Even before there was the matter of who was going to play quarterback for the University of Hawaii football team Saturday night, there was another question circulating at Aloha Stadium:
Where are all the students?
Sections set aside for UH students that were significantly growing in popularity in previous home games were sparsely populated for the first time this year.
Their absence, attributed by a UH spokesman to competition with other events including a UFC telecast, contributed to the smallest gathering of the season — 20,507 — for a team that is 6-1 (3-0 Mountain West Conference).
Just two days earlier a Board of Regents committee announced plans to review the possibility of raising or widening the eight-year old student-athletic fee, a discussion that will include assessing student interest in attending athletic events.
Regents Thursday were presented a study that shows the current Manoa-only athletic fee of $50 a semester is, by far, the lowest among 11 institutions in the Mountain West Conference where UH competes in football and the lowest, percentage-wise, among the nine schools in the Big West, where UH competes in most other sports.
San Diego State charges a $175-a-semester fee, highest in the Mountain West. The Air Force Academy, also of the Mountain West, does not assess a student fee. Meanwhile in the Big West, five of the nine schools derive at least 20 percent of their revenue from student fees. At UH the figure is 3.8 percent, according to a study.
In an email Sunday, UH athletic director David Matlin wrote, “The Intercollegiate Athletics committee has requested an evaluation and holistic conversation on student fees. We provided survey information for preliminary discussions last week. Athletics also had a meeting with ASUH last week to update them on the H-Rewards program, Young Alumni ticket program and to let them know that student fees would be discussed at ICA meetings during 2018-19 year. We anticipate that discussions will continue throughout this semester at upcoming meetings.”
Any change in student fees requires regents approval, and Jeff Portnoy, who chairs the ICA committee said, “There has absolutely been no decision, what we are doing is reviewing the facts.” Portnoy said the review would also take into consideration future tuition levels and cost of attendance.
Aside from Air Force, UH was the last school in either conference to impose a fee and it took an impassioned appearance by then-Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji in 2010 to help convince regents to approve the current $50-a-semester fee, which began in 2011.
Under the agreement, blocks of seats, including 5,000 for football, are set aside at athletic events for students and a percentage of what was expected to be $2 million annually in fees — about $150,000 — is used to enhance and promote the students’ experience.
But declining enrollment has brought in only about $1.5 million per year, approximately $350,000 less per year than was originally envisioned.
In 2015, shortly after taking over as AD, Matlin made raising the fee a key plank in his plan to balance the athletic department budget by 2020. The original plan called for incremental hikes of $12.50 per year, beginning in 2017, until it hit $100 per semester. But those plans never got off the ground.
Part of the current review is expected to concern whether the existing or any subsequent fee would be extended to the community colleges or UH Hilo. A group of Kapiolani Community College students last year asked regents to consider a plan that would allow them to attend Manoa athletic events under a comprehensive fee.
UNDERWRITING ATHLETICS
Semester student fees at Mountain West schools
School Fees Revenue
1. San Diego State $175 $11.2 M
2. San Jose State $134.50 $8.8 M
3. Utah State $134.50 $5.1 M
4. Boise State $115 $3.4 M
5. Wyoming $115 $2.1 M
6. Colorado State $106.50 $5.8 M
7. New Mexico $99 $3.9 M
8. Fresno State $92 $4.2 M
9. Nevada-Las Vegas $79.50 $3.5 M
10. Nevada $67.50 $2.8 M
11. Hawaii $50 $1.5 M
Sources: Univ. of Wyoming / UH Athletic Dept.
