Hawaii Pacific University
Private College in Honolulu, HI. Six-year graduation rate 35%. Median 10-year earnings $59,593.
Students who entered Hawaii Pacific University land at a median of $59,593 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Only 35% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $22,000, neither a bargain nor a burden. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.9% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 35% — below national average
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 86%, Hawaii Pacific University takes nearly everyone who applies. 14,206 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Yield is low at 4%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. The score bands below rest on the 15% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 510–610 | 72 (15%) |
| SAT Math | 488–590 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–27 | 42 (9%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Hawaii Pacific University →Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 35% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention is weak: only 56% of full-time first-years return, so roughly two in five leave after one year. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. 45% of students transfer out, which reframes what the graduation rate above is measuring. At 15:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,502 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $30,950 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($25,758 versus $33,540), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 94% of students receive it, averaging $16,945. 34% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 535 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $25,758 |
| $30–48k | $24,413 |
| $48–75k | $28,979 |
| $75–110k | $30,450 |
| $110k+ | $33,540 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 860 of these 2,502 students, totalling $5,673,497 — an average of $6,597 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Honolulu County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)