UH Proposes State-Wide Tuition Hikes

University of Hawai’i at Hilo. File photo by Tiffany Epping.

The University of Hawai’i System has recently suggested tuition hikes over the next handful of years to aid in the system’s $500 million deferred maintenance backlog.

UH says the backlog has occurred “over past decades” and that the increase will “institute best practices to prevent its recurrence.”

Last week, UH proposed the tuition schedule, which covers the 2017-2018 through 2019-2020 academic years, increasing annually from zero to two percent across all ten UH campuses.

UH chart.

The increases will be used by UH Manoa to begin a multi-year plan to eliminate its deferred maintenance backlog using revenue bonds. UH Community Colleges will use the tuition increase to eliminate its current deferred maintenance backlog using revenue bonds, and UH Hilo and UH West Oahu will use the increase to establish sinking funds for capital renewal and maintenance as a preventative measure.

After traveling through the Board of Regents, the proposal will be brought to public meetings across the state. Comments from the public will be used to make revisions to the proposal.

The proposal is expected to go to the Board of Regents for formal approval at a June public meeting.