Overall Rating Bronze
Overall Score 29.24
Liaison Laurel Pikcunas
Submission Date March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Hawaii Windward Community College
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.49 / 4.00 Matt Lynch
Director of Sustainability Initiatives
UH Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Provide at least one of the following figures:

Percentage of need met, on average, for students who were awarded any need-based aid :
78.50

Percentage of students graduating without student loan debt:
79.40

Percentage of entering students that are low-income:
29

Graduation/success rate for low-income students:
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Optional Fields

A brief description of notable policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
Over the past two years, the UH Community Colleges have developed a plan through the Hawai'i P-20 Council goal of ensuring that 55% of Hawaiʻi's working-age residents have at least an associate's degree by 2025 by leveraging the work done in the previous strategic planning period, 2008-2015. That plan set the tone for a focused, student success oriented mission with a strong commitment to Native Hawaiian access and success. The result was a dramatic increase in graduation and transfer; enrollment, graduation, and transfer of Native Hawaiian students; student enrollment in and graduation from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs; and a fivefold increase in federal grant aid supporting students in the community colleges. The UH Community Colleges have a shared commitment to student success, a commitment to a deeper understanding of what works and what doesn't work in promoting that success, and a willingness to try new approaches to achieve higher levels of student success. With that spirit and a lot of hard work, this new plan will help ensure a bright future for Hawaiʻi.

The plan is comprised of the following sections.

Hawaiʻi Graduation Initiative - increasing the number of graduates and transfers and on the momentum to get students through to graduation and transfer more quickly.

Hawaiʻi Innovation Initiative - workforce development linked to developing emerging sectors in Hawaiʻi's economy while simultaneously providing a stable workforce for the traditional employment sectors.

Modern Teaching and Learning Environments - ensuring that students and faculty have the learning and teaching environments appropriate for the 21st century and the sustainability practices to maintain those environments.

High Performance Mission-Driven System - practices and policies that capitalize on the University of Hawaiʻi being a single system of higher education in the state that can provide students with smooth transitions from K-12 through the community colleges to the baccalaureate institutions in the most productive, cost-effective, and results-oriented manner possible.

Enrollment - the identification and goals for targeted currently underserved populations.

Implementing the Plan - the policy, practice, and communication models needed to ensure the overall success of this strategic plan.

A brief description of notable policies or programs to support non-traditional students:
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Estimated percentage of students that participate in or directly benefit from the institution’s policies and programs to support low-income and non-traditional students:
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Website URL where information about the institution’s accessibility and affordability initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
UH System Office of Sustainability provided support for this credit. All data is pulled from the University of Hawai‘i System Institutional Research, Analysis, and Planning Office, Management and Planning Support (MAPS) webpage
https://data.hawaii.edu/#/home

Indicator 1 is based percentage of need met for the direct cost of tuition, not the total cost of living. This can be found in the dataset: STUDENT FINANCIAL AID ASSISTANCE - UNMET NEED REPORT UNDERGRADUATE RESIDENT STUDENTS WHO COMPLETED A FAFSA

Indicator 2 is from the dataset: STUDENT LOAN INDEBTEDNESS REPORT UNDERGRADUATE NON-TRANSFER STUDENTS (100 - 20.6 = 79.4)

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.