Enrollment at the University of Hawaii at Hilo has continued its decline, with spring semester student populations down 3.3 percent compared to last spring, according to enrollment numbers shared online this week.
According to the data, UH-Hilo has 3,204 students enrolled in the current semester, which is 111 fewer than the 3,315 students enrolled last spring.
That’s also 202 fewer students than the 3,406 enrolled in the fall.
“What we see, and this is normal operations for institutions, is usually the numbers … show a slight decline in the spring,” said Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Farrah-Marie Gomes.
There are a variety of factors that impact that fall-to-spring retention, she said.
Many of the students they lose are first-year students unable to make the initial adjustment or transition to college because of academic, financial, cultural or other reasons, Gomes explained. Students also graduate in the fall.
While new students do start in the spring, it’s not common. That number is “much lower than fall numbers ever will be,” she said.
Additionally, the university continues to see effects from the Kilauea volcano eruption which began last May in Leilani Estates.
Gomes said the university had hoped that some of the impacted students who did not attend in the fall would return in the spring, but there are still 44 students not enrolled because of the volcanic impact.
However, while the university lost 202 students this semester compared to fall enrollment counts, Gomes said last year UH-Hilo lost 224 students between semesters.
“We are holding steady in terms of the trends,” she said. “… In terms of losing more compared to previous years, we seem to be holding tight to where we’re at.”
Smaller declines this year in both spring-to-fall-retention rates and spring semester counts — compared to those in the prior year — may indicate that efforts to retain students are working.
In 2018, for example, student counts were down 5.8 percent in the spring semester compared to the previous year and down 3.3 percent this spring compared to last.
“It is an improvement, spring over spring,” Gomes said. “Don’t get me wrong, it is still a decrease in overall enrollment and we have to find ways to overcome that.”
However, Gomes said she feels “like we are coming out of the valley.”
“Early indications show our retention efforts are beginning to pay off,” she said. “Next year would ultimately be the year where we hope to see a full year of our recruitment and retention efforts pay off in the form of enrollment numbers.”
And even though the University of Hawaii Board of Regents recently deferred action on a proposal that would reduce already-approved tuition rates at the system’s 10 campuses and keep those fees steady for the next several years, Gomes said “UH-Hilo is still looking at how to keep our institution affordable to students.”
For one more year, housing and meal rates will remain unchanged, she said, which is a decision that can be made at the campus level.
“We are trying in the areas where we have decision making authority to be as creative as possible,” said Gomes.”
Hawaii Community College also saw a 10.4 percent decline in enrollment over the spring semester in 2018 with 2,301 students currently enrolled compared to 2,569 — the largest decrease in the UH Community College system.
HCC spokesman Thatcher Moats said it’s unfortunate to see enrollment numbers drop that way.
“As the community continues to recover from the Kilauea eruption and employment continues to be strong and potential students choose the workforce over school, we are looking to find new ways to enable those who are working to earn college credit,” he said. “One way this can be done is through ‘learn and earn’ opportunities like internships, apprenticeships and prior learning assessment.”
Moats said HCC has recently hired a learn and earn coordinator to help build partnerships to make that program happen.
Online offerings could also help individuals earn college credit.
“A new project being piloted at the UHCC system level to offer a cohort of students an associate in arts degree with all online, accelerated courses saw a very large response, which indicates there is demand there if we can offer more classes in ways that work for working people,” said Moats.
UH-Hilo’s student population peaked in 2012 at 4,157 students. At HCC, enrollment peaked at 3,917 students in 2011.
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
