UH-Manoa faces tuition hike if budget request is not met
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The University of Hawai'i Manoa campus is more likely to see a new tuition increase if the university doesn't receive the money it has asked for, acting President David McClain told state lawmakers yesterday.
"The less we're able to do here," said McClain, "the more we have to do on the tuition side."
McClain
For the new biennium, the university has asked for increases over last year of $31 million the first year and $39 million the second year in its operating budget. This generally parallels growth in the state, plus a little more, to total an increase of between 8 percent and 10 percent over last year.
At a presession briefing for House and Senate Education committees at the Capitol, McClain also said his proposals to trim back the administrative structure at UH by several top positions would save $875,000 annually.
At the same time, he said UH administrators are considering whether to limit growth at Manoa, where enrollment has risen about 15 percent in the past three years, without equivalent increases in the budget.
"The first step is: How big should the state university be?" McClain said.
Once that is decided, he said, it will be easier to look at balancing revenue sources, including state money, federal grants and the need for a tuition increase. An integrated financial plan for the next six years is in preparation, said McClain, and will be presented to the Legislature. At the same time, the UH Foundation is on target to raise $40 million this year, he said.
The university is in the midst of a five-year phased tuition increase of about 3 percent annually that's set to expire in 2005-06. Over that time it has raised the cost of a year of undergraduate study at UH-Manoa from $3,024 for Hawai'i residents at its start to $3,504 by 2006.
McClain has said often that if a new tuition increase goes into effect at that point, it will partially be offset by financial aid, including a new state scholarship fund established last year by the Legislature. Gov. Linda Lingle has told McClain she will propose a $20 million one-time infusion this year, and legislators said yesterday that they will take a look at approving such a request.
While McClain pledged to keep community colleges affordable and continue good access for low-income students, he said "we probably do need to have the middle class pay more for their education."
Legislators yesterday indicated a willingness to look at new formulas to finance the university system. Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, suggested that the Legislature might devote a percentage of the state budget to the university. But Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, also asked whether administrators and UH regents thought funding should be based on results, especially the speed of student graduation, which now is more likely to be five to six years rather than four.
"What if we paid you for how many graduated on time?" said Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake).
McClain was joined for the briefing by UH Board of Regents chairwoman Patricia Lee and vice chairwoman Kitty Lagareta in a united front. They all spoke of how well the board and acting president work together — in contrast to the board's past relationship with former UH president Evan Dobelle.
Sakamoto asked whether Dobelle's departure would change a number of initiatives at the campus, including the Mo'ili'ili "college town" concept.
McClain replied that initiatives approved by the board are the ones going forward — including potential public/private partnerships to build a Cancer Research Center next to the new John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kaka'ako, Phase I of a new West O'ahu campus in Kapolei, and either renovating or rebuilding existing dorms.
Lee noted that the regents were looking at how to cut back their public meetings, partly at the recommendation of Tom Ingram, president of the Association of Governing Boards for Colleges and Universities.
Lee said holding committee meetings "outside of the sunshine laws" would improve efficiency. "We're very constrained by the time," she said, noting that investigative task groups formed on specific projects were able to work more quickly and effectively because they are not covered by open meeting laws.
Lagareta said: "We're real happy to do things in sunshine. We're real open to it. (But) because we can't talk to each other in any way outside of meetings makes it real hard."
Lawmakers suggested that the regents bring proposed legislation to them for consideration.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
