HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

57

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

ReqUesting that the University of Hawaii Board of Regents lift the ceilings on nonresident enrollment or, in the alternative, create separate nonresident enrollment ceilings for mainland and foreign students.

 

 

 


WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii (UH) is a public university system that strives to serve Hawaii residents as its primary goal; and

 

WHEREAS, in the 2008 fall semester, mainland students accounted for 9% and foreign students accounted for 5% of UH enrollment; and  

 

WHEREAS, in setting the nonresident enrollment ceilings, the Hawaii Board of Regents currently does not differentiate between foreign and mainland students but instead considers them as a single category of nonresident students; and

                                    

WHEREAS, creating separate nonresident enrollment ceilings for mainland students and foreign students would lead to greater clarification; and

 

WHEREAS campus ceilings for nonresident student enrollment are currently 30 percent at the baccalaureate campuses and 15 percent at the community colleges of UH; and

 

     WHEREAS, many nonresident students volunteer to participate in community service projects and, after graduation, enter the State's professional workforce; and

 

WHEREAS, many small states that are dependent on tourism routinely attract student bodies that are more than 50 percent nonresident, such as at the University of Vermont and University of New Hampshire, where nonresident students account for 65 percent of the student body, and more than half of the entering class, respectively; and

 

     WHEREAS, through such "educational tourism," non-resident students contribute to the revenues of universities through fees, room and board charges, and tuition being set at higher rates; and

 

     WHEREAS, revenues from nonresident students make a wider range of programs for resident students possible and reduce the net cost of operations to the State; and

    

     WHEREAS, from an enrollment management perspective, it is very desirable to expand institutional recruiting and enrollment options to allow more flexibility and choice during economic downturns and demographic fluctuations; and

 

WHEREAS, we live in an increasingly global society and marketplace where interaction among students from Hawaii, the mainland, and other countries has a significantly positive educational impact on all groups; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, that the University of Hawaii Board of Regents is requested to lift the ceilings on nonresident enrollment; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, alternatively, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents shall create separate nonresident enrollment ceilings for mainland and foreign students; and 

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Regents, President of the University of Hawaii, and chancellors of each of UH's campuses and community colleges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

UH; enrollment ceilings