Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 2014 — Demand growing for OHA's help paying for college [ARTICLE]

Demand growing for OHA's help paying for college

The number of students receiving college scholarships from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs rose about 15 percent this year. The average scholarship amount for those 354 Native Hawaiian students was $2,458. Together, they eamed a combined total of $870,000 in scholarship money to help pay for college in a time of rising tuition costs. This funding brought to about $3.5 million the total amount of college scholarships that OHA gave out over the past five years. The scholarships targeted Native Hawaiian students at a time when they are increasingly leaning more heavily on hnaneial aid from OHA, where they have been tuming to cover up to 25 percent of their college costs. Despite the growing demand, helping Native Hawaiian students pay for college remains a high priority at OHA, whose goals include increasing the number of Native Hawaiian students who graduate college with the marketable skills they need to support themselves and their families. For information on OHA scholarships, visit www.oha.org/ scholarships. — Haro\d Nedd