The University of Hawai'i at Manoa wants to increase dormitory fees by up to 20 percent over the next four years to fix aging housing units and cover other costs.

The price hike at the state university's main campus comes amid tuition increases that will boost the cost of enrolling at UH-Manoa by 140 percent over six years.

If the full housing fee increase is granted, the cost of a year's tuition and a shared dorm room will hit $12,133 dollars by 2010.

Francisco Hernandez, vice chancellor of students for UH-Manoa, said the university will be asking the Board of Regents today to give Manoa Chancellor Denise Konan the authority to increase fees up to 5 percent a year.

Dorm residents had mixed feelings about the increase, with some complaining and others saying on-campus housing was still cheaper than off-campus alternatives.

Grant Teichman, UH-Manoa undergraduate student president, said students want to see the old dorms fixed, but also want assurances that fee increases will be used to improve dorms and won't be wasted.

"I don't have a lot of confidence that the money is going to be spent correctly," Teichman said. "Management is in such turmoil down there, I don't know how that money is not going to disappear."

State auditor Marion Higa is finishing an audit of the UH-Manoa student housing office that will be released this month.

Lawmakers called for the audit after allegations of lax management and embezzlement by resident advisers surfaced during a hearing on student housing problems last year.

Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and a consultant to UH-Manoa, said the fee increases at UH-Manoa are not out of line with increases at other universities.

"I don't know anyplace that is not raising housing and dining fees by some amount in the range that you are talking about," Jones said.

Hernandez said the school was trying to help students affected by rising prices.

"There's always concern about increasing costs. But we mitigate that concern by offering increased financial aid," Hernandez said.