Is UH Hilo Really Filled with ‘Transplants’?
By Jade Silva
Graph by Jade Silva
As a new academic year begins and campus fills with fresh faces, many students feel like nearly everyone is a ‘transplant’, or someone from outside Hawai‘i. According to informal surveys, kama‘āina (people born in Hawai‘i) students often assume about 70% of UH Hilo students are from out-of-state.
In reality, institutional data shows that as of fall 2024, UH Hilo’s non-resident population is 30%. This rate is lower than UH Mānoa’s (UHM), which sits at 41%. Including UH’s seven community colleges brings the system-wide non-resident average to a quarter, as these campuses tend to have a higher proportion of local students. These numbers are fairly consistent with long-term trends.
Per UH Board of Regents policy 5.208, non-resident enrollment for 4-year UH campuses is capped at 35%. This policy “means to provide for a mix of students while ensuring preference for qualified Hawai‘i students,” according to the official documentation. Such a policy reflects, in theory, a prioritization of kama‘āina students and the local workforce while acknowledging the diverse perspectives and financial contributions non-resident students bring to the campuses.
Like most public universities, UH Hilo’s resources come from two primary sources: tuition and other fees, along with the General Fund, money allocated by state legislators. Lower enrollment has reduced the Tuition and Fees Special Fund (TSSF) from 46% of the total resources in FY 2020 to 37% in FY 2025. As enrollment decreases, UH Hilo’s reliance on the General Fund increases. In the same period, the state went from providing 52% of UH Hilo’s funds to 63%. This dependency leaves the institution vulnerable to economic downturns or changes in legislative priorities. For more information, see the in-depth budget story located in this issue.
Enrollment at UH Hilo has steadily declined every year since reaching a peak of 4,157 students in 2012. This semester, the university saw a 4% drop compared to a 3% total increase system-wide, making non-resident’s higher tuition fees even more valuable to the administration. Full-time non-resident tuition is currently around $10k a semester, meaning they pay 1.5 times more than residents. As with most universities, this increased tuition revenue remains an important factor in recruitment efforts and financial planning.
Even as enrollment has declined at UH Hilo, the percentage of non-residents has remained mostly stable, with a slight decline in recent years. The non-resident average at UH Hilo over the last decade is 30.5%, with resident enrollment fluctuating between 68-73%. During the pandemic, the proportion of resident students temporarily surged, but has since returned to pre-COVID levels.
Percent Non-Residents by Semester: UH Mānoa vs UH Hilo
UHM has seen much bigger fluctuations, from a low of 32.5% of non-residents in spring 2013 to a high of 42% in fall 2023. The ten-year average hovers around 34%. The graph below shows a sharp increase of non-residents, in fall 2021, in the midst of COVID, with numbers steadily rising since. Across the UH System, resident enrollment has averaged 77% in the same period.
Data available to admissions offices across the US shows that Hawai‘i high schoolers are among the most likely to leave their home state for college, Roxie Shabazz, former Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment at UHM, told Civil Beat in 2019. These students are often seeking new life experiences, different academic offerings, or expanded opportunities on the continent. At the same time, the data shows that students very stably, barring a pandemic, choose to come to UH Hilo, even amid the increased cost of living, lack of affordable housing, and other challenges facing the state. Students from out-of-state choose UH Hilo for a variety of reasons: athletics; specialized programs like geology, astronomy, and marine science; and the draw of attending school in “paradise,” (with students sometimes holding a few motivations concurrently.)
This paradisiacal narrative is peddled by admissions offices, although UHM does so more conspicuously than UH Hilo. On Mānoa’s admissions website, the first student testimony they offer is from Nolan Omura, a Civil Engineering student from Honolulu. He says,“Attending UH Mānoa has helped me stay connected to the ocean and nature by getting an amazing education while still enjoying the ocean just a few miles away. I love living in Hawai‘i because it’s the only place in the world that I can experience crystal clear waters, amazing waterfalls, city life, and a variety of spectral people - all the while getting my education.”
UH Hilo, for its part, emphasizes the natural environment less on its admissions page, and when it does so, mostly contextualizes it in terms of how it relates to programs of study. This summer, as a part of their “My Journey” Vulcan V.I.B.E. series, aquaculture major Samuel Chiu from Portland, Oregon shared his mana‘o (thoughts) on attending the university. He talked about studying “a form of sustainability that is specifically taught here and not in that many other places in the world.” To Chiu, UH Hilo provides the unique opportunity to “learn about these [sea] creatures that are just not found in other places in the world.”
Even as the data shows otherwise, the perception of UH Hilo as a campus filled with transplants continues to linger, likely due in part to these paradiscal narratives that the UHM admissions office exhibits and many out-of-students share. For many Kānaka Maoli, such ideas and the people that hold them reduce the Islands to a playground or a place for people to find themselves without acknowledging the history and the culture of the Hawai‘i. These differing viewpoints often lead to tensions among kama‘āina and transplants.
It is likely that UH, facing decreasing enrollment and the related financial challenges, will continue recruitment efforts on out-of-state and international students. So, the question remains: how can transplants be good members of the campus community and respect the place they inhabit? How can UH balance budgetary needs with those of Kānaka Maoli and kama‘āina students?
If you have thoughts you’d like to share for an upcoming follow-up story, please email Ke Kalahea at jsilva6@hawaii.edu or uhhkk@hawaii.edu.