April is National Community College Month, and the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges are proud to recognize the profound impact their seven campuses have on their students, diverse communities and Hawaiʻi’s economic future.
Community colleges provide a wide array of benefits to the communities they serve by offering affordable education to students, fast tracks to a career, training for in-demand jobs and flexible alternatives for workers who want to improve their skills.
Nationwide community college students account for 38% of all undergraduates, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. In Hawaiʻi, 48% of all public post-secondary undergraduates attend a UH Community College campus.
“Throughout its nearly 60-year history, our UH Community Colleges have played a pivotal role in Hawaiʻi’s economic and social vitality,” said UH President David Lassner. “Our seven community colleges open doors to more prosperous futures for students throughout the communities they serve. The great community college educational opportunities they offer provide everything from basic skills to training for living wage jobs to preparation for successful transfer into our UH universities for bachelors and graduate degrees and lifelong learning.”
The UH Community Colleges annually serve more than 23,000 credit students—a mix of traditional and non-traditional, full-time and part-time—and provide an accessible, affordable and high-quality education in a variety of programs from career and technical education to liberal arts. They also serve Hawaiʻi’s communities and industries by offering a variety of non-credit classes for workforce training, through the Good Jobs Hawaiʻi initiative, and for personal enrichment.
The UH Community Colleges are also a very affordable source for higher education in Hawaiʻi. Tuition to attend one year (30 credits) at a UH Community College campus costs approximately $3,900 and one can earn an associate degree for less than $8,000.
The UH Community Colleges saw record highs in on-time graduation in 2022 at 13.8%, a 3.7 percentage point increase from 2021, and success rates (including students who transfer to four-year schools) at 19.5%, a 2.5 percentage point increase from 2021.
In 2022, the UH Community Colleges were recognized among the top five best community college systems in the nation according to WalletHub’s Best and Worst Community Colleges.
During National Community College Month, UH Community Colleges will celebrate their unique and successful students and promote the endless possibilities and opportunities at campuses across the state.
For more information, visit uhcc.hawaii.edu.
—By Lesli Yogi
