REPORT TITLE:
UH; Hawaiians' Tuition Waiver


DESCRIPTION:
Waives tuition for 700 additional Hawaiian students in the
University of Hawaii system.  Gives priority to those Hawaiian
students who are financially needy and meet all other entrance
requirements for the university.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1619
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO TUITION WAIVERS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that it is becoming
 
 2 increasingly difficult for students of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian
 
 3 ancestry to be able to financially afford tuition for college.
 
 4 As a result of this, many Hawaiians are forced to live in low-
 
 5 income housing and to receive aid from either the state or
 
 6 federal government.  As with other indigenous peoples who have
 
 7 lost their nationhood and became disenfranchised in their
 
 8 homeland, Hawaiians are on the lowest of social indicators
 
 9 including health, housing, and education in Hawaii.
 
10      Although the University of Hawaii now celebrates its ninety-
 
11 second year of existence, and while the university student body
 
12 has grown and changed, one consistent fact is that Hawaiian
 
13 students continue to be underrepresented within the University of
 
14 Hawaii system.  While Hawaiians represent twenty-three per cent
 
15 of the students in public schools across the State, only a mere
 
16 8.4 per cent of the students at the University of Hawaii are
 
17 Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian.  Furthermore, twenty-five per cent of
 
18 Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian students within the University of
 
19 Hawaii system drop out within the first two years for reasons
 
20 that include rising tuition.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1619
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      In 1991, the board of regents of the University of Hawaii
 
 2 adopted a master plan which supported efforts to increase the
 
 3 proportion of Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian students within the
 
 4 university system.  The master plan also calls upon the
 
 5 university, "... to actively support the preservation and
 
 6 teaching of Hawaiian language and culture."
 
 7      Through its system-wide network including instructional
 
 8 buildings and campuses, marine research facilities, demonstration
 
 9 farms and agricultural stations, faculty and student housing,
 
10 Haleakala Observatory and the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, the
 
11 University of Hawaii now controls sixteen thousand acres of
 
12 section 5(f) ceded lands on all islands.  The dollar value for
 
13 the use of these lands over the past ninety-two years is so great
 
14 that it is almost impossible to calculate.  However, it is very
 
15 clear that the indigenous peoples of Hawaii have never received
 
16 compensation or benefits from the University of Hawaii in return
 
17 for its use of these ceded lands.
 
18      Of a total allotment of 2,451 tuition waivers awarded on the
 
19 Manoa campus during fiscal year 1998-1999, Project Kuaana, which
 
20 is the office providing assistance to Hawaiian students, was
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1619
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 given an allocation of only one hundred ten waivers to award.
 
 2 The University of Hawaii has provided information stating there
 
 3 are an additional one thousand five hundred students of
 
 4 Hawaiianor part-Hawaiian ancestry who are qualified to receive
 
 5 tuition waivers on the Manoa campus alone.  These students are
 
 6 currently paying more than $3,000 annually, or collectively,
 
 7 almost $5,000,000 for their higher education.
 
 8      Unlike any other financial aid package within the University
 
 9 of Hawaii system, financial aid offered to Hawaiians and part-
 
10 Hawaiians through the University of Hawaii financial aid office
 
11 is reduced proportionately when a tuition waiver or other
 
12 financial assistance is awarded through an outside source such as
 
13 the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, the Office of Hawaiian
 
14 Affairs, or the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.
 
15      The legislature believes that it is necessary to offer
 
16 tuition waivers to those qualified students within the University
 
17 of Hawaii system who are of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry,
 
18 and who could otherwise not afford to attend any college within
 
19 the University of Hawaii system.  Furthermore, the legislature
 
20 will require that the University of Hawaii system give preference
 
21 of admission to native Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian students who
 
22 meet all of the University of Hawaii system standards.
 

 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1619
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      The purpose of this Act is to give seven hundred tuition
 
 2 waivers to native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiian students throughout
 
 3 the University of Hawaii system.
 
 4      SECTION 2.  Chapter 304, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 5 amendedby adding a new section to be appropriately designated and
 
 6 to read as follows:
 
 7      "§304-    Hawaiians; tuition waiver; preference. (a)  The
 
 8 University of Hawaii shall waive all tuition fees up to seven
 
 9 hundred Hawaiian students in addition to the tuition waivers
 
10 currently granted to Hawaiian students.
 
11      (b)  The tuition waivers shall be awarded to Hawaiian
 
12 students who:
 
13      (1)  Provide proof of need of financial assistance; and
 
14      (2)  Meet all standards and qualifications of entry into the
 
15           university system.
 
16      (c)  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise
 
17 requires:  "Hawaiian" means any descendant of the aboriginal
 
18 peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands that exercised
 
19 sovereignty and subsisted in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778."
 
20      (d)  The University of Hawaii system shall give preference
 
21 in admissions to native Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian students who
 
22 meet all the University of Hawaii system standards."
 
23      (e)  All provisions of this section shall be applied in a
 
24 manner consistent with the law.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1619
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
 2      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 3 
 
 4                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________