The University of Hawaii at Hilo’s efforts to draw more students to its Hale ‘Alahonua residence hall appear to be paying off.
As of Monday, which was the first day of classes, Hale ‘Alahonua housed 204 students, putting it about 68 percent full. This time last year Hale ‘Alahonua had 148 students, which is about 49 percent occupancy.
“It’s good news,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Farrah-Marie Gomes said Tuesday regarding the higher occupancy numbers. “We’ve met that part of our plan (to draw students), and we’re ecstatic about that.”
The $28 million, 300-bed suite-style dorm opened in 2013 and has been underused. Occupancy dipped to 39 percent in 2015.
Due to the low occupancy, the campus has had to subsidize its annual revenue bond payments used to help finance Hale ‘Alahonua’s construction with additional housing funds from its reserves. Those payments have run around $400,000 annually.
This past spring, housing officials introduced a plan to increase occupancy by lowering the cost to live in the dorm by about $700 per month. The plan also calls for the campus to better market on-campus housing.
The plan aims to boost Hale ‘Alahonua’s occupancy by 90 additional students by the 2019-20 school year, to be met through incremental targets each year. If targets are met, officials predict being able to sufficiently cover annual debt service with housing revenue starting in 2018-19 school year. With the price drop, Hale ‘Alahonua needed at least 30 additional students this year to equalize last year’s housing revenue.
“That was really our goal, and we surpassed that in terms of equalizing revenue, so we’re happy in terms of where we are at in terms of occupancy,” Gomes said. ” … A portion of (the increase) is definitely lowering the cost. But immediately after that, we did several types of reach-outs to students and increased our communication tremendously with them, which I believe is a huge factor in increasing the numbers. And so much of that is attributed to the work of our housing staff.”
Several students mingling in Hale ‘Alahonua’s lounge area Wednesday afternoon said the dorm’s lower price-tag factored into their decision when choosing where to live.
Miriam Guerrero, 19, a transfer student from Chicago, said she was drawn to Hale ‘Alahonua for its single rooms. Though she said she would have chosen a different dorm if its price hadn’t dropped.
“I would have started out somewhere cheaper,” Guerrero said. “ … As a student, it’s just hard. Because whatever our parents can’t pay for we have to take out in loans.”
Remaining dorm prices stayed the same this year, though the plan gives UH-Hilo discretion to begin increasing prices of all dorms in years two and three by up to 5 percent each year. The plan also slightly increases meal plan prices to match rising food costs.
Occupancy at remaining campus housing also is up. Residence halls were collectively 86 percent full on Monday, up from 77 percent this time last year. Numbers generally fluctuating the first few weeks of school, but interim Chancellor Marcia Sakai said on Wednesday preliminary data looked promising.
“It was a very strong response to the efforts of housing and the repricing, because we did reprice (Hale) ‘Alahonua significantly,” Sakai said. “This is a good step toward achieving the goals we have for housing.”
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.