HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

243

TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

§

 


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the university of hawaii system to provide higher education tuition waivers for all enrolled native hawaiian students.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, the goal of the University of Hawaii System is to provide higher education for all its students; and

    

     WHEREAS, some of those college students, specifically native Hawaiian students, may need financial assistance to offset Hawaii's high cost of living, and other socio-economic factors; and

 

     WHEREAS, this academic and economic support for native Hawaiian students attending and graduating from the University of Hawaii System can have far-reaching positive consequences for the State as a whole; and

 

     WHEREAS, native Hawaiian graduates of the University of Hawaii System will be able to contribute more effectively to the economic and social health of the State and of the native Hawaiian peoples; and

 

     WHEREAS, the challenge for native Hawaiian students begins in the classroom, where they have the lowest college graduation rates of all ethnic groups in Hawaii, and of those who are able to attend college, far fewer actually graduate with a college degree than students from any other ethnic group in the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the University of Hawaii's institutional research office and 2000 United States census, native Hawaiians:

 

     (1)  Represent only 14 percent of the total University of Hawaii student population, a figure that includes all native Hawaiians attending the System's three four-year and seven two-year campuses;

 

     (2)  Return for a second year of college at a lower percentage compared to non-native-Hawaiian students.  More than 80 percent of the University of Hawaii System's non-native-Hawaiian students return for a second year of college, but the percentage of native Hawaiian students returning is nearly ten percent lower;

 

     (3)  Earn a low percentage of college credits and degrees.  Even though 25 percent of all native Hawaiians have earned some college credits, most have not completed their undergraduate degrees, and only 15 percent of all native Hawaiians have earned at least a bachelor's degree.  Furthermore, only 3.2 percent of native Hawaiians have earned a graduate degree of any kind, compared with 8.4 percent of all Hawaii residents and 8.9 percent of the total United States population;

 

     (4)  Represent only 3.6 percent of the current doctoral candidates at the University of Hawaii, and nearly 70 percent of native-Hawaiian candidates do not receive any type of financial aid or tuition waivers; and

 

     (5)  Represent just four percent of all faculty positions at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and less than one percent of permanently tenured positions are held by native Hawaiians;

and

 

     WHEREAS, the academic stress of earning a college degree is dramatically increased for many native Hawaiian students by high levels of economic stress; and

 

     WHEREAS, statistically, Hawaiians attending the University of Hawaii are, on average, far more affected by negative economic indicators than students from other ethnic groups, for example, native Hawaiian students who do complete their degrees take, on the average, a full year longer to do so than students of other ethnic groups and many native Hawaiian students must work full- or part-time jobs while attempting to complete their college degrees.  This slower-than-average completion rate is due primarily to the consequences of native Hawaiians' poor access to available socio-economic resources, combined with their ongoing need to produce income for themselves and their families and Hawaii's high cost of living; and

    

     WHEREAS, as more native Hawaiians are able to earn college degrees, more native Hawaiians can pursue the highest levels of academic and professional achievement; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED THAT by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the Senate concurring, that the University of Hawaii System is urged to grant a waiver of all tuition to each and every student enrolled at any of the University of Hawaii System's ten campuses who is native Hawaiian or Hawaiian; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the student must possess a card issued by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs identifying the student as a person included in the Hawaiian registry under section 10-19, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which shall constitute conclusive proof that the student is native Hawaiian or Hawaiian; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to University of Hawaii Board of Regents; President of the University of Hawaii; and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Native Hawaiian tuition waiver