By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

We're the country's economic tail — and we're wagged by just about every economic trend that ripples across the country. They get here later, but often last longer and are sometimes more pervasive.

But there's one nice new exception. The College Board announced this week that public universities have raised tuition this year by almost 10 percent to offset state budget cuts created by the lagging economy.

Not in Hawai'i. Yes, there was a tuition increase at the University of Hawai'i last year, but it mandated a 3 percent increase each year over the next five, making tuition this year $3,348 for a resident, full-time student. That's a far cry from the 10 percent hike the rest of the country's public college students are facing this year alone, raising the cost to an average $4,081 a year.

And it's even less than the national increase at private universities, which stands at about 6 percent this year, for an average of $18,273. But combined with living costs, books and transportation, it comes to $27,677.

A new exit survey of graduating seniors at UH-Manoa also released this week offers a glimpse into the student mind when it comes to tuition. According to the survey, which was completed by 481 baccalaureate candidates of the 975 queried, 73 percent felt tuition at Manoa was "fair and reasonable." A total of 26 percent felt that it was too high.

That compares to a similar UH survey taken in 1999 that showed a 52.4 percent approval rate for tuition, with 45.6 percent saying it was too high.

This latest exit survey also indicates that 38 percent of the respondents took a heavier credit load than they preferred because of the cost of tuition, while 62 percent said the cost hadn't affected how quickly they tried to push themselves through.

The survey also showed that 80.3 percent of the graduating seniors felt that the value of their baccalaureate degree was worth the cost of their investment at Manoa.

Nationally the Census Bureau recently reported that 7.1 million full-time college students receive some form of financial aid to help pay for their education — up by 1.5 million students from the previous survey.

Unfortunately those new statistics are somewhat dated. Even though they were just released, the survey was taken in 1996-97, which means the numbers are likely far higher today than they were then, especially considering the economy.

The previous survey was taken in 1993-94. Nonetheless, the Census Bureau report gave an intriguing view into the finances of today's college student, with these findings:

• More than half of full-time students came from families with annual incomes of less than $50,000.
• African American and Hispanic students reported higher rates of financial aid than non-Hispanics, Asian Americans and Pacific islanders.
• Average aid among those who received help was $6,022 and covered an average of 62 percent of the student's costs per year.
• Most common sources of assistance were student loans, fellowships and scholarships.
• Aid packages for full-time graduate students covered an average of 71 percent of their expenses.
• The average annual tuition, book costs and room and board totaled about $8,700 a year for full-time students.
• Full-time graduate students had the highest average costs at $13,518 a year.