The University of Hawaii is looking to increase enrollment numbers by proposing tuition changes for the next year.

According to the proposal, UH is looking to stop undergraduate tuition from increasing and cut tuition for graduate students at Manoa starting in Fall 2020. Under the proposal, there would be a 2 percent cut to resident graduate student tuition and 10 percent cut to non-resident graduate student tuition.

The university says the changes are needed since data has shown that tuition at UH Manoa has risen above some of its competitors, especially for non-residents. 

Under the current tuition schedule for the next school year, UH Manoa’s estimated tuition for undergraduate residents is about $11,088 dollars, and for non-residents about $33,336 dollars. 

While Chaminade’s estimated tuition is about $26,134 for both non-resident and resident undergraduates.

Students believe the lower costs would be a positive.

“I do feel like for many demographics if the tuition continues to increase, it wouldn’t be a very good thing,” said Landon Wong, a student. “Because not everybody has those opportunities and are increasingly getting richer to keep up with the increase or the hike in tuition every single year.” 

“When I was a senior in high school picking from all the schools… how much the tuition was was a huge deal,” said another student, Megan Hussey. “So if it would cost less to come here, it would make it more enticing and higher up on my scale to choose from.”

However for UH Manoa staff, the proposal could pose problems, especially if enrollment goes down.

“We have seen that as there have been some diminishing in enrollment on some of our campuses, we have seen that there are less lecturers for example being hired, and that there are less sections of courses offered,” said Kristeen Hanselman, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly executive director.

She says if there is a loss in revenue, hard decisions will have to be made.

“We cut programs, we cut lines that result in degrees, that’s always an option. The other is we look at graduate programs and determine, can we afford to maintain certain graduate programs,” said Hanselman.

The proposal will be presented in front of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents on Thursday.