Enrollment at the University of Hawaii at Hilo is up this year compared to 2020, although it is still down from pre-pandemic numbers.
According to the UH Institutional Research and Analysis Office, 3,243 students are enrolled at UH-Hilo this year, an increase of 2.5% from last year and the first increase in enrollment since 2012.
However, in 2020, enrollment at UH-Hilo declined by 6% from the year prior because of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, 3,372 students were enrolled at UH-Hilo.
A similar increase was reported at UH-Manoa, where enrollment jumped by 6% from 2020. However, in UH Manoa’s case, enrollment also increased by 3% between 2019 and 2020 after a general pattern of declining enrollment since 2011.
Enrollment at UH’s community colleges has also failed to rebound after 2020, with only two colleges reporting increases: Leeward and Windward community colleges on Oahu saw enrollment increase by 0.8% and 3.8%, respectively.
Across the entire UH system, enrollment is up only a negligible amount from last year. In total, 49,773 students are enrolled at one of UH’s 10 campuses, a 0.4% increase from 2020.
Of this year’s UH-Hilo students, 2,315 are Hawaii residents, and 1,615 have permanent home addresses on the Big Island. Only 899 students have addresses outside of Hawaii, and only 110 are foreign students.
According to a UH statement, there was a 20% increase in the number of transfer students at UH-Hilo this year.