Your Views for May 2

Enrollment target

Sen. Kai Kahele’s expressed disappointment with the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s enrollment growth plan (Tribune-Herald, May 1) misses the mark.

The University of Hawaii and state legislators can set all the student number goals they want, and discuss all manner of marketing with little benefit, while ignoring the central problem of the costs of higher education to students. State governments have been cutting back support for their colleges and universities, thus transferring the burden of costs to student tuition.

When I went to a public university in the late 1960s, the cost of tuition was about two-thirds of the total cost of tuition, food and rent. With summer employment and a part-time job during the academic year, a college education could be had without being plunged into massive debt with student loans.

Current and potential college students are nervous about taking on student loan debt, and rightly so. The long-term prospects for a better salary and a career with a college degree are well-established. However, there is no guarantee a new college graduate can enter this job market right away and begin paying off student loan debt.

If the people, through the agency of state government, think a college- and university-educated public is a good thing, then government support of higher education has to be restored. Young people out of high school cannot access college on their own means, and it is unfair to entice them with a student loan.

William J. Mautz

Hilo

Balancing act

I read there is some disagreement about enrollment goals for University of Hawaii at Hilo (Tribune-Herald, May 1). One way to fix this would be to lower the cost of tuition. It’s too expensive. Do we care about our young people?

Lower the tuition, and offset the drop in funds by trimming the salaries of the top faculty and administrators. They are way overpaid! We’re talking salaries of $200,000-plus a year!

Time to restore some balance at our university!

A. Yamamoto

Hilo