The University of Hawai'i athletic department paid off approximately $341,000 in outstanding rent and operation charges from the 2005 football season to Aloha Stadium yesterday, UH and stadium officials confirmed.

"The school paid the full amount," stadium spokesman Patrick Leonard said. UH sports information director Lois Manin said a check was delivered to the stadium.

The payment came one day after stadium authority chairman Kevin Chong Kee met with UH interim president David McClain to discuss the situation.

Without the payment, stadium officials had said they would have problems hiring part-time workers to help set up for the April 8 U2 concert.

The stadium authority has set in motion a rule change that would allow it to reduce or eliminate the rent it charges UH for the use of the Halawa facility. Currently, the contract calls for UH to pay either 7.5 percent of gross ticket sales or $10,000 per game, whichever is greater.

High schools pay operational expenses only. The Pro Bowl, by special arrangement with the state, pays nothing. UH operational expenses and rent have totaled about $800,000 per year with rent making up slightly less than half.

UH athletic director Herman Frazier had held on to the final $341,000 seeking a retroactive saving on rent.

A UH delay in paying the balance of the 2004 charges resulted in the laying off of more than 40 part-time workers, stadium officials had claimed.