• Focus : Hawaii

    Hawaii joined the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), a 15-state commission working to boost access to and success in higher education for students in the West, in 1959. Hawaii and WICHE have shared a remarkably productive history. But more importantly the state and its citizens reap essential economic and educational benefits today, saving millions of dollars annually while ensuring the state’s “human capital” is educated and ready to participate in a highly competitive global economy.


    In 2008-09 Hawaii students and their families saved $11.2 million in tuition by participating in WICHE’s Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), one of three student access programs, plus another $100,440 through the Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP). Hawaii also saved money by participating in the Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP), sending its students to six programs, in dentistry, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and veterinary medicine.

     

    Doing the Math: Hawaii's Return on Investment

    In 2008-09 Hawaii, its institutions, and its students saved or brought in over $11.1 million through WICHE and spent $120,000 for membership in the commission, yielding a 92-fold return on investment.

     

    In the last 5 years, Hawaii students’ savings from WUE alone have topped $58 million, with membership dues of just $561,000, yielding a 103-fold return.

     


    How does Hawaii benefit as a WICHE state?

    WICHE’s programs save Hawaii money and enhance the use of its educational resources in several critical ways.

     

    > When funding is reduced, access to higher ed can be preserved because students have affordable out-of-state options via WICHE.

     

    > Hawaii’s public colleges and universities are able to increase enrollment in programs with extra capacity – and bring in much needed educational dollars – by enrolling students from other WICHE states.

     

    > Hawaii saves money by not having to establish and maintain costly programs in a number of essential or leading-edge areas because its students have access to out-of-state programs.

     

    > Hawaii vastly increases the resources it has for training its workforce: the majority of its professional students who train through WICHE’s PSEP return to the state to work and live.

    What student programs does WICHE offer?

    Over 1,500 students from Hawaii are attending undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in other Western states through WICHE’s three student exchange programs this year (Figure 1 breaks down tuition savings). State membership in WICHE is required for students to participate in these programs.
     
    Western Undergraduate Exchange. Over 15,000 Hawaii students have enrolled in out-of-state undergraduate programs through WUE in the last decade.
     
    >  In 2008-09 1,442 Hawaii students are enrolled through WUE in out-of-state programs, saving $11.2 million by paying the WUE rate of 150 percent of resident tuition in the enrolling institution.
     
    > Hawaii students saved an average of $7,735 each this year.
     
    Hawaii also benefits from WUE by receiving students from out of state. Its institutions choose how many out-of-state slots to offer and in which areas, allowing them to make the best use of their resources by accepting students in underenrolled programs. There’s a workforce benefit for the state, too, as students often stay in Hawaii after graduating. This year Hawaii received some 2,000 out-of-state students through WUE.
     
    Professional Student Exchange Program. Hawaii has sent students to professional programs through PSEP since 1958. It currently supports 75 students in dentistry, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and veterinary medicine. It received one student from another WICHE state along with $27,400 in support fees at the University of Hawaii at Manoa medical school. Historically, 59 percent of outbound PSEP students return to their home state to pursue their professional careers. Last year Hawaii became a service-payback state, meaning that beginning with the 2008-09 academic year, PSEP students must return home to practice for a length of time.
     
    Western Regional Graduate Program. Hawaii’s postgraduates participate in graduate programs through WRGP, which offers access to over 200 high-quality, distinctive programs (“distinctive” meaning that they’re offered at only four or fewer institutions in the WICHE region as well as to a range of healthcare programs) at 39 institutions in 14 WICHE states. Hawaii sent 10 students to out-of-state institutions in 2008-09, while receiving 24.
    Internet Course Exchange (ICE). ICE, WICHE’s newest exchange, is an alliance of 30 institutions and systems working towards sharing distance-delivered courses among two- and four-year institutions in the region. Hawaii institutions may join.

    WICHE's Added Value

    Hawaii gains added value from WICHE's programs in policy, workforce development, technology, mental health, and other areas.

     

    Policy Assistance. Hawaii was one of six states funded to participate in our Ford Foundation-funded initiative “Escalating Engagement: State Policy to Protect Access to Higher Education,” which focused on how Hawaii’s colleges and universities can educate and train students in ways that promote the state’s workforce and economic development goals.
     
    Hawaii was also chosen to receive state-specific technical assistance as part of the “Changing Direction” project, which focused on integrating higher education financial aid and financing policy. One important outcome of that work: A change in Hawaii’s aid policy – from the use of tuition waivers to scholarships – which allowed the state’s students to have better access to federal financial aid that was previously “left on the table.”
     
    WICHE’s Lumina-funded project “Getting What You Pay For: Understanding Higher Education Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid” focuses on promoting informed decision making and the alignment of higher education appropriations, tuition, and financial aid policy by state legislators. The project also works to inform news media, especially state house and higher education reporters, and others about these issues in an effort to increase student access and success.
     
    Technology. Hawaii has been very active in WICHE’s WCET (formerly, the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications), a membership cooperative that advances access and excellence in higher education through the innovative use of technology. Hae Okimoto, director of academic technologies for the University of Hawai’i System and a member of the WCET Steering Committee, is leading a new professional development offering that will help institutions build their internal staff talent pool to direct e-learning programs and departments. Three Hawaiian organizations and institutions – Kapi’olani Community College, Pacific Telecommunications Council, and the University of Hawaii System – are members of WCET.
     
    Workforce Development. WICHE’s Mental Health Program has been involved in several workforce development meetings with the state that have helped identify behavioral health workforce priorities and looked at system transformation efforts. WICHE also completed a report that gives a snapshot of Hawaii’s behavioral health workforce, including shortage areas, graduation rates across behavioral health degrees, and other factors.
     
    Meetings & Other Initiatives. Last year, Hawaii sent a team to the National Summit on Rigor and Relevance in Boston, sponsored by WICHE’s State Scholars Initiative. It also sent a contingent to WICHE’s recent Western Summit on Workforce Certification and Higher Education for policymakers in the West, held in response to the national demand for more highly skilled workers in a host of fields, from healthcare to high tech. Participants explored how states might use a workforce certification system – which would allow business and higher education to communicate with a common language about workforce demand and supply – to improve their ability to prepare individuals for productive careers and enhance the health of their economies.
     
    Hawaii is also engaged in other WICHE initiatives. The University of Hawaii System belongs to the Western Academic Leadership Forum (WALF) – formerly known as the Northwest Academic Forum (NWAF) – whose members address regional higher education issues and engage in cooperative resource sharing. Another program available to Hawaii is the Master Property Program, which helps institutions in the West reduce their insurance premiums and improve their coverage.

     

    Our goal with both meetings and projects is to assist educational leaders and policymakers by advocating for good public policy in the West. A third way we accomplish this is via our publication series, including Policy Insights and Workforce Briefs, which explore a wide range of significant policy issues. We also publish in-depth works such as Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity and the Regional Fact Book for Higher Education in the West, which includes data and analyses on fiscal, demographic, economic, and social indicators, as well as a state report providing Alaska data on access, affordability, finance, faculty, technology, and workforce issues. These resources can be downloaded at no cost from the WlCHE website.