When Nanea Chu was gearing up to graduate from Parker High School on Hawaiʻi Island, she knew she wanted to continue her education at college but didn’t necessarily have a school in her home state in mind. Nanea was actually considering going someplace much farther away, unsure if she could bear the cost of studying in her home state.
“I was going to go to Rhode Island for school,” she said.
Nanea said she was considering attending the Rhode Island School of Design, an institution with high tuition rates but in a state with a lower cost of living. Depending on the aid package, traveling all the way to Providence for college could have ended up being cheaper than staying in Hawaiʻi.
“I didn’t think that I would be able to afford it if I chose to stay here,” she said.
Layla Becker also knew she wanted to go to college following her graduation from James Campbell High School. She initially zeroed in on two private universities on Oʻahu. It was a toss-up, but a trusted advisor recommended she give Chaminade a closer look.
“I only applied to two schools originally,” Layla said. “I had an environmental science teacher in high school who was talking to me a bunch about college and he recommended Chaminade to me because he had family that went.”
There were, of course, a lot of other factors to consider, yet both Layla and Nanea ultimately chose to study at Chaminade University of Honolulu, in part due to the university’s new Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship, a commitment the university launched the year they both applied.
Now in its fourth year, the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship is helping new generations of Hawaiʻi students afford a Chaminade University education.
The Guarantee is a promise the university makes to resident first-time college students graduating from local high schools. The admissions and financial aid offices work with enrolling students to ensure that the tuition rate these incoming students pay matches the institutional in-state tuition rate residents would pay to go to public universities.
It’s one way Chaminade University is striving to be as accessible as possible, understanding why it’s important that Hawaiʻi high school graduates have the option to pursue a Chaminade education regardless of means.
The Guarantee works in tandem with the university’s efforts to ensure students graduate in four years, keeping costs down while helping everyone in the Chaminade family pursue their dreams and goals without unnecessary delay or expense. Today, Chaminade University boasts the state’s highest four-year graduation rate.
Both Nanea and Layla said Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee program played a significant role in swaying their decisions to stay in the state and attend the university. They agree that the next wave of graduating high school seniors in Hawaiʻi should give the Guarantee a closer look.
“I would definitely recommend Chaminade,” Layla said.
A private university education at an in-state public price
Chaminade University is Hawaiʻi’s only private Catholic university. We fulfill the Marianist mission of promoting personal and community well-being through education, and we are particularly committed to serving Native Hawaiians and residents of the state even as we welcome students, staff, and faculty from everywhere.
The school’s devotion to serving Hawaiʻi is what ultimately inspired the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship program. Both Nanea and Layla are on course to graduate at the end of the current academic year. Now seniors, they are among the first cohort of students to receive Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship.
As noted earlier, the Guarantee is a sort of pact Chaminade makes with qualifying students. Through the Guarantee, Chaminade University will work to match Hawaiʻi’s in-state tuition rate for any qualifying local first-year student.
Incoming students apply for the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship by first submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Via the Guarantee, Chaminade will adjust students’ tuition rates after institutional aid is factored in to ensure that what the students pay matches in-state public university tuition costs. The adjusted tuition rate only rises when the in-state tuition rate goes up.
It’s a big deal–the Guarantee can bring annual tuition costs down by as much as two-thirds.
All Hawaiʻi graduating high school seniors, incoming university freshmen, and first-time Hawaiʻi college students are eligible for Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship. Applicants must be seeking their first bachelor’s degree and enroll as full-time students.
In addition, all majors are eligible, with the exception of Chaminade’s nursing degree programs. The scholarship is also renewable for three years.
For Nanea, the Guarantee meant she could choose to stay close to home and avoid relocating thousands of miles away to study her chosen field, which was graphic design at the time she was shopping for colleges. She later switched her major to interior design, impressed by Chaminade’s tough but excellent interior design program.
“It takes a lot of discipline and you can’t procrastinate whatsoever really, or it’ll really catch up to you,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Layla said the Guarantee helped convince her to choose Chaminade over other universities to pursue a degree in criminal justice.
Nanea said Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee “definitely was a big factor in staying here” versus flying off to the mainland.
Layla said it was the same with her, even after she learned that she could couple the scholarship with Veterans Affairs benefits she qualified for through her father’s service in the military.
“It piqued my interest and I definitely was more persuaded to choose Chaminade because at the time I didn’t know I qualified for VA benefits,” Layla shared.
Peace of mind in pursuit of knowledge
With an up to two-thirds decrease in tuition costs, the Guarantee is significant and designed to give every Hawaiʻi resident a chance at being a part of the Chaminade University community.
As the university says on its Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship website, “We’re giving you and your family financial peace of mind, so you can focus on achieving your goals and stepping into your future with confidence and purpose.”
Abigail Hurgo, Chaminade’s assistant vice president of enrollment management, told KHON TV in a recent interview that the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship is an important program the university is proud to offer because “it makes it affordable for students to have a great private education here at Chaminade.”
As some of the first students to receive the award, both Nanea and Layla wholeheartedly agree.
“It’s helped me a lot because, besides tuition, I did choose to dorm for two years on campus and that actually brought down the overall cost by a lot for me,” Layla said. “So, I got to experience more as a college student.”
Likewise, Nanea said the new opportunity to pursue her studies at Chaminade at the in-state tuition rate saved her from having to make a very tough decision–leaving the state. It’s a decision she said a lot of graduating high school seniors in Hawaiʻi are forced to consider if they choose to continue on to college.
“I didn’t want to have to go away, obviously,” Nanea explained. “I was really avoiding it, but when it really comes down to it, I feel like a lot of locals are pushed out towards the mainland because of money costs, especially when it comes to school.”
The Guarantee completely changed the equation for her, Nanea said. “Having an opportunity like that is super important.”