Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 2, 1 February 2007 — Tuition woivers for Notive Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Tuition woivers for Notive Hawaiians

Aloha kākou. On lan. 4, OHA trustees approved our 2007 Legislative Package that is a eulminahon of 19 different measures that address current and on-going Native Hawaiian issues. In an effort to provide higher education opportunities for Native Hawaiian students, OHA has included in its legislative package a bill that would require the University of Hawai'i system to provide higher education tuition waivers to all enrolled students who are Native Hawaiian. For whom, the purposes of this act, are defined in section 10-2 of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes. This academic and eeonomie support ean have far-reaching, positive consequences for the state as a whole. As more Native Hawaiians are able to earn college degrees, they ean pursue the highest levels of academic and professional achievement. Through their participation in networks of civic responsibility in the professional, aeademic, business and other arenas, Native Hawaiian graduates of the University of Hawai'i system will be able to contribute more effectively to the eeonomie and social health of the state of Hawai'i and the Native Hawaiian people. Statistics from the University of Hawai'i's Institutional Research Office show that Native Hawaiian students comprise approximately 26 percent of Hawai'i's public school population and more than 85 percent of those Native Hawaiian students finish high school. While many Native Hawaiian graduates go on to attend college, we have the lowest college graduation rates of all ethnic groups in Hawai'i. Those statistic also show that Native Hawaiians account for only 14 percent of the total University of Hawai'i student population, whieh includes all Native Hawaiians attending the system's

three four-year and seven two-year eampuses. According to the 2000 United States Census, even though 25 percent of all Native Hawaiians have earned some college credits, most have not completed their undergraduate degrees, and only 15 percent of all Native Hawaiians have earned at least a bachelor's degree. The statistics are even more troubling for Native Hawaiians attempting to attain the highest academic degrees in their fields, including master's, professional and doctorate degrees. Only 3.2 percent of Native Hawaiians statewide have earned a graduate degree of any kind, compared with 8.4 percent of all Hawai'i residents and 8.9 percent of the total U.S. population. Statistically, Hawaiians attending the University of Hawai'i are, on average, far more affected by negative eeonomie indicators than other students. Native Hawaiian students who do complete their degrees take, on the average, a full year longer to do so than students of other ethnic groups, and many Native Hawaiian students must work full or part time while attempting to complete their college degrees. This slower-than-average completion rate is due primarily to the consequences of Native Hawaiians' poor access to available socioeeonomie resources, combined with their ongoing need to produce ineome for themselves and their families, and Hawai'i's high cost of living. If Native Hawaiian students were afforded this opportunity, even in part, it would serve as a catalyst that would improve the conditions of the indigenous people of Hawai'i. This measure would give every Hawaiian child in the private and public school systems the ability to get better jobs and be the eeonomie and social boost needed to keep kama'āina in Hawai'i. The Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment Committee holds weekly meetings to review legislative measures that impact the Native Hawaiian community. Meetings are open to the public and generally held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. For more information please eall 594-1888. ^

Cūlette Y. Machadū TrustEE, Mūlūka'i aud Lāna'i