Posted on: Sunday, May 8, 2005
COMMENTARY
UH students must get what they pay for
By Travis Quezon
Four-hundred thirty-two dollars is the difference between living on campus or off campus, according to English major Natalie Champa.
For journalism major Tony Blazejack, $432 means spending extra nights serving drinks as a part-time bartender. For political science major Andrea Barrett, $432 means more interest that she'll have to pay on her student loans after she graduates.
A tuition increase proposed by the University of Hawai'i administration will have students pay an additional $432 per semester, or $864 annually, until spring 2010. Annual tuition at UH-Manoa would rise from about $3,500 to $7,800 in five years.
As UH administrators assess the impact of a proposed tuition increase, students are faced with determining not only how they would adjust to their tuition but whether they believe an increase in tuition is warranted.
If the UH administration can demonstrate that improvements from the increase will affect students as expeditiously as they intend to raise tuition, then the costs justify the means.
The focus of the proposed tuition increase is to expand the amount of available classes, provide quality full-tenured professors and maximize the dollars spent on education, according to UH Interim Vice President for Planning and Policy Linda Johnsrud, who spoke at a forum provided by the Associated Students of the University of Hawai'i.
Students already having difficulties affording tuition at UH must be assured that a larger financial burden will equate to a better education during their time at the university.
Jennifer, an undergraduate in English (who asked that her last name not be used), said she would be unhappy with a tuition increase. In previous years she said she was able to afford UH-Manoa with the help of tuition waivers and Pell grants, but was not able to receive any financial assistance this semester.
"Unlike most students, I pay for my own tuition," she said. "As a graduate student next semester, (the tuition) will go up even more. I don't know how I'm going to pay it."
UH administrators intend to alleviate the financial burden on students by expanding access to financial aid.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Neal Smatresk said that increasing financial aid and the university's academic advising staff were also central in the proposed tuition increase.
Smatresk said in anticipation of a tuition increase, the administration has focused on turning more merit-based financial aid into need-based aid. He said that they have increased need-based financial aid by 12 percent for next year.
Students who may have difficulty affording the proposed tuition increase should first see if they are eligible for federal aid or Pell grants, Smatresk said.
"I'd urge (students) to talk to the financial aid office and actively pursue scholarships," he said.
Any student who has waited in line at the UH-Manoa financial aid office for hours to speak to a financial-aid adviser during the opening weeks of school has to wonder just how much staff it would take to effectively assist an increased amount of financial-aid recipients.
And while increased financial aid will continue to hold open the door of higher learning, more structural and logistical planning is necessary within the university to ensure students are able to stay.
English major Dominic Colacurcio transferred to UH-Manoa from Seattle with the assistance of financial aid. He walks from his apartment in Waikiki to get to class and once shared a two-bedroom apartment with three other students.
"Financial aid covers a lot of things, but not the cost of living, which is very high here in Hawai'i," he said.
In fall 2004, the university experienced a housing shortage when facilities were not able to accommodate the increase of incoming students.
"We are so understaffed that it's hard to give students what they need," Smatresk said. UH-Manoa has had an increase of 3,000 students without any general increase in funding, he said.
"We are dramatically underfunded."
Smatresk urged students at a forum last week to tell legislators that the university needs more general education funds. "Does the state care about their educational commitment? (UH) needs to be funded like a major research university," he said.
During the question-and-answer session of the forum, graduate student Conred Mattox asked: "How do we know tuition increases won't continue to occur?"
Smatresk replied: "In the long run, Manoa can't grow indefinitely. At some point we must establish a number."
And at some point, the pocketbooks of UH students, or their parents, will also cease to grow.
Students need to determine not only whether they agree with the proposed tuition increase, but whether the increase is realistic with their living situation, and whether they will be seeing any benefits from these increases while at UH.
"What do we have to show for it? More departments keep losing accreditation, facilities keep getting less funding," history major Vicky DeMercer said of previous tuition increases.
During the past five years, UH tuition increases have been between 3 percent and 3.5 percent each year. "I don't see why we need an increase," she said.
The fact that my curriculum path in UH-Manoa's English department was largely determined by whether a class was filled, the fact that the same introductory courses taught in small classes at KCC are taught in huge lecture halls at UH-Manoa, and the fact that it is a blessing to have a working video projector in my classroom makes me see why we need an increase in funding.
An increase of $432 would not dramatically affect my ability to attend UH-Manoa. However, in order to see and agree with a 100 percent increase in tuition in five years, I need to know that at least some of the improvements in class numbers, the quality of faculty and the quality of facilities will occur when and where it matters for my own education.
Travis Quezon is editor in chief of Ka Leo O Hawai'i, UH-Manoa's student newspaper. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
