{"id":3049,"date":"2017-02-03T05:10:47","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T15:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/workable-level.flywheelsites.com\/?p=3049"},"modified":"2017-02-02T22:32:24","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T08:32:24","slug":"uh-scholarship-program-hopes-to-close-financial-aid-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/03\/uh-scholarship-program-hopes-to-close-financial-aid-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"UH Scholarship Program Hopes to Close Financial Aid Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Chris Takahashi <\/a>| Staff Writer<\/span><\/h5>\n

According to research from College Board, individuals who\u00a0hold a college degree can expect to earn much more than their counterparts with just a high school diploma. Over a typical 40-year career, those that have received an associate’s degree can expect to earn 23 percent more while those with a bachelor\u2019s degree can expect to earn 73 percent more.<\/p>\n

The state of Hawai\u2018i understands that the increasing cost of tuition is often an impediment to those seeking degrees in higher education. Working with state legislators, the University of Hawai\u2018i is hopeful that plans for a new scholarship program \u2014 called Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s Promise \u2014\u00a0will allow many students to earn a tuition-free degree at any of the community colleges within the system.<\/p>\n

Hawai\u2018i House Bill (HB) 1613 and Senate Bill (2128), introduced during the 2016 legislative session, address the particulars of the new scholarship program. Per the language in each bill, recipients of the Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s Promise scholarship must be U.S. citizens under the age of 26. Additionally, for students residing in counties with less than 100,000 people, scholarship recipients must hold a high school degree from a school in that county. Since Kaua\u2018i County\u2019s population is less than the required number, students at Kaua\u2018i Community College would possibly be affected by this provision if they attended high school on a different island, such as O\u02bbahu.<\/p>\n

As of now, the first iteration of Hawai\u02bbi’s Promise would operate as a pilot program if signed into law by Gov.\u00a0David Ige this legislative session. Scholarship funds would be made available for the Fall 2017 semester. Since the program has not yet been approved by the state, details surrounding the application process have not been made available to the public. However, students will be required to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to be eligible for the scholarship.<\/p>\n

If the scholarship fund is approved, Hawai\u02bbi’s Promise would aim to close the financial aid gap that may exist for a student receiving financial aid through federal grants, the University of Hawai\u02bbi, employer-sponsored scholarships, or private foundations such as that of Kamehameha Schools. The out-of-pocket tuition expenses partially unmet by these existing streams of financial aid can vary from student to student and across institutions in the UH system.<\/p>\n

The UH Institution Research and Analysis Office estimated that a total of 134 KCC students had tuition expenses that were only partially covered by financial aid during the 2014-15 school year. In sum, that shortfall amounted to approximately $249,557.<\/p>\n

At Kapi\u2019olani Community College (KCC), Financial Aid Coordinator Jennifer Bradley applauds the plan for the new scholarship program. Bradley said that Hawai\u02bbi’s Promise is a “step in the right direction” and a “plus” given the fact that Hawai\u2018i does not have a formal state scholarship. She said that many of the would-be recipients of the new scholarship are especially deserving, and the funding gap that exists between tuition needs met by financial aid and out-of-pocket expenses is a real dilemma.<\/p>\n

Tabulating data from students across the UH community college system, the shortfall statewide is approximately $1.7 million. The goal of the Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s Promise scholarship program is to create a fund of $2.5 million that will meet current and future demand.<\/p>\n

If the Hawai\u02bbi’s Promise scholarship program is a success, the University of Hawai\u2018i will likely pursue a similar program model for undergraduates at all four-year universities within the system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris Takahashi | Staff Writer According to research from College Board, individuals who\u00a0hold a college degree can expect to earn much more than their counterparts with just a high school diploma. Over a typical 40-year career, those that have received an associate’s degree can expect to earn 23 percent more while those with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campusnews","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}