University of
Hawaii-West Oahu
Public College in Kapolei, HI. Six-year graduation rate 50%. Median 10-year earnings $52,075.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $52,075 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. Six-year completion sits at 50%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Graduates leave owing a median of $14,500 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.28 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 95% of applicants are accepted. Only 773 students applied, so treat these rates as directional — small pools swing sharply between cycles. 32% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 7% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
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 | 473–575 | 16 (7%) |
| SAT Math | 458–528 | |
| ACT Composite | 15–21 | 114 (48%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Hawaii-West Oahu →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 50%, meaning about one in two students who enroll leave without finishing. 78% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in five are gone before sophomore year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. Retention drops to 51% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. At 17:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,510 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $10,942 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $7,674 while those at $110k+ pay $17,718. 51% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,127 — common but not automatic. Only 24% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 196 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 | $7,674 |
| $30–48k | $7,077 |
| $48–75k | $10,247 |
| $75–110k | $13,155 |
| $110k+ | $17,718 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 601 of these 2,510 students, totalling $4,377,851 — an average of $7,284 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)