Kalbert Young, UH vice president for budget and finance and chief financial officer, shares his analysis of the upcoming 2025 Legislative session.
Aloha,
On December 16, Gov. Josh Green submitted his biennial budget request for the 2025 legislative session, which begins January 15. This request includes some of the key funding priorities from the University of Hawaiʻi’s biennium budget request approved by the UH Board of Regents (BOR) at the November 21 BOR meeting.
UH’s budget falls into two basic categories: operating and capital improvement projects (CIP). Here are some of the key highlights for both:
Operating Budget
Expanding the Hawaiʻi Promise financial aid program to our four-year campuses, has been a top legislative priority for UH over the past several years. For the upcoming biennium budget request of the Governor, it was not included as part of the executive’s request. Hawaiʻi Promise is currently available to students with calculated financial need at the UH Community Colleges. The program provides money to cover the direct costs of education—including tuition, fees and books and supplies—not met by other forms of financial aid. The UH request sought approximately $12.1 million to provide aid for tuition, fees, books, and supplies to students with proven financial need at UH Mānoa, UH Hilo, and UH West Oʻahu, similarly to the aid that is provided at the Community Colleges.
Another priority was to avoid student funds being necessary for debt service of certain UH facilities. Debt service funding for bonds financing the construction of the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine and UH Cancer Center is included in the governorʻs budget. Both facilities have historically had debt service met by the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement funds and the state tax on cigarettes, respectively. Having these funds from the state to satisfy debt service has been the approach for decades, thereby mitigating the need to utilize tuition revenues to pay for such expenses. However, as revenues from both of these sources have been declining for years, and have reached the level where debt service will exceed the revenues from these funds, the state is being asked to augment the current practice with earmarked funds to assist paying for the debt service. The Governor has included a significant funding approach as part of his budget request that supports JABSOM, and the Cancer Center.
Other priorities include permanent funding for programs like the UH Mānoa/UH West Oʻahu Pre-Nursing Pathway, rural RN to BS programs, additional financial aid counselors, retention coordinators and nursing instructional positions. These areas of workforce development focus in the areas of medical industry support—especially, nursing—but also for other areas such as teacher development.
The following table lists the operating budget requests by the BOR and what the governor included or did not include in the executive budget.
Operating
| Campus | Item | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board of Regents | Governor | ||||
| FY26 | FY27 | FY26 | FY27 | ||
| PERMANENT FUNDING | |||||
| UH Mānoa | Make Mānoa Athletics subsidy permanent | $3,200,000 | $3,200,000 | $3,200,000 | $3,200,000 |
| UH Mānoa | HIMB Positions from Act 181/23 | $246,118 | $246,118 | $246,118 | $246,118 |
| UH Mānoa | K–12 Expanded Teaching Cohort from Act 141/22 | $420,556 | $375,556 | ||
| UH Mānoa | Pamantasan Council from Act 64/23 | $85,500 | $85,500 | $85,500 | $85,500 |
| UH Hilo | Make Hilo Athletics subsidy permanent | $800,000 | $800,000 | $500,000 | $500,000 |
| UH Hilo | Full Year funding for BS in Education Studies and Kahuawaiola Indigenous Teacher Education | $142,500 | $142,500 | $142,500 | $142,500 |
| UH Community College | Windward CC Mental Health Tech Certificate of Competence Program from Act 107/24 | $210,150 | $210,150 | $210,150 | $210,150 |
| UH Community College | UH Maui College Practical Nursing Bridge Program from Act 74/23 | $330,000 | $330,000 | $330,000 | $330,000 |
| UH Community College | Pamantasan Council from Act 64/23 | $196,000 | $196,000 | $196,000 | $196,000 |
| HAWAIʻI PROMISE | |||||
| UH Mānoa | Hawaiʻi Promise Program Expansion | $8,683,397 | $8,683,397 | ||
| UH Hilo | Hawaiʻi Promise Program Expansion | $920,938 | $920,938 | ||
| UH West Oʻahu | Hawaiʻi Promise Program Expansion | $2,451,832 | $2,451,832 | ||
| STUDENT SUPPORT | |||||
| UH Mānoa | Financial Aid Counselors | $904,152 | $904,152 | $199,440 | $398,880 |
| UH Hilo | Retention Coordinator | $37,500 | $75,000 | ||
| UH Hilo | Internship Coordinator | $37,500 | $75,000 | ||
| UH Hilo | Student Enrollment Management | $432,500 | $640,000 | ||
| UH West Oʻahu | Admissions and Financial Aid | $213,600 | $213,600 | $37,650 | $75,300 |
| WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT – NURSING | |||||
| UH Mānoa | UH Mānoa-UH West Oʻahu Nursing Collaboration Phase III | $447,936 | $447,936 | $447,936 | $447,936 |
| UH Mānoa | Online RN to BS Program | $111,984 | $111,984 | ||
| UH Hilo | Increase School of Nursing cohort size | $297,500 | $595,000 | $357,500 | $475,000 |
| UH West Oʻahu | Pre-Nursing Pathway | $424,364 | $424,364 | $107,776 | $215,552 |
| WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT – OTHER | |||||
| UH Hilo | Administration of Justice Program Expansion | $75,000 | $150,000 | ||
| UH Hilo | Data Science Program | $42,500 | $85,000 | ||
| UH Hilo | Biocultural Science Program | $85,000 | $170,000 | ||
| UH West Oʻahu | Teacher Preparation Programs | $90,455 | $90,455 | ||
| MEDICAL FACILITIES | |||||
| JABSOM | Debt service for Kakaʻako Health & Wellness Campus | $2,725,000 | $2,725,000 | $1,108,019 | $1,533,463 |
| UH Cancer Center | Debt service and operational costs | $6,857,810 | $6,857,810 | $9,476,352 | $9,441,861 |
| OTHER REQUESTS – CORE FUNCTIONS | |||||
| JABSOM | Central Chiller Plant Operations | $63,000 | $63,000 | ||
| UH Hilo | Groundskeepers | $101,280 | $202,560 | ||
| UH West Oʻahu | ACM Facilities and Core Services | $341,748 | $341,748 | $66,888 | $133,776 |
| UH System | Information Security | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | ||
| OTHER | |||||
| UH Mānoa | Expand Concussion Education to Middle Schools | $200,000 | $200,000 | ||
| JABSOM | Focus on cardiovascular disease and treatment | $700,000 | $700,000 | ||
| UH Mānoa | Convert Athletics Positions and Additional Support | $4,519,341 | $4,519,341 | $320,000 | $320,000 |
| Total | $37,895,161 | $38,733,941 | $17,031,829 | $17,952,036 | |
Capital Improvement Projects (CIP)
The CIP budget focuses on health and safety, modernization and addressing deferred maintenance across our campuses. Key highlights include $381 million for FY26 and $331 million for FY27 for modernization and deferred maintenance (Governor included $145.5 million and $114.5 million), $118 million for UH Mānoa student housing upgrades (Governor included $50 million) and $40 million requested for photovoltaic energy-saving projects (not included).
CIP
| Campus | Project Description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Board of Regents | Governor | ||||
| FY26 | FY27 | FY26 | FY27 | ||
| UH System/UH Mānoa | RIM Projects | $100,000,000 | $100,000,000 | $50,000,000 | $50,000,000 |
| UH Mānoa | Student Housing Services Improvements | $61,500,000 | $57,000,000 | $25,000,000 | $25,000,000 |
| UH Mānoa | Assessment and Feasibility of Hamilton Library | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 | ||
| UH Mānoa | Waikīkī Aquarium Improvements | $4,000,000 | |||
| UH Mānoa | Athletics Improvements | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 | ||
| UH Mānoa | Holmes Hall | $9,000,000 | $9,000,000 | ||
| UH Mānoa | PV Rooftop and Canopies and Various Energy Efficiency Projects | $20,000,000 | $20,000,000 | ||
| UH Mānoa | Mini Master Plan Phase 3 – Kuykendall Hall | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 | ||
| UH Mānoa | Admin Office and Parking Phase I and II | $9,000,000 | |||
| UH Hilo | RIM Projects | $29,625,000 | $22,685,000 | $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 |
| UH Hilo | Puako Marine Education and Research Center, Phase I | $750,000 | |||
| UH West Oʻahu | RIM Projects | $6,900,000 | $5,000,000 | $6,500,000 | $4,500,000 |
| UH Community Colleges | Capital Renewal and Deferred Maintenance | $37,500,000 | $25,000,000 | $20,000,000 | $20,000,000 |
| UH Community Colleges | Minor CIP | $37,500,000 | $25,000,000 | ||
| UH Community Colleges | Kapiʻolani CC – Kauila and Kopiko Renovations for Health Sciences | $34,800,000 | |||
| UH Community Colleges | Honolulu CC – Technology Renovations, Phase 2 | $32,000,000 | $15,000,000 | ||
| UH Community Colleges | UH Maui College – Heona Modernization | $15,000,000 | |||
| UH Community Colleges | UH Maui College – Hale Modernization | $12,000,000 | |||
| UH Community Colleges | Windward CC – Alakaʻi Building Renovation | $15,000,000 | |||
| Total | $381,025,000 | $331,235,000 | $145,500,000 | $114,500,000 | |
Next Steps
The university is grateful for the support reflected in the governor’s budget and will continue advocating for critical funding needs as the legislative session progresses. As in years past, I will provide updates throughout the legislative session as the state and university budget is amended and progresses through the Legislature. Mahalo for your time and attention.
Happy Holidays,
Kalbert Young
UH Vice President of Budget and Finance/Chief Financial Officer
