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

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.

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)