The private Chaminade University says it will start guaranteeing a tuition rate for incoming freshmen from Hawaii that will match the resident undergraduate rate of the public University of Hawaii at Manoa — a steep discount on Chaminade’s typical tuition price.

Chaminade historically has had one tuition price for all students regardless of residency status; this year it is $28,000. But its new Hawaii Guarantee initiative creates a separate rate for incoming Hawaii residents. Starting next school year, Hawaii high school graduates and first-time local college students entering Chaminade as freshmen will pay only $11,304, to match UH-Manoa’s rate.

In subsequent years Chaminade’s resident tuition will change if and when UH-Manoa’s does. Students must be continuously enrolled at Chaminade for consecutive semesters and graduate in four years in order to receive the Hawaii Guarantee rate.

When asked about the impetus for the new tuition system for local students, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Abigail Hurgo said, “It’s part of Chaminade’s mission to serve the Hawaii community … and also we want to really demystify the myth that you can’t afford to go to a private university, especially here.”

Chaminade President Lynn Babington added in a news release, “We are pleased to launch this Hawaii Guarantee for local students to provide both an affordable education and a clear path to a four-year graduation. Across the country, less than half of students graduate on time. Our Hawaii Guarantee is designed to help students map out their academic journeys and receive the course offerings and advising support needed to get them there.”

Students in the Hawaii Guarantee program still will be eligible to receive federal and state aid, and outside scholarships. The program has no set end date, Hurgo said.

Students will be connected with academic advisers who will guide them toward graduating in four years, Hurgo said. If a Hawaii Guarantee student does not meet their contractual obligation to finish a degree within four years, their tuition price will rise to the published Chaminade rate.

Chaminade is the only Catholic university in Hawaii, and one of three Marianist higher-education institutions in the U.S. Established in 1955, Chaminade has approximately 1,300 undergraduates and 300 faculty and staff, and offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Hurgo said that increasing Chaminade’s overall enrollment numbers is not an objective of the new rate system. Enrollment at the university in Kaimuki has remained strong in recent years, she said, and this fall’s 386 incoming students were nearly double the average cohort of about 200.

But Chaminade does want to encourage more local students to go to college locally and then invest their talents here, Hurgo said. About 55% of Chaminade’s incoming freshmen this year were from the islands, she said. “We want the students to go back to their communities and be confident about what they’re learning here. … We want them to be great citizens within the community here in Hawaii, so we want to be able to provide that financial accessibility for the Hawaii community.”

In a separate development, the private Hawaii Pacific University in August announced a new program to offer a $10,000 scholarship to each incoming Hawaii freshman in the class of 2023. Hurgo said the close timing was a coincidence, and Chaminade independently started developing its Hawaii Guarantee program prior to learning of HPU’s program.