and access to a student-run radio station on the UH-Hilo campus. Students also had access to UH-Hilo’s recreation facilities and Campus Center.
"But in spring 2013 the campuses separated and began to be managed by each home campus for each home campus’ students," said college spokesman Thatcher Moats. "These three student fees have continued to be collected since the separation from UH-Hilo (in January 2013) and have been banked but not expended."
Moats said, "It’s difficult to say exactly how much was collected after the split," but said that as of March 31 the balances in the three accounts were $131,692 for publications, $48,490 for Campus Center and $34,648 for recreation.
He said the student officers were not removed for inquiring about student fees.
Marieta Carino and former student government President Eric Aranug were voted off the council for "misconduct and violations" of the student council bylaws at a special meeting March 14, but Carino said the two are challenging the decision.
Carino said they were accused of violating protocol by going over the council’s head and speaking directly to lawmakers and the Board of Regents about their concerns.
A third former student, David Canning, said he was removed last year as student government treasurer after he made repeated requests for records of all mandatory fees students are charged.
"It just seems strange to us that whenever a member of the (student) council asks questions about proper accounting and receipts of student fees, we get removed," said Carino, who was treasurer for the council’s Student Activities Board. "There’s hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars that we’re not being told anything about. We brought it up to the administration and were told that they didn’t find any problems, and it was just swept under the rug."
The students say that school officials take advantage of student council members’ inexperience and short stints at the two-year college.
Canning said he managed to gather up some documents from past council members.
"None of the accounting had been properly done," he said. "There was double billing and just outrageous charges."
Last year the council’s office was broken into, and the documents disappeared, he said.
Carino said as part of her duties as treasurer, she requested financial documents for the various fees students are charged each semester.
Using official enrollment counts, Canning estimates that the college has collected more than $218,500 for the three fees since the split and nearly $840,000 over the last five years. The school also collects $18 per semester each for student government and student activities.
"The fact that they’re collecting funds for services that are not provided, it’s just plain theft," Canning said. "They’re stealing from over 3,000 students every single semester, and I don’t understand why no one is being held accountable."
Carino said the students have taken their complaints to the UH Board of Regents and state lawmakers.
