HONOLULU (KHON2) -- More hard questions from lawmakers for the UH athletics department. They want answers as to how the school can recover from a massive budget shortfall. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The University of Hawaii's acting athletics director Lois Manin took the hot seat in front of the Senate's higher education committee to answer one simple question. "What is the plan to get us into the black," asked Sen. Troy Hashimoto, (D) Senate higher education committee. "I think there's a lot of things that we say ok we're gonna raise more money, that's one thing. But is that really gonna get us into the black." The athletics department is asking for $3.2 million from the legislature in both fiscal year 2026 and 2027. The department estimates it lost $2.1 million in fiscal year 2024. "What I'm trying to drill down to is what is the cost driver that we're trying to figure out," said Hashimoto. "What is the thing we really need to understand that we know, cuz expenses are going up. And we just need to know why." Ocean Safety looking to recruit ‘best of the best’ lifeguards UH officials note hosting football games at Ching Field versus Aloha Stadium significantly lowers revenue. And they are looking at cost cutting measures. Like charter flights for the football team. "Every year we go to different cities, so it really depends on what cities we go to that determines how much the charters are," said Lois Manin, acting UH athletics director. "So we're evaluating now charter prices and getting quotes for charter flights. We would like to continue it, but we need to do the financial analysis first." The department found it actually would have saved $87,000 if they chartered flights for the Warriors 5 road games in 2023. They say the savings come from not having to get extra nights at a hotel because of going a day early or staying another night. Plus there's meals and per diem, which adds up for a 120 person travel party. "I know some of these flights on the airlines, you gotta make stops, and there's delays, and layovers and so forth so sometimes it's 3-4 hour layovers, and it's very taxing," said Sen. Donna Kim, (D) Senate higher education committee chair. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news UH officials also say that of the 364 Division I programs across the country, maybe the top 10-percent actually make a profit.