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University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
October 22, 1999 |
Contact: Cheryl Ernst, 808 956-5941, ernst@hawaii.edu
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| Regents approve supplemental and capital budget requests |
The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents today approved a $2.8 million supplemental budget request for the 2001 fiscal year. The request covers more than $1 million in risk management expenses previously budgeted under the Department of Accounting and General Services. Responsibility for risk management has been delegated to UH. The remaining request covers continuing cost items for which funds were appropriated in the first year of the biennium only. The board also submitted a $25.6 million list of critical needs-including increased utility costs and urgent repair, maintenance and equipment needs as well as expansion of efforts related to distance learning and economic development-to be considered if the state revenue picture improves.
Repair and maintenance also factored into the $41 million supplemental capital improvements program budget request also approved by the board for submission to the Legislature. The request covers 13 projects, beginning with $15 million in deferred maintenance (the repair and maintenance backlog is estimated to exceed $96 million). Also included are minor renovation projects to modernize existing spaces, infrastructure upgrades and planning for major projects.
In other business, the board was provided with an overview on tuition-setting.
The current tuition schedule ends with summer 2000, and regents must set
tuition for the 20002001 year before the end of spring semester. The
tentative timeline calls for distribution of a preliminary proposal in late
November, public meetings and testimony gathering in January and February
and presentation of the final proposal for board action in the spring. Vice
President for Planning and Policy Colleen Sathre reminded regents that tuition
policy calls for considering a number of factors, including access to education
and mix of students, cost of education and cost sharing between the students
and taxpayers, differing missions of various units within the UH system,
inflation indexes and relative standing with like mainland schools. In general,
UH resident tuition remains at or below the average both nationally and
for benchmark institutions. Nationally, tuition increased about 35
percent for the current year. Preliminary consideration of similar increases
here (in line with what UH has done for the past two years) equates to about
$24 per semester at UH community colleges, $36 at UH West O'ahu and $48
to $60 at UH Manoa. Resident undergraduate students now pay between 11 and
23 percent of the cost of their UH education. Sathre's presentation also
included information about the history of tuition and general fund revenue
and enrollment and the availability of financial aid. About $66 million
in federal, state and institutional aid is available at UH, including full
or partial tuition waivers for about one in six UH students. Another $8
million is available as scholarships, including $5.2 million from the Kamehameha
Schools/ Bishop Estate, and scholarships are a major focus of UH Foundation
fundraising efforts.
