The University of Hawaii Board of Regents on Thursday took the unusual step of scaling back tuition increases for the next two school years in an effort to keep tuition affordable.

The university is entering the fourth year of a five-year tuition schedule that was to ultimately raise tuition by more than 30 percent. The annual increases were approved in 2011 when UH faced drastic cuts in state funding.

The board had pledged to revisit the annual 7 percent tuition hikes built into the final two years of the schedule to assess its effects on students and on access to higher education.

The board voted 11-2 Thursday to lower tuition to a 5 percent increase at UH-Manoa. The board separately voted unanimously to lower tuition to 4 percent increases at UH-Hilo and UH-West Oahu, and 5 percent increases at the seven community college campuses.

UH-Manoa junior Kelly Zakimi, president of the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii, testified in support of the reduced rate.

"For many years, and likely for many years to come, tuition has been an area of concern for students, especially with the increasing rates," Zakimi said. "For many students, the increasing cost of tuition has signaled the increasing unaffordability of attaining a college degree."

At Manoa, the lowered tuition increase would save undergraduate resident students about $250 next year.

Tuition at UH-Manoa was $4,920 per semester, or $9,840 annually, for full-time residents this past school year. It will increase by $492 a year under the 5 percent hike instead of rising by $744 a year under the original 7 percent rate.

UH-Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman at a previous regents meeting had asked the board to allow the 7 percent rate to take effect as scheduled to help the financially strapped flagship campus, which has seen a drop in enrollment and state support from the Legislature. As a result, officials say, Manoa has been spending more than it brings in and drawing down its reserves.

Some Manoa faculty testified in favor of raising tuition by the full amount, saying that imposed cost-cutting measures such as delaying hiring, increasing class sizes and teaching loads, and reducing course offerings is hurting students.

Regent Jeffrey Portnoy, who voted against the reduced rate at Manoa with regent Stanford Yuen, called the move fiscally irresponsible and argued that the university’s academic quality is suffering because of budget restrictions.

"We continue to hear about the diminishing quality of the education provided at Manoa: Class sizes, class offerings are all going in the wrong direction and the primary reason is lack of funds," Portnoy said. "At some point, we need to become responsible in coming up with the moneys necessary to operate a first-rate university."

Other regents countered that the Manoa campus needs to operate more efficiently.

"I’m not philosophically opposed to tuition increases, but my concern is that we need to do everything in our power to operate as efficiently and as effectively as possible so that students can get a good education and graduate on time. I don’t think anyone can say that there is no duplication of courses, that we’re optimizing our classroom space, that we have faculty with full teaching loads," said regent Coralie Matayoshi.

Several regents also contended UH’s tuition has climbed too high in recent years.

Among four-year public universities, Hawaii ranked as having the second-highest tuition increases in the country between 2008 and 2015, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute.

While annual tuition and fees have increased on average by 29 percent, or $2,068, from 2008 to 2015 in all 50 states, the report found Hawaii’s shot up by 70 percent over that time period.

"I think the decrease to 5 percent is a way to say, ‘We’re taking the burden off of our students,’" said student regent Michelle Tagorda.

UH President David Lassner said his office will come up with an operating budget for the upcoming year based on the approved tuition rates for recommendation at the board’s June meeting.

To help offset the reduced rate at Manoa, Lassner said he would propose allocating $3.7 million to the campus using lump-sum funds provided by the Legislature for next fiscal year. He also said he would recommend the campus be given more time to rebuild its reserves to the levels mandated by the regents.

"That will give Manoa a little more flexibility to make strategic investments in academic programs rather than dedicate all new money simply to putting into reserves," Lassner said.

UH-Manoa’s reserves (carry-over balance of tuition revenue) plummeted to $23 million last year from a high of $111 million in fiscal 2011, and is expected to drop to $7.4 million by the end of this fiscal year.

UH’s tuition under the original hikes, which campuses have already begun collecting for the upcoming semester, would have generated an extra $20 million in new tuition revenue for the 2015-16 academic year. At the lowered rates, UH will bring in closer to $14 million.

The university in the last fiscal year collected $377.5 million in tuition and fees systemwide, up from $362 million the year before.