Hawaii · College costs

What College Actually Costs in Hawaii

Sticker price is close to meaningless. The number that matters is net price: what a typical first-year family pays after grants and scholarships come off. Across the 2 four-year colleges we track in Hawaii, the median net price is $16,219. That is $3,638 below the $19,857 median across every college we track.

The headline numbers

MeasureValue
Median net price (what families pay)$16,219
Median published in-state tuition$9,408
Median published out-of-state tuition$20,424
Median federal loan debt at graduation$9,300
Median earnings 10 years after entry$54,844
Four-year colleges covered2

Lowest net price in Hawaii

Ranked by what families actually pay, not by published tuition. Graduation rate and earnings are shown beside it, because a cheap college you do not finish is not a saving.

CollegeAvg. net priceGrad rateMedian earnings
University of Hawaii at Manoa$15,66464.3%$57,624
Brigham Young University-Hawaii$16,77452.6%$52,064

Strongest earnings ten years on

Median earnings of former students a decade after they first enrolled. It reflects the subjects a college teaches and who it admits as much as the teaching itself, so read it alongside cost rather than on its own.

CollegeAvg. net priceGrad rateMedian earnings
University of Hawaii at Manoa$15,66464.3%$57,624
Brigham Young University-Hawaii$16,77452.6%$52,064

Questions worth asking before you pay

Ask every college on the list for its net price calculator and run it with your real numbers — the published average hides enormous variation by income. Ask what share of need it meets, whether aid is renewable for four years, and what the graduation rate is for students receiving Pell grants specifically. That last figure is on each of our college profiles and is the one most likely to be missing from a glossy brochure.

Where does your child's score land?

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Frequently asked questions

How much does college cost in Hawaii?

Across the 2 four-year colleges we track in Hawaii, the median net price — what a typical first-year family actually pays after grant aid — is $16,219. Published tuition is $9,408 in-state and $20,424 out-of-state, but very few families pay the sticker price.

What is the cheapest college in Hawaii?

By average net price, University of Hawaii at Manoa at $15,664 per year, according to the most recent federal data.

How much debt do students leave Hawaii colleges with?

The median federal loan debt at graduation is $9,300. That covers federal loans only, so private and parent borrowing sits on top of it.

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Net price is the average for first-year students receiving federal aid and varies sharply by family income. Figures can lag the current admissions cycle.

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