Bulletin No. 15

Date/Time sent: 08/24/2020 7:30 am

Welina mai kākou!

Welcome to the start of our fall semester! The theme for the semester:

E ala! E alu! E kuilima!
Awaken! Come together! Join hands!

I realize that my convocation presentation (on Wednesday, August 19), which spoke to financial rigor and the need for our collective strategic energy was difficult to hear. It was a clarion call – a kāhea – to each of you asking you to work together and with campus leadership to reimagine and retool what and how we deliver quality educational programs. I clearly stated that a 16% cut to our general funds (G-Funds) along with a dip in our tuition revenue (TFSF) has placed us in a position that has required all campus units to decrease operational costs and limit their non-permanent position hiring. What we know is that the impact of the pandemic on Hawaiʻi’s economy will have long-term effects on our university, hence, campus funding. For us to survive and thrive, we must, this fiscal year reduce our costs, prioritize our signature academic programs and sharpen our student services, grow our enrollment (and tuition revenue), and increase our efficiency and effectiveness.

I cannot stress enough the crises we are in, but what I know is that with your engagement and consultation – we can – in the next months (not years) re-“envision” our pathway forward toward a sustainable, vital future – in the face of local, national, and global uncertainty and change.

In closing, I am greatly appreciative to each of you for your hard work and commitment during this critical and significant time. I am deeply humbled to be Chancellor of UH West Oʻahu and to lead such an extraordinary group of professionals who are deeply committed to our students and the communities that we serve!

A Query:

After my Wednesday presentation a question was forwarded to me regarding enrollment, in particular, headcount and tuition revenue. This is a good question as this can be confusing!

First, increasing our enrollment numbers is essential to the vitality of our campus! Hence, our enrollment management team’s efforts are continuous. So, HULO! To our enrollment team and all our campus helpers!
Now, the most common measure of enrollment is a simple headcount of students that are enrolled in our programs. So, 1 student = 1 headcount.
Tuition Revenue is determined by the residency status of each student. That is, tuition rates vary depending on a student’s status. For example:
- Resident Students — if they take 12 credits or more pay a flat rate of $3672. Itʻs a good deal because they can take upwards of 15 to 21 credits and still pay $3672. BUT not all our resident students are full time! Many are part time students taking less than 12 credits so they pay $306 per credit.
- Non-Resident Students – if they take 12 credits or more pay a flat rate of $10,152. BUT if they are part time they pay $846 per credit.
- Then we have Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) and Pacific Island students that have a special MOA with the UH System. Full time students pay a flat rate of $5508. Part time students pay $459 per credit.
We get a significant “headcount” boost from special programs like Early College (Mahalo to Garyn Tsuru and Brandon Carlos). However, the course is paid for through a UH-S/DOE MOA. We do not get tuition dollars, instead, we receive a flat rate of $6,000 per course, no matter how many students are enrolled, which may or may not cover the cost of the instructor.

As I stated on Wednesday, Tuition Revenue (TFSF) is important to our budget as it funds all our campus operations, faculty salaries that cannot be covered by G-Funds, student scholarships, temporary hires and our lecturers, and our debt service. The tuition revenue amount I used in my convocation presentation ($16,750,000) was the most recent revenue estimate we had given the mix of students that were registered on Monday August 17. That number will tick-up a bit today, Monday August 24, given increases in our headcount and mix of payment plans.