The University of Hawaii Board of Regents took the unusual step Thursday of scaling back tuition increases for the next two school years in an effort to keep tuition affordable.

The 10-campus UH system is completing the third year of a five-year tuition schedule, approved in 2011, that was 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.

The board on Thursday voted 11-2 to lower tuition to a 5 percent increase from the scheduled 7 percent at UH-Manoa. The board separately voted unanimously to lower tuition to 4 percent increases at UH-Hilo and UH-West Oahu, and 5 percent increases at the seven community college campuses. 

UH-Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman at a previous meeting had asked the board to allow the 7 percent rate to take effect as scheduled to help the financially strapped flagship campus, which has seen a drop in enrollment and state support from the Legislature. As a result, Manoa for several years has been spending more than it brings in and drawing down its reserves.

Regent Jeff Portnoy, who voted against the reduction at Manoa with regent Stanford Yuen, called the move fiscally irresponsible and argued that the university’s academic quality is suffering because of budget restrictions. Other regents countered that the Manoa campus needs to operate more efficiently and said UH’s tuition rates have climbed too high in recent years.

The original tuition 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. 

UH in the last fiscal year collected $377.5 million in tuition and fees systemwide, up from $362 million the year before. 

At Manoa, the tuition reduction would save undergraduate resident students about $250 next year. Tuition at UH-Manoa was $4,920 per semester, or $9,840 annually, for full-time residents this past school year. It will increase by $492 a year under the 5 percent hike versus increasing by $744 per year under the original 7 percent rate.

UH President David Lassner said his administration will come up with an operating budget for the upcoming year based on the approved tuition rates, and present it at the board’s June meeting.