Mid-Pac to close down dorms

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Mid-Pacific Institute will suspend its beloved tradition of accepting student boarders next year, school officials have announced, prompting an outcry from the 51 students living in the campus dorms.

The remaining boarders are a small percentage of Mid-Pacific's 1,100-member student body, but represent a time-honored practice. A generation ago, everyone at the school — teachers and students alike — boarded.

But to the chagrin of many students, parents and alumni, the school's trustees decided this month to suspend the boarding program next year because they say it is no longer financially viable.

The Sept. 11 attacks, SARS fears and newfound difficulty for foreign students trying to obtain visas has led to a drop in the dorm program. Joe Rice, president of Mid-Pacific, said the decision is a sign of the times: Fewer people want to travel internationally and many families are having economic troubles.

"It is not a popular decision," Rice said. "I am hearing from about every quarter. Most of them are parents and guardians."

Student dorm residents have been protesting the decision, holding signs outside the front gates of the school on Ka'ala Street in the mornings before classes start. They read, "Save our dorm. This is our home."

Mid-Pacific students also said that a petition circulating at the school is garnering lots of signatures.

The campus for years has educated foreign students, those from Neighbor Islands and the Mainland as well as those who call O'ahu home.

The campus started accepting day students in 1976, but continued offering the boarding program as an option.

Few of Hawai'i's private secondary schools offer student dorm options. This year, the cost of dorm life is $9,000 a year at Mid-Pacific Institute, a price that Rice says is unsustainable unless more boarders enroll.

The school had expected 90 boarders this year. In June, that number dropped to 72 when some Asian families pulled out with fears concerning SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. When classes started there were 54 boarders; three have returned to their home countries, Taiwan and Mexico, for family reasons.

With eight of the boarders set to graduate this year, Rice said the school trustees don't expect to be able to recruit enough boarders to grow the program to the 70-plus students needed to be cost effective. Three of the student boarders are now in eighth grade. The rest are in high school and will graduate in a few years.

Letters went out to every parent and 5,000 school alumni last week, announcing the decision and making a plea for people to apply to be host families to students.

Rice said the school will find alternatives for all of the current boarders so they don't have to leave the school. Host families are one option; Mid-Pacific also might rent two homes in the area for the older students, one for boys and one for girls.

"The kids are upset because they see that they're losing their home at school," Rice said. "We're hoping to house them in another way."

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.