The University of Hawaii would be able to expedite tuition decreases under a proposal the Board of Regents budget committee advanced Thursday.
Current board policy requires that any increase or decrease in tuition be presented at a public meeting at least one semester in advance.
The proposed revision would remove that requirement for tuition decreases. Instead, the regents would have the ability to drop tuition at a public board meeting at any time.
Raising tuition would still require advance notice of at least one semester.
The board’s Budget and Finance Committee unanimously agreed to recommend the proposal to the full board, which will hold its monthly meeting next week on Maui.
UH is in the third year of a five-year tuition schedule, approved in 2011, that is set to ultimately raise tuition by more than 30 percent. But regents have said they will revisit the annual 7 percent tuition hikes built into the final two years of the schedule.
Tuition this year at the UH-Manoa campus is $4,572 per semester, or $9,144 annually, for full-time residents.
The idea of reducing tuition comes at a sensitive time: The university has been relying more on tuition revenue to cover operating expenses as state support has declined.
At the flagship Manoa campus, tuition revenue makes up roughly 30 percent of the operating budget, up from 19 percent five years ago. Meanwhile, state funding covers 25 percent of operations, down from 35 percent in 2009.
And with the exception of the UH-West Oahu campus, the university is experiencing enrollment drops at its campuses statewide, meaning fewer students are paying into the tuition pot.
UH-Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman said every 100 students typically represent $1 million in tuition revenue for Manoa, where enrollment is down by about 500 students this fall, compared with a year ago.
The lost income, coupled with rising utility and personnel costs in recent years, has led to the campus spending more tuition revenue than it’s bringing in, he said. The overspending has forced UH-Manoa to draw down its reserves at an alarming rate.
Manoa’s tuition-funded reserves have dropped to $12 million this year from about $99 million in fiscal 2011.
UHPresident David Lassner told the Budget Committee on Thursday that the UH system wants to ask the Legislature for an extra $35.5 million in state general funds to help cover costs next fiscal year.
Of that, approximately $24 million would help cover increased utility costs across the 10-campus system, including $16 million at Manoa. Lassner stressed that the higher costs are tied to rate increases, noting that campuses have been reducing energy use.
"As utility rates have gone up, that has been major drain on tuition revenue,"Lassner said.