UH Regents Approve Tuition Freeze for Most Students

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) has approved on Thursday, May 16, 2019, a three-year freeze of undergraduate tuition rates at UH’s 10 campuses beginning with the 2020–2021 academic year. The new tuition schedule also decreases general graduate student tuition rates at UH Mānoa.

“The new schedule ensures affordable higher education for the people of Hawaiʻi while providing stability over a multi-year period that will aid student recruitment and retention,” said UH President David Lassner. “It also increases our competitiveness in the broader higher education landscape as we strive to provide Hawaiʻi with a more educated workforce and citizenry.”

At the UH Community Colleges, for lower division courses, tuition is $131 per credit hour for residents and $345 per credit hour for nonresidents. For upper division/300-level courses at UH Maui College’s four-year degree programs and Leeward Community College’s advanced professional certificate in special education, tuition is $306 per credit hour for residents and $846 per credit hour for nonresidents for the 2019–2020 academic year, and is unchanged for the 2020–2023 academic years.

UH is entering the third and last year of the previously approved three-year tuition schedule. In the upcoming 2019–2020 academic school year, resident undergraduate tuition will increase by 2% for UH Mānoa and lower division courses at the seven community colleges, and by 1% for UH Hilo and UH West Oʻahu. Under the newly approved tuition schedule, these 2019–2020 academic year rates will be maintained for the following three academic years.

Following the graduate tuition rates previously approved for 2019–2020, tuition will decrease by 2%  for resident graduate students at UH Mānoa in 2020–21 and by 10% for non-resident graduate students. Both rates will then remain constant for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 academic years.

“The regents are fully supportive of efforts to keep college affordable for Hawaiʻi residents, while keeping tuition competitively priced for non-resident students who may have considered enrolling elsewhere,” said BOR Chair Lee Putnam. “The individual UH campuses will handle fluctuations in revenues with a constant eye on addressing the longstanding challenges of maintaining and improving facilities, and protecting the excellence of our educational experience.”

The regents approved the new tuition schedule at their May 16 meeting at Windward Community College. It was passed with an amendment that the schedule “will be subject to annual evaluation and adjustment to prevent significant negative economic or enrollment impact to the university.”