Island colleges bracing for war

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Hawai'i's colleges and universities, which gain millions of dollars in tuition revenue from military enrollment every year, are already moving to insulate themselves from financial losses if there are hostilities with Iraq or North Korea.

"If they're driving a tank across the desert, they're not going to have time to think of classes," said Skip Lee, Chaminade's director of Accelerated Undergraduate Programs that are serving about 500 active-duty military people in classes both on and off O'ahu military bases this semester.

"But if they're in a support role in an air-conditioned tent in Saudi Arabia, they may by e-mail be able to complete the course with the instructor."

The Gulf War experience and that of Sept. 11 have helped prepare colleges for the possibility of unforeseen interruptions. And with distance-learning courses now only a computer away, and normal deployments already creating a constant fluctuation in the enrollment of active-duty personnel at Hawai'i universities, college officials hope the impact of war will be minimal for themselves and their students.

There's been little drop-off so far.

Even though some in the military anticipated being deployed and didn't enroll, class levels through Hawai'i Pacific University, which has the largest on-base teaching program, were close to what they were a year ago.

"We've been impacted," said Bob Cyboron, dean of military campus programs for HPU. "But we haven't seen a significant downturn at this point. If something were to heat up, who knows what would happen. Our goal is to try to get everyone through for this term that we can, and remain flexible for the next term, which starts April 7."

While it's hard to get an exact count of how much money goes to each campus because of students in the military, and how many are enrolled at any one time, rough estimates put the tally at 4,300 active-duty military enrolled each term through Hawai'i's four largest colleges — the University of Hawai'i, HPU, Chaminade and the University of Phoenix.

HPU has biggest chunk

In the past year the Department of Defense has also upped its subsidy of college tuition for active-duty people to 100 percent — to a maximum of $4,500 a year or $250 a credit hour. However, those attending UH campuses are paying less than that, as they receive in-state tuition of about $3,300 a year at Manoa, ($138 a credit hour); or $1,080 per year at the community colleges ($45 a credit hour.)

"We have a tremendous registration, close to an all-time high right now because of the 100 percent tuition assistance," said Loretta Cornett-Huff, education services officer for the Marine Corps Base in Kane'ohe. "There was a 163 percent increase this quarter over the first quarter last year."

The biggest chunk of the military pie is going to HPU with 1,900 active-duty military people taking classes. The University of Hawai'i system runs a close second with about 1,600 active-duty military students; Chaminade is third with around 500; the University of Phoenix fourth with 280 such students.

At Honolulu Community College — the UH campus that serves the largest active-duty military component in the UH system — tuition from 613 such students brings in about $612,000 in revenue per year, said Theron Craig, dean of Student Services.

Any prolonged conflict could make a big impact. "We would be affected," he said. "We won't see them back next semester, then enrollment will go down and we wouldn't have the revenue and that would be a tough thing right now."

During the Gulf War, Lee said, the only base heavily impacted was Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, which faced a major deployment. "We get somewhere around 12 to 15 percent of our revenues from that base and those went down," Lee said. "But it was over very quickly, fortunately, so just one term was impacted significantly."

In general, Hawai'i-based forces, such as those at Kane'ohe and Schofield Barracks, are aimed at Asia and any conflicts that may arise there.

"These groups are on a contingency plan for the North Korean situation, so we're not being affected now if we go to war with Iraq," said HCC's Craig.

But if plans changed and they were suddenly needed in the Middle East, Craig said, "it could be a serious blow in terms of our numbers and our revenues."

Making adjustments for its military students is a priority for Hawai'i colleges.

After Sept. 11, for instance, Chaminade scrambled to find parishes near military bases where classes could be moved if bases were closed. With that network now in place, it will be easy to make adjustments and enlarge those classes if they can't be held on base.

"It's completely flexible for deployed students," said Chaminade's Lee. "We can just put them on hold for right now, and we'll accommodate them when they come back. Or in some way they can work one-on-one with the instructor. The bottom line is the student will not be penalized in any way, financially or academically."

Off-base plans being made

At HPU, with the state's largest on-base teaching program involving about 1,900 active-duty military people on seven O'ahu bases, plus an additional 900 family members, plans are already being made to teach off-base if a heightened alert closes bases.

"What the faculty are doing now is discussing with their students: 'Is there a place all of us can go, so if we can't hold class here, can we meet at the Pizza Hut, or McDonald's, or the library?' " said HPU's Cyboron.

For those deployed, classes could also be transferred online, Cyboron said, so students can continue courses that way, defer their grades, take an incomplete or write the exam later. "We're trying to be very flexible and open-minded to make sure they can complete this term."

For the University of Phoenix, online learning was already available during the 1991 Gulf War, and now, with 280 active-duty military students attending classes off-base and about 5 percent anticipating deployment, that system is even more refined. Already one-quarter of the textbooks are online and by next year they'll all be online.

"We're constantly dealing with them being deployed, so we've got methods set up," said Grace Blodgett, vice president and campus director for the 1,450-student school. "Because we have our online campus, they will continue their studies that way, so, if they've got a computer, they've got access."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.