Posted on: Friday, October 15, 2004

Hilo pharmacy school plan set

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — After more than two years of planning and study, officials at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo are ready to pitch the idea of a $25 million pharmacy college to the Board of Regents when members visit next week.

The latest proposals for the college include setting tuition at rates high enough to make the program self-sufficient — $12,000 a year for Hawai'i residents and $22,300 for out-of-state students. Jerry Johnson, project director for the planning effort, said that at those tuition levels, the college would need almost no state subsidies once it reached full enrollment of 264 students.

The regents last month raised concerns about an earlier proposal to rely on about $2 million a year in state subsidies to operate the college. The board will consider the proposal again when it meets Thursday at UH-Hilo and Friday at Hawai'i Community College.

UH-Hilo officials said they plan to raise money to build the college from federal and private sources, which may include contributions from drug companies or foundations established by those companies.

If approved by the regents, it would be the first college of pharmacy in the UH system. The plan calls for enrolling the first students in 2007, and graduating the first class in 2011. Students usually must complete at least two years of college before entering a four-year pharmacy program.

Johnson said the Hawai'i Pharmacists Association approached UH-Hilo about establishing the program, in part because of a projected shortage of pharmacists. One national study predicts a nationwide shortage of 150,000 pharmacists by 2020.

Building the college in Hilo is "by far the most cost-effective way to meet the need for pharmacists in Hawai'i," Johnson said yesterday. Hawai'i students who want careers as pharmacists must attend schools on the Mainland, where there are eight to 12 applications for every opening.

Johnson said about 70 percent of the students in the proposed Hawai'i pharmacy college would be state residents, and the program would prepare them for high-paying jobs. Pharmacists in Hawai'i earn about $85,000 a year, he said, with pharmacists on the Mainland often earning $100,000.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.