The University of Hawaii-Manoa athletic department would get $2.7 million to assist in travel costs and UH Hilo $300,000, according to the school’s fiscal year 2016-17 operating budget.

The first-time appropriation is included in the budget scheduled to be presented to the UH Board of Regents Thursday.

The state legislature passed a one-time supplemental appropriation of $3 million in assistance this past session and Gov. David Ige signed off on it last month. But it was up to UH President David Lassner to recommend how the funds would be divided between the campuses.

Manoa athletic director David Matlin has told regents and legislators that the department faces $5.2 million annually in “unique costs” due to its geography above what its Division I mainland competitors grapple with, including $1.2 million for travel subsidies and $1.8 million for incremental travel costs.

“The additional funding is going to help to mitigate the higher level of travel and other related expenses that the school has, as compared to its peers,” Matlin said. “Because those funds were made available to athletics as a means of offsetting the budget pressures from the higher travel and related costs, the funds that would have gone to pay for the higher travel and related costs can partially be used for other operational needs within athletics.”

Matlin said, “The additional funding also publicly demonstrates the strong support of the State in supporting the only Division I collegiate athletics program in Hawaii and the importance that it plays statewide in terms of building community pride, opportunities for young athletes, and serving as ‘Hawaii’s Team.’ ”

The $2.7 million is not being used for the Australia trip.

During the session Patrick Guillen, UH Hilo’s athletic director, told legislators, “Nearly 70 percent” of his department’s entire operating budget for 2014-15 “was consumed by team-related travel (airfare, hotel, ground transportation, food, etc.), with costs continuing to rise.”

Guillen told legislators, “In comparison, the average team travel costs for the mainland schools in the Pacific West Conference is 42 percent. Other NCAA Division II schools in the West Region that UH Hilo competes against such as in the CCAA allocate less than 30 percent of their operations budget for travel related expenses.”

Guillen told legislators he also sought funds for its “student success lab” to help improve its retention and graduation rates.