MEDIA RELEASE

Hawaii resident undergraduates attending the University of Hawaii at Hilo, University of Hawaii–West Oahu and the seven UH community colleges will benefit from a reduction in summer tuition rates that will lower the summer 2012 rate and freeze it at the summer 2011 rate.

The reduction was approved by the UH Board of Regents at its monthly meeting at Kauai Community College.

The reduction sets the 2012 summer session tuition rate for these campuses at $248 per-credit-hour, which was the summer session tuition rate in 2009 for the Hilo and West Oahu campuses.

The university instituted a similar reduction for the 2011 summer session that received positive feedback from the participating campuses and students. It resulted in a 2 percent increase in the enrollment of Hawaii resident undergraduates following two consecutive years of enrollment declines, and a 7 percent increase in nonresident undergraduates.

The decrease in tuition is an incentive for Hawaii resident students to enroll in summer classes.

“We know that the costs of higher education are a concern for all of our students, and we hope to help alleviate some of that concern by making summer classes more affordable,” said Linda Johnsrud, UH executive vice president for academic affairs/provost.

“The university’s Hawaii Graduation Initiative aims to increase the number of graduates by 25 percent by the year 2015, and one of the keys to achieving this goal is decreasing the time it takes students to earn a degree,” she said. “Enrolling in summer session courses is a great way for our students to accelerate their degree completion and graduation.”

The reduced rate of $248 replaces the $350 rates listed in the current tuition schedule (2006-07 to 2011-12) for Hawaii resident undergraduates attending UH Hilo and UH West Oahu. At Hawaii, Honolulu, Kapiolani, Kauai, Leeward and Windward Community Colleges and UH Maui College, the reduced rate of $248 replaces the posted rate of $317.

The summer session tuition rate for resident undergraduates at UH Manoa will follow the current tuition schedule and will remain at $350 per-credit-hour.

The BOR action also included the delegation of authority to set summer tuition rates on an annual basis going forward to the president. This will allow the administration the latitude to adjust rates annually and achieve a fair and balanced formula that will encourage greater numbers of students to utilize the summer session to graduate faster and provide campuses with enough tuition revenue to cover their instructional costs.

For the most part, state-appropriated funds do not subsidize summer courses and campuses need to cover their direct instructional costs with tuition.

Going forward, summer per-credit-hour rates will be set and posted on an annual basis during the prior fall or spring semester.