Hawaii Community College last month celebrated 533 graduates during spring commencement ceremonies. Graduation is an amazing accomplishment that can serve as a stepping stone to the next phase of life, whether that’s a career or more education.
Now the challenge is: How do we get more Hawaii Island high school seniors to follow this college path?
Unfortunately, Hawaii Island has the lowest rate of college attendance among graduating high school seniors in the state, a problem worsened by the pandemic. In 2021, the statewide “going rate” was 51%, while Hawaii Island’s rate was 40% on average.
Why is this an issue?
A skilled and educated workforce is important for a healthy local economy. College also provides major benefits to individuals. An associate degree increases lifetime earnings over a high school diploma by 25%, according to a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, and attending college is associated with better health outcomes, better employment outcomes during recessions, and more.
Recent high school graduates may not notice a difference immediately, because variation in earnings by education level starts small and grows over the course of a career, according to the Georgetown University report. By the time they notice the missed opportunity, returning to school can be more difficult as work and family obligations accumulate.
That’s why it’s better to start early.
One way to bring a wider variety of students onto the college pathway and improve going rates is to offer relevant, hands-on technical pathways as part of Early College. Established in 2012, Early College programs allow high school students to take “dual-credit” classes that satisfy requirements for both a high school diploma and a college degree.
Unfortunately, we don’t always reach the population of students that could have the biggest impact on college attendance rates; we often reach those already headed to college. To help address this, Hawaii Community College and its partners have begun offering Career &Technical Education (CTE) classes through Early College. Hands-on, career-oriented programs can reach different students who have different interests.
This year at commencement, we celebrated major successes.
At our Hawaii CC-Palamanui campus we honored the first-ever Kona cohort of Automotive Mechanics Technology graduates. The eight graduates got a jump-start on their degrees as juniors at Kealakehe High School; completed approximately half the degree requirements by the time they graduated from high school in 2021; and this past academic year, they completed their associate degrees through a combination of work-based learning at Kona automotive shops and classes at Hawaii CC-Palamanui.
Had they not started in high school in a CTE program, and been able to complete the degree close to home, there’s a chance many of these students would not have attended college at all. Because of this program, they have degrees, work experience and are prepared for careers in a field where there’s strong local demand for their skills.
At our Hilo commencement, we celebrated 18 students from Ka‘u High earning certificates in Agriculture through a dual-credit partnership with Hawaii CC. The partnership is part of the Ka‘u Global Learning Lab and the Ka‘u Dream project.
As the students studied agriculture and experienced college-level work, they saw that college is within reach for them. ‘Aina Akamu, the director of the Ka‘u Global Learning Lab, said this mentality shift and the “fact that they see themselves as successful” is a huge benefit of the program.
We are now exploring the option of having dual-credit programs in Construction and Culinary Arts.
Hawaii CC has proudly delivered career-oriented hands-on programs since we were founded in 1941. We look forward to using our decades of expertise to show Hawaii Island youth that college is attainable for them and to create more pathways for them to get there.
Rachel Solemsaas is chancellor of Hawaii Community College.