Eliminating Access and Success Gaps for Targeted Populations
The UH Community Colleges play a vital role in ensuring access to the benefits of higher education for all Hawai’I’s citizens. In fulfilling this mission, the commitment is that there should be no achievement gaps for any of the populations normally considered unrepresented in higher education. The strategic plan commits to eliminating gaps in enrollment, graduation, STEM graduation and transfer gaps for Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Pacific Islanders and low-income students. We’ve been able to achieve some success through several strategies that grew out of the work with Achieving the Dream partnership and continue to evolve through the Student Success Pathway movement. These strategies include:
• Creating clear structured pathways for each degree for both full-time and part-time students and using the STAR GPS tool to help guide students during registration;
• Establishing co-requisite support for college-level English and math to clear the way for students to advance out of remedial courses;
• Promoting the “15 to Finish” initiative to encourage more students to take 15 credits;
• Implementing intrusive advising techniques, such as the deployment of MySuccess, an early alert tool, to track and manage student progress through completion;
• Identifying policies that pose barriers for students in the onboarding, retention and transfer process

Native Hawaiian

From FY10 to FY15, Native Hawaiian student enrollment, graduation and transfer numbers have all more than doubled. Since then, overall student enrollment has been declining due to a robust economy. Yet, UHCC has been able to sustain the enrollment, degree/certificate achievements and transfer rates of Native Hawaiian students, dropping only a few percentage points. However, a positive note is that STEM degree/certificate achievements for Native Hawaiian students continue to grow as campuses improve their wrap-around student support services for students pursuing STEM fields.

Filipino

The UHCC has seen a steady growth in Filipino student success as more students are attaining degrees and certificates and transferring to four-year institutions. STEM degree/certificate achievements continue to also grow as more Filipino students are seeking STEM-related fields of study.

Pacific Islanders

As for the Pacific Islander student population group, the number of degree and certificate achievements have dropped. Yet, transfer to four-year universities has been sustained over the last few years.

Low-Income (Pell Recipient)

As noted in the above narrative, the overall student enrollment has been declining since the upturn of the economy. Yet, UHCC has been able to sustain the growth of student achievement over the last few years with ambitious wrap-around student support services and other programs to encourage students to complete their degree or certificates. Degree/certificate achievements and transfer rates may see a growth spurt in the future as the co-requisite support model for English and Math was only recently introduced.