The University of Hawaii Board of Regents is considering lowering tuition by 2 to 3 percentage points across the 10-campus system and forgoing as much as $16 million in additional revenue next year in an effort to keep tuition affordable.

The university is completing 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 the board had pledged to revisit the annual 7 percent tuition hikes built into the final two years of the schedule.

UH President David Lassner recommended Tuesday that the regents approve lowering tuition to a 5 percent increase from the scheduled 7 percent at UH-Manoa, and put in place 4 percent increases at UH-Hilo and UH-West Oahu and 5 percent increases at the seven community college campuses.

The original rate, which campuses have already begun collecting for the upcoming semester, was expected to generate an extra $30 million in new tuition revenue for the 2015-16 academic year. At the lowered rates, UH would bring in closer to $14 million.

With the exception of UH-Manoa, the campuses have proposed operating budgets for next year based on the recommended lower increases. But Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman told the board’s Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday his campus sorely needs the full increase in order to "bring us back to financial health."

Tuition this year at the UH-Manoa campus is $4,920 per semester, or $9,840 annually, for full-time residents. It would increase by $492 a year under the proposed 5 percent hike versus increasing by $744 per year under the original 7 percent rate.

Some 10,300 undergraduate students have already registered and paid for classes at Manoa in the fall at the higher rate. Those students would have to be refunded if the board lowers tuition.

Amid falling enrollment and fewer state dollars from legislators, officials acknowledge the Manoa campus for several years has been spending more than it brings in and drawing down its reserves.

Bley-Vroman said the campus, which is anticipating a 3 percent drop in enrollment, already has undergone "significant belt tightening" to cut expenditures this year and has been tasked with reducing costs for next year by $18.6 million.

"There is a big advantage to when we set a tuition schedule many years in advance, to stick with it," Bley-Vroman said.

He said the campus has had to make cuts that cannot be sustained long term without negatively affecting academic quality, such as delaying hiring, increasing class sizes and teaching loads, and reducing course offerings.

"We are in a state — to some extent, not completely — of what I’ve been calling deferred academic maintenance, because if you look at what’s been happening, we’ve created situations which I do not think are sustainable in the long term," Bley-Vroman told the Board of Regents. "Like physical deferred maintenance, deferring it even more doesn’t really work."

The regents had requested $35.5 million over current funding levels from the Legislature mostly to help cover electricity costs systemwide and assist the struggling athletic program in the fiscal year that begins July 1. But the budget lawmakers approved last week includes $7.5 million of that request, creating a $28 million funding gap that UH will need to fill with a combination of cost reductions and increased tuition revenue.

The board is expected to vote on Lassner’s recommendation at its full board meeting scheduled for May 21, but it’s unclear whether the 15-member board will reach a consensus on whether to lower tuition at Manoa or allow the higher increase to take effect. Some said Tuesday they support the chancellor’s plans to use the full 7 percent increase to stabilize operations at Manoa, while others said they want to see more savings.

Regent Jeffrey Portnoy called the move to decrease Manoa’s tuition rate fiscally irresponsible because the campus won’t be able to rebuild its reserves to the board-imposed rate of between 5 and 16 percent (roughly two months’ worth of expenses).

"The UH system may be healthy, but Manoa is not," he said. "I for one am going to need a heck of a lot of convincing between now and when we vote, not to approve the 7 percent increase (for Manoa)."

"I think that Manoa has to try harder," said regent Cora­lie Mata­yo­shi, noting that even at the 7 percent rate, the campus still is projecting a $500,000 budget gap. "I guess I’m still not convinced that we’ve tightened our belt enough."