Kūle'a Report 2000

KŪLE‘A REPORT

January 2000

Office of Multicultural Student Services / University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Report 1

The Kūle'a Project
The task of the Kūle‘a Project is to increase Native Hawaiian educational attainment by promoting opportunities in and awareness of higher education among the Native Hawaiian population in Hawai‘i. The project aims to realize this task through an emphasis on the Hawaiian way of life and adoption of appropriate strategies that support and reinforce cultural; social, cognitive, and spiritual ways of being Hawaiian.

Native Hawaiian Students
in the UH System
Over the past two decades, Native Hawaiian student enrollment has steadily increased within the UH system, from 1,551 in 1977, to 3,864 in 1987 and, recently, to 6,172 in 1997. The percentage representation of Native Hawaiians (Table 1) has also increased over this period, throughout the UH system as well as within each UH component. While the UHCC component currently enrolls the most Native Hawaiian students (4,052 of the total 6,172 in Fall 1997), UHM experienced the larger percentage increase among all UH components. The proportion of Native Hawaiians enrolled at UHM in Fall 1997 is over five times greater than it was in.1977, compared to an overall average increase of 3.8%.

However, while the current state of Native Hawaiians in the UH system shows promise, it does not adequately describe the overall educational attainment and status of Native Hawaiians in Hawai'i [1].

Educational Attainment
of Native Hawaiians in Hawai‘i
Why college?
Dat's (college) only fo' da smart, rich peepo...
Dis' (college) is fo' my kid/ braddah/sistah/any family member... not me?!
- Statements made during community outreach activities.

The educational attainment of Hawai‘i's Native Hawaiians through high school is not much different from other ethnic groups in the State. Data from the 1990 Census (Table 2) show Native Hawaiians, aged 18 years and over; have a high percentage (44.6%) of high school graduates, a percentage that actually exceeds the overall State high school graduate rate of 30.9%. Still, among this age group in the Native Hawaiian population, post-secondary educational attainment (baccalaureate degree or higher) is only 8.0%, a rate that is dramatically under the State's overall rate of 20.4%.
Financial assistance opportunities earmarked for Native Hawaiians come from several scholarship next page>>

Table 1. Native Hawaiian Student Representation in the UH System

	Semester Enrollment (%)			Percent Change (%)
	Fall 1997	Fall 1987	Fall 1997	1977 to 1987	1987 to 1997	1977 to 1997
Total UH	3.6	9.0	13.6	+5.4 (x2.5)	+4.6 (x1.5)	+10.0 (x3.8)
UHM	1.6	5.1	8.7	+3.5 (x3.1)	+3.6 (x1.7)	+7.1 (x5.4)
UHH	6.9	18.5	20.1	+11.6 (x2.7)	+1.6 (x1.1)	+14.1 (x2.9)
UHWO	7.0		14.2	+3.8 (x1.5)	+3.4 (x1.3)	+ 7.2 (x2.0)
UHCC	5.2	10.8	16.4	+5.7 (x2.1)	+5.5 (x1.5)	+11.2 (x3.2)

a Numbers in parentheses represent the factor change over time period.
Sources: Native Hawaiian Students at the University of Hawai‘i: Implications for Vocational and Higher Education (Alu Like 1988)
and Fall Enrollment Report, University of Hawai‘i (UH Institutional Research Office 1997).

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