The sharp tuition increases of the past two years may have pushed students away from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

Enrollment has decreased by 2,436 students, or 12 percent, according to the Fall Enrollment Report of the UH Institutional Research Office. Administrators said it will remain low for four or five years.

In 1995, the student body numbered 19,801, dropped to 18,252 in 1996 and to 17,365 this year. Declines have occurred at all class levels since 1995: freshmen down by 375, sophomores by 302; juniors by 231, and seniors by 360. There are also 706 fewer graduate students and 409 fewer unclassified.

Undergraduate tuition has risen 85 percent, from $767 per semester in 1995 to $1,416 this year. Graduate tuition increased 80 percent, from $1,045 in 95 to the current $1,896. Administrators said the increase was 75 percent.

Enrollment is also measured by the number of entering students, which combines first-time freshmen, transfer students and new graduate students. In 1995 the number was 5,094, dropped to 4,268 in 1996 and rebounded slightly this year to 4,403. School officials said the smaller freshmen classes will result in lower overall enrollment the next four years.

Another change that may be attributed to higher tuition is a slight increase in courseloads . Since tuition is the same for 12, 15 or 18 credits, some students are carrying heavier loads in order to graduate sooner. The average credits taken by full-time undergraduates is 14.1 and by graduate students, 12.7. Officials consider students graduating sooner a positive development.

"It's good for the school if students graduate and get on with their lives, rather than prolonging their education," one official observed.

Are minorities and poorer students dropping out as a result of higher tuition?

The UH director of Student Equity, Excellence, and Diversity, Amy Agbayani, said all ethnic groups showed declines. In fact, three historically dominant undergraduate blocs, Japanese, Chinese and Caucasian, have registered declines in percentage over a five year period, while four other groups have posted gains in percentage: mixed ethnic, Filipino, Korean and Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian. Undergraduate students who identify themselves as Japanese still far outnumber all others.

Of the 5,327 regular graduate students, the largest bloc is Caucasian, 1,823 (34.2 percent) followed by Japanese, 1,039 (19.5 ); Chinese, 693 (13.0); mixed ethnic, 458 (8.6); Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian, 316 (5.9); Filipino, 212 (4.0); Korean, 186 (3.5), other Asian, 163 (3.1); Hispanic, 70 (1.3); Pacific Islander, 69 (1.3); and African-American, 44 (0.8).

Officials said there is no indication of students transferring to community colleges or choosing to enter community colleges instead of UH-Manoa. The enrollments at all seven community colleges decreased over the past three years.

ENROLLMENT BY GENDER

Women outnumber men at UH, 9,454 to 7,911, or 54 to 46 percent, reflecting the national average of women and men in higher education. Among undergraduates, women outnumber men 6,467 to 5,556, and among graduate students, women prevail, 2,982 to 2,345.

Of 19 colleges and schools identified by gender, 13 show a majority of females: Arts and Humanities; Language, Linguistics and Literature; Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies; Business Administration; Travel Industry Management; Education; Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources; Medicine; Nursing; Public Health, Social Work; Law; and Library and Information Sciences.

Five colleges and schools with a majority of males are Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Ocean and Earth Sciences, Architecture and Engineering.

Of the more than 120 degree programs, 70 have female majorities, and 51 show more males. Programs with lopsided female majorities include Education (842-371), English (210-109), French (25-5), Spanish (31-14), Dance (43-3), Travel Industry (197-107), Family Resources (154-21), Nursing (267-45), and Library and Information Studies (63-17). Males dominated in Engineering (673-159), Information and Computer Science (300-103), Economics (139-53), Physics and Astronomy (68-23) and Mathematics (63-27).

Degree programs showing a close gender balance include (female-to-male): American Studies (64-51), Art (215-197), Asian Studies (64-70), Communications (120-120), General Business (187-176), Hawaiian Studies (53-56), Japanese (77-67), Law (123-113) Medicine (242-167) Microbiology (35-34), Music (94-98), Psychology (336-224), Sociology (135-172) and Zoology (145-128).

OTHER DEMOGRAPHICS

The student body is also defined by age, local address, and foreign student enrollment:

• The mean age of undergraduates is 22 and graduate students, 33. Students 21-and-under number 6,623, and ages 22-29 total 6,929. In addition, there are 3,736 ages 30-59, and 65 students are over 60.
• Fifty-four percent of the student population lives in Honolulu, 23 percent commutes from leeward O`ahu and 11 percent, from windward O`ahu. Over the past five years the percentage of leeward commuters has increased and windward, declined.
• Foreign student enrollment is 1,347, representing 81 countries. Eighty-one percent, 1,093, are from Asia, while nine percent, 120, are from Europe. Other foreign students come from Canada and Latin America (62), the Pacific Basin (51), Africa (13) and the Middle East (8). Sixty-two percent of foreign students, or 828, are in graduate school.

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