UH regents raise tuition
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Nicholas Tanaka broke down in tears almost as soon as he reached the podium before the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents.
"I can't afford to come to this school if you raise tuition. I already work two jobs," said Tanaka, 19, a business student from Maui who attends UH-Manoa. "How do you guys expect me to pay for this?"
Tanaka was one of dozens of students who told regents they could barely afford to go to college now. They said a tuition increase would force them out of the state's only public system of higher education.
Nevertheless, after hours of emotional testimony, a committee of the Board of Regents voted unanimously in favor of the increase. Everett Dowling, the only regent last year who supported a similar tuition increase, argued that many students can afford to pay more.
As soon as the votes were taken, the room at Campus Center at Manoa erupted. Regents hurried from the meeting through a back door with a security escort as students cursed at them and screamed "Shame! Shame! Shame on you!"
The increase will raise the cost of one year of undergraduate tuition at UH-Manoa from $3,024 for Hawai'i residents this academic year to $3,504 by 2006. Graduate students, out-of-state residents and students at UH's nine other campuses would also pay more. The increase would raise $2 million to $3 million each year for computer technology.
Members of the audience, hissing at the few people who spoke in favor of the increase, held signs that said: "Cut the B.S., not the budget" "The emperor has no clothes" and "We will not be silenced."
"I am deeply offended that this Board of Regents would even consider another tuition increase," said Alicia Smith, a 44-year-old Manoa student who said she has struggled to return to college.
The national average for tuition and fees for four-year public universities is $3,362.
Last spring regents rejected a similar tuition increase because of pressure from student protesters. Then, campus frustrations spilled over into angry rhetoric and protests surrounding the proposed tuition increase. University officials had hoped to find a drastically different reaction on campus yesterday in the return of the proposal.
About 100 students showed up at a hearing and the crowd overflowed into a lanai in the back of the room and the hallway.
Students and some faculty supporters told regents about the financial burden of going to college, emphasizing that the tuition increase will especially hurt the Native Hawaiian and Filipino students at the university whose family incomes are historically lower. Many told regents they don't qualify for financial aid, and can barely afford groceries and the basic costs of living.
"They have to be able to pay the tuition," shouted Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, director of Hawai'ian studies. "What is wrong with you people?"
Enrollment has dropped since tuition was increased in the early '90s, but administrators have said there is no direct correlation. Administrators have said the university is underfinanced and they need to raise tuition in small increments each year so that students can plan for the increases.
Last year's tuition debate occurred shortly after the controversial Rice v Cayetano decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, angering many Native Hawaiian students on campus. At the same time, the university was starting to deal with the academic and cultural clash over use of resources on Mauna Kea, where some of the world's most powerful telescopes are on land considered sacred by Hawaiians.
Dozens of students took part in an overnight rally and spoke against the tuition increase at the regents' meeting. The board overwhelmingly voted it down.
Last year's rejection was seen as the final straw for embattled UH President Kenneth Mortimer, who had worked on the tuition proposal for months and saw it as essential to proving that the university could move closer to raising more of its money rather than being so dependent on the state. He announced his resignation later that spring.
While the campus opposition to the tuition increases was not as organized this year, students said the arguments against the increase are the same.
"We have the same beliefs, if not stronger," said Bryan Gornet, vice president for student government at Honolulu Community College. "Nothing's changed."
Manoa's graduate students in the professional programs will take the biggest hit. Business students would pay 22 percent more each year, law students would pay 6 percent more, medical students 4.2 percent more and nursing students 3.8 percent more each year.
Community college students will not see any tuition increase for the first two years, but would have to start paying for school based on a per-credit-hour system. Students who take more than 12 credit hours a semester pay only for the first 12 hours now; under the new plan they would have to pay the cost of all of their credit hours.
This will be the first tuition increase for the UH system since 1999, when Manoa students paid about 3.3 percent more than the year before.
The proposal is in line with tuition increases at other state universities across the country. The idea of using the extra tuition money for computer technology didn't make many students any happier.
"So what, a few computers are going to help 15,000 students?" said Melia Kauka, a senior in the Hawaiian studies program. "The majority of the students won't benefit."
