UH Sees Dollars in Foreign and Mainland Students
The University of Hawaii may turn to a surprising source as it deals with a yawning budget shortfall brought on by a poor economy and lower legislative outlays: Mainland and foreign students who can provide a boost to tuition revenue.
UH administrators have been studying an increase in nonresident students as a partial solution to its budgetary problems. They say educating and increasing the number of Hawaii resident graduates remains their primary goal, but they are looking at more nonresident students and the higher tuition they pay.
This fall administrators plan to go before the Board of Regents with a proposal that could result in a thousand more non-Hawaii students attending the Manoa and Hilo campuses. Administrators will ask that nonresident student limits at the two four-year campuses be relaxed and that nonresident graduate students be excluded from the counts.
Currently UH鈥檚 nonresident enrollments are limited to 30 percent of the Manoa and Hilo鈥檚 student body, though the cap has been exceeded slightly during the past five years. The limits came into play in the 1970鈥檚 as part of the system鈥檚 controlled growth policy, which was last revised in 2002.
The administrators are considering raising the nonresident enrollment limit to 35 percent at Manoa for undergraduates. There would be no limit for graduate students. At Hilo, a four-year pilot project will be proposed allowing undergraduate levels to rise to 40 percent. A 15 percent cap at community colleges would remain.
鈥淪tate appropriations are down and could be down for the next few years,鈥 said Linda Johnsrud, UH system vice president for academic planning and policy. 鈥淣onresident students do pay more. You can use that revenue stream to support all of your classes, nonresident and resident. It has benefit across all the campus.鈥
The Board of Regents deferred comment on questions to Johnsrud, who had briefed the board on two occasions as well as made a presentation to the task group.
Full-Time Undergraduate Tuition 2008-2009
| Student | UH Manoa Tuition | UH Hilo Tuition |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii resident | $5,952 | $4,056 |
| 150 percent* | $8,928 | $6,084 |
| Nonresident | $16,608 | $12,578 |
| Cost of instruction | $17,662 | $18,834 |
*150 percent tuition is paid by Pacific Islanders and Western Undergraduate Exchange students
Source: UH Board of Regents Nonresident Enrollment Task Group
Other States
UH is not alone in seeking more nonresident students.
The University of California system has typically been stingy with its nonresident enrollment slots, but earlier this month the Los Angeles Times reported the California schools will enroll a record number of out-of-state students.
At UC Berkeley almost 23 percent of incoming freshman are projected to be non-Californians, double the amount of last year, the newspaper said.
Elsewhere public university administrators are looking for help outside their state borders. Inside Higher Ed, a website reporting on issues in higher education, last year noted Florida and Ohio had stepped up nonresident recruitment efforts.
It said that nationally about 16 percent of incoming freshman at public universities are nonresidents, but at a number of state universities it can reach 30 percent or more.
Educators are quick to note that opening the doors to nonresidents is more than just for higher tuition and that being exposed to a diversity of students with different backgrounds and experiences is part of university life.
At UH, administrators say they are focused on educating more local residents and that no qualified Hawaii residents are turned away because of out-of-state enrollments.
鈥淥ur focus on enrollment right now is very much on Hawaii students,鈥 said Reed Dasenbrock, UH Manoa vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, noting that attracting nonresident students is secondary.
But the issue of luring more out-of-state students isn鈥檛 without controversy. In Colorado there has been debate about an over-reliance on nonresident tuition by university budget makers. Nonresident students at the University of Colorado routinely make up 30 percent or more of incoming freshman classes. Lawmakers there have passed a law limiting the number of nonresident freshman students.
There too are worries about educational resources and availability of certain general courses if nonresident freshman enrollments are allowed to rise.
Task Group Report
The UH task force made its draft report public in April, explaining it was looking to propose a more nuanced enrollment policy that providing access for Hawaii residents, keeping the schools competitive for graduate students and maximizing tuition revenues.
鈥淚n specific fields of excellence, UH should be the preferred choice so that residents do not feel a need to go elsewhere,鈥 the draft report said. 鈥淭he attraction of nonresident students also speaks to the quality and outreach reputation of UH. Moreover, the mix of out-of-state students with local students enriches the educational experience for both.鈥
The report also noted the Manoa and Hilo campuses had been able to admit every qualified resident and nonresident student who applied.
鈥淏ased on that assurance, it is anticipated that raising the nonresident ceiling from 30 percent to 35 percent, and limiting the cap to undergraduates only, will not negatively impact access to qualified residents,鈥 said the draft report. 鈥淎t the same time, the University may benefit from a potential increase in tuition revenues.鈥
It also said nonresident graduate students should not be counted for purposes of the ceiling.
Caps on graduate students are rarely applied because universities compete for the best such students to support their research efforts and grants, the report noted. In 2008 nonresident students accounted for almost 33 percent of undergraduate and graduate students on the Manoa campus. Nonresidents represented about 29 percent of Manoa鈥檚 undergraduate population while they were 41 percent of the graduate population.
University of Hawaii Enrollment for Manoa, Hilo campuses 鈥 Fall 2008
| Enrollment | UH Manoa | UH Hilo |
|---|---|---|
| Total Enrollment | 20,169 | 3,773 |
| Undergraduate | 13,810 | 3,354 |
| Graduate | 6,359 | 419 |
University of Hawaii Enrollment by Residency for Manoa, Hilo campuses
| Student | UH Manoa | UH Hilo |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii Resident | 68.9% | 67.4% |
| U.S. Mainland | 18.2% | 20.7% |
| U.S. Affiliate | 2.3% | 3.7% |
| Foreign | 9.1% | 5.0% |
| Unknown | 1.5% | 3.2% |
Source: University of Hawaii
Tuition
It鈥檚 simple to see how the nonresidents can affect tuition revenue 鈥 those who pay full tuition contribute almost three times the amount than residents do. For the upcoming 2010-2011 academic year, full-time resident students will pay $3,792 a semester at UH Manoa. The cost for nonresident full-time students will be $10,512. Complicating matters slightly is the fact that not all nonresident students pay full tuition.
Hawaii is among 15 states that participate in the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education鈥檚 145-school exchange program. Undergraduates can attend out-of-state schools by paying only 150 percent of resident tuition. Pacific Islanders pay the same 150 percent rate, while East-West Center grantees, active duty military and their dependents and out-of-state Native Hawaiians pay the resident rate. Thus only 41 percent of nonresident students paid full out-of-state tuition in 2008. Another 45 percent paid the 150 percent rate.
The Task Group is continuing to study whether it should limit the exchange program students, in part because Hawaii attracts more students than it sends to the Mainland.
Only about 1,400 Hawaii residents go to other states under the exchange program, while 2,000 out-of-state residents make use of it here.
Johnsrud said the regents have been interested in the nonresident enrollment issue and had accepted the draft report when it was presented to them. She said they will likely take up the nonresident policy change this fall.
